Derek Jeter is getting ready for the Christmas season in the year 2023.
The famous athlete, now 49 years old, discusses his family’s forthcoming Christmas preparations with PEOPLE during a conversation about a ceremony to introduce new baseball and softball fields for young athletes at his alma mater, Kalamazoo Central High School in Michigan. The fields are being built for use by young players.
“The holiday season is probably one of the best times of the year because you see the excitement in their faces,” Jeter says, referring to his four children: girls River Rose, 23 months, Story Grey, 4, and Bella Raine, 6, and boy Kaius Green, 6 months, whom he shares with wife Hannah Davis Jeter. “You see the excitement in their faces,” Jeter continues, “because you see the excitement in their faces.”
“I want to be in the company of my relatives. “The importance of family to me has never changed,” he adds. “[I love] getting a chance to be around family and friends during the holiday season.”
The five-time World Series winner and former New York Yankees star continues by saying, “This really is the best time of the year.”
Jeter claims that the Christmas season is a time of great pleasure for him and his family, despite the fact that it may also be fraught with some anxiety. “It’s hard for us to mobilize,” he adds.
“Our family enjoys participating in activities together, but these days we travel in a group.” Jeter goes on to say that there are a lot of people to maneuver around all at once.
When asked about their exact plans for the upcoming holidays, the father of four said that both Thanksgiving and Christmas would be spent “at home.” According to Jeter, this decision was made because “it is always better since you want the kids to wake up at home.”
When Jeter is asked whether his two eldest children, Bella and Story, have already started planning what they want to ask Santa Claus for this year, he acknowledges that each of them have been well-prepared.
He explains with a chuckle, “They have a hard time grasping the concept that Christmas is only celebrated in December.” “Twelve months out of the year, we listen to what it is that people desire. I don’t believe that anything will change when Santa comes to visit.”
