Yahoo Finance Alex Rodriguez Talks Holiday Plans with Jennifer Lopez: 'Family, Good Food, a Little Wine'
Alex Rodriguez is gearing up for the holiday season.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the former baseball pro and his fiancée, Jennifer Lopez, will be paring down their plans this year.
"I think everything is just going to be smaller. With COVID, everything is a little different," Rodriguez, 45, says. "Good company, family, good food, a little wine — that always helps. Just being together with the family, really that's all that matters."
Since they began dating in 2017, Rodriguez and Lopez, 51, have blended their families and created new holiday traditions with their children, her 12-year-old twins, Max and Emme, and his daughters, Natasha, 16, and Ella, 12.
"We're always with the four kids. That's number one," he says. "We like to play games — we like chess, we like Monopoly — and we like to play softball. The one thing we've been doing the last several years is playing a family softball game, and that's always fun, because Jennifer is the master of trash talk."
Monica Schipper/Getty Images Alex Rodriguez & Jennifer Lopez
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Throughout the coronavirus crisis, Rodriguez — who recently launched "Saks Lights Up Fifth Avenue," the retailer's 2020 holiday window display and light show — has been grateful for extra family time.
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"I think the one good thing that's come out of this is more family time and get a chance to not travel and kind of be in one place and bring some of your more stability for a family," he says. "We have four kids. Three are 12, and one just turned 16, so these are really important years in their lives, and just being even more present has been a gift."
As for what's on his Christmas list this year?
"Honestly, it's just health," Rodriguez says. "I'm so grateful to be healthy, to have our family healthy, and just more togetherness. And a vaccine is on my holiday list. I want people to get back to work. With the vaccine, we can open up the economy again. There's so many folks out there that are struggling, so many restaurants that are closed, malls, and all these things... These are fellow Americans. We want to uplift them and get this great country back."
Looking ahead to 2021, Rodriguez is hopeful for some return to normalcy.
"Hopefully a vaccine to get things back to normal. There's so much that I'm looking forward to," he says. "I'm looking forward to just going out and back to stadiums, where I announce games; interacting with players; taking my family to Disney World, Disneyland, even like going outside and sitting out in an outdoor table in New York and having a nice meal with friends and family. Those are some of the things I miss."
