“It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” That’s the prevailing feeling during Christmas, but for LeBron James and his family, the holiday season tends to get pretty hectic. As the Lakers superstar revealed in Netflix’s Starting 5 docuseries, his daughter Zhuri is the first person to wake up on the morning of the 25th, and she waits patiently for her parents to join her to open her gifts.
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The 10-year-old runs Christmas in the James household, and the rest of the family ensures the day is set up to provide her with the most magical time possible. According to James, when he and his wife Savannah wake up and get down to the tree in their house, Zhuri is already in a festive mood. He said,
“When Savannah and I got downstairs around 7:30, the first thing Zhuri said was ‘Finally!’ She saw the carrots was bitten off, because the reindeer got to em. And the cookie and the milk was drank and bitten off of because Santa came and dropped all the gifts off the night before. You know them d*mn reindeers left a d*mn mess on my floor.”
Funnily enough, Savannah said the same thing in the other room, and the producers were shocked about how the couple had the same concern. She yelled,
“D*mn reindeer. Messing up my floors.”
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James won’t be at home for Christmas this year as he’ll be busy playing in his 18th consecutive Christmas Day game, and his 19th overall. Despite spending practically every morning of every year on the holiday in a different city or at the practice facility, being away from his family isn’t a feeling he has gotten used to.
When LeBron James spoke out against having to play on Christmas
In 2017, the Cavaliers and the Warriors were set to face off for the third straight year on Christmas Day. This game was at the Oracle Arena, so James and his teammates had to fly out a day before and couldn’t spend the morning with their families, which the four-time NBA champion was too pleased about.
He was visibly upset about having to spend Christmas worrying about a game rather than being with his wife, three children, and his mother. He was most heartbroken about not being with his daughter Zhuri, who had turned three two months prior. When asked before the game why his mood was grim, he said,
“Nah, I was just FaceTiming my family when they get up, with the iPad or whatever next to the gifts, and I’ll watch it from there… Unfortunately, I’mma miss it. This is like the first year my daughter actually understand what Christmas is, so you know it sucks being here obviously.”
The cost of being one of the most famous athletes in the world is missing important events like birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmases. It comes with the territory but never gets less painful.
