For Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba, Thanksgiving is a time for family, food and karaoke!
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Carrie Ann spoke to HELLO! for our Thanksgiving Issue, starring Prue Leith on the digital cover, and revealed 2022 has been a year of gratitiude, especially after her diagnosis with an autoimmune disease. This year, Carrie will be cooking a big spread for her older brother Craig.
She shared as the years pass she has realized it’s important to have "meaningful moments" one-on-one with family, although she will never turn down the opportunity for a big gathering with close friends.
Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions?
In our family when we get together for Thanksgiving, or any special occasion, I pull out my Karaoke machine and after dinner and pumpkin pie, we sing all night. It’s something we used to do together as children with my mom and we continue that tradition to this day.
For myself personally, Thanksgiving is a very special day. I've celebrated it many ways. For the last seventeen years or so, it’s the Thursday right after Dancing with the Stars finishes, so it's a busy time for me.
Carrie with her mom and brother, Craig
Will you be hosting a dinner this year and who is invited?
This year, I'm hosting just for my brother and I. My mom is staying in New York with her husband this year, and so I told my brother I’d cook.
I have learned it’s much easier to order a meal from Whole Foods or Gelsons that we just have to reheat. Even with that, it's still some planning. The night before I set out the bowls and special serving platters with post-it notes in each dish so I don’t have to do much thinking when guests are here.
Each dish is already set out the night before labeled with what goes in it. At Thanksgiving people like to help and when the post its there, it makes it easy for everyone who’s helping to know what goes where.
Do you have a set menu every year and what food do you have planned for this year?
Turkey, ham, green beans, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and gravy of course, and the pumpkin pie and a home made from scratch apple pie, yum!
My mom always makes the most amazing cornbread. It’s delicious and it’s a recipe she got from our family friend who one of the chef’s at The Alley in Hawaii, a more popular restaurant that is owned and run by Chef Glen Uyeda.
It’s the dish that we make double of because everyone wants to take it home. Corn bread for the win!
Carrie is a judge on DTWS
Do you find time on the day to exercise or meditate?
I love having coffee slowly and drinking my celery juice, writing my intentions and gratitude or a to do list. I have a home Pilates reformer by balanced bodies and it’s right on my back patio so I get fresh air while working out and a little vitamin D.
I usually workout to Pitbull, and my favorite song now is Can’t Stop Us Now featuring Zac Brown. It’s so uplifting!
Of course Thanksgiving is such an important time to focus on family, what does family mean to you?
Family is important to me. My mom and my brother and I are all that's left of our family. My father passed away in 2013. My mom is remarried, so we have an extended family, and we often go to their house for thanksgiving.
But this year, I wanted to try something different. I wanted to spend time with just brother. As I get older, I realize it's important to have meaningful moments, and my family is so very independent so I really wanted to make a special occasion just for he and I as brother and sister. (His name is Craig and he’s three years older than me.)
Do you go all out to decorate for Thanksgiving and Fall, what decorations do you use?
I love, love, love to decorate the dining room and kitchen with flowers and my special burnt sienna tablecloths. I usually go with gold and orange tones with the linens, and I have a set of gold-tone utensils I use especially for Thanksgiving.
I put out all the serving dishes I will need, and all the pans and kitchen utensils with post-it notes so it's really easy; since I don’t cook all the time, I get nervous, so this helps me when I pre-prepare, and I go to bed with the table and ambiance set.
I usually accent the table with cream, white and green Ecuadorian roses and dianthus green balls in smaller vases to give a bit of elegance.
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Carrie loves to set the ambience the night before
What do you love about hosting Thanksgiving and entertaining? Do you have any tips for anyone who is new to entertaining and hosting?
I love hosting parties and gatherings. It’s my creative and producing side that likes to create something that people will enjoy. In the past I’ve had huge parties for Thanksgiving, gatherings for my friends. We call it a Friendsgiving.
Once I hosted a wellness Friendsgiving and I had a masseuse, facialist, and nurses giving wellness IV’s, and we had gift bags of crystals and supplements, and it was so nice. That was right before the Covid pandemic, and it’s been a while, but I’d like to do another party like that soon. Maybe for my birthday in January.
My tips for anyone hosting is to create seating areas for smaller groups. I always move my furniture around so that people can gather in groups of three to five. If everyone has to sit only in one area, it can feel stiff. And only one person can speak at once… if there are smaller groups people can have conversations more easily.
If you can afford it or have a friend who is willing, having a bartender is great. That way when your guests arrive you can greet them and walk them to your friend or 'bartender' and help them get a drink and then leave them in good hands while you finished preparing. That helps so that you don’t feel pulled in too many directions while you are trying to finish everything up to create that special evening.
Carrie shared how thankful she is for her health
What are you most thankful for this year and why?
Health is the gift we often take for granted but I've been blessed with an autoimmune disease which has helped me to be much more mindful of my health and how I’m taking care of myself. For me it's not a luxury, it’s a necessity to take care of my health. And I’ve really been much healthier since I’ve made health my number one priority. And I'm happier as a result of that.
So, I'm grateful for my health and the health of my family, friends, and of course my pets; I have one little fur baby who is now 16 and I’m grateful for every day I have with her.
What has inspired your ambition and your drive? What do you hope to achieve in the next year?
As a person who has lived with so much pain, and has had some intense struggles with my health, I found help through social media and via the digital world of internet.
There were many years when I was bedridden when I wasn’t working, and I found help and support through online communities so that’s why I created Carrie Ann Conversations. I believe we need to have connection- in any way shape or form we can.
Next year, I'd like to write a book and develop some of the projects that I’ve been working on. I'd also like to do some traveling - I really need to get back more to the creative side and behind the scenes - and of course, I will continue to spread awareness for wellness through Carrie Ann Conversations.
I have another season of interviews planned in the Spring. I will interview more amazing people with the hope that something in the conversations will help someone in need.
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