Zoe Saldaña on the Holiday Tradition Her Family Holds Most Dear
Zoe Saldaña’s kids look forward to holiday traditions as much as anyone, but one of their favorites has nothing to do with Santa, or gifts, or elves, or even cookies (well, okay, there may be dessert involved). The acclaimed actress and mom of three boys — Cy, Bowie, and Zen, with husband Marco Perego — says her kids’ favorite holiday traditions have everything to do with togetherness.
Speaking with SheKnows on behalf of her partnership with Nintendo Switch, Saldaña dished on what intimate family holidays look like around her house. “For us, it’s always about being around family and storytelling,” she explains. “You know, we really do believe in the folklore of a nation, of a family, of a tribe, of a culture. So it’s always like, nurturing that interest and curiosity and hearing stories from your great grandpa, your grandpa, your uncle, your aunt … on to your cousins and your siblings.” Because these storytelling traditions are so important to their family, she says, and because her boys are “such avid storytelling aficionados,” they don’t let a holiday go by without requesting a good post-dinner storytelling sesh.
“They will remind you, like, ‘Hey, can you just tell me that story again?'” Saldaña laughs. “And so for us, it’s always a beautiful thing that after dinner, we’ll have dessert at the table. Everybody is just still wanting to remain close and talk. So my advice is … just make sure you have really comfortable dining chairs.”
Saldaña admits that she hopes her sons will always want to spend holidays at home with their folks — even after they’ve established families of their own. “I want to interact with my kids for as long as possible,” she says. “I want my kids to be the kind of men that fall in love with really great people. And when that great person says, ‘Let’s go to my place for the holidays,’ I want my sons to kind of go, ‘I hear you. And I know it’s gonna be beautiful. And maybe next year, we can do that. But I really, really look forward to spending the holidays with my parents.'”
For now, in hopes of forging the kind of bond that will ensure her kids always want to come home for the holidays, Saldaña tells SheKnows that she gets quality time with her sons in whenever she can. “When it comes to rituals and interactions that we can do together, I will do it,” she says. Her partnership with Nintendo came at a fortuitous time, since after much begging, this was the year Saldaña and Perego had decided to finally let their boys play video games — something that hadn’t been a part of their lives up until now.
“They were always like, ‘Well, why can’t we play video games?'” Saldaña says. “And we were quite skeptical, as we should be, with screen time. We wanted to take our time doing the research.” As it turns out, it has become one of their preferred ways of bonding as a family unit. “It gives us the opportunity to play these games with them … you know, interact, as opposed to just granting them this time and monitoring it. We’re right in the trenches with them playing the game, and it’s become a family event for us.” They enjoy it so much, she reports, that they work extra hard toward earning screen time — which as any parent knows is a huge bonus.
Just as video games transport us to fantastical worlds with the ones we love, so do stories shared around the holiday table — and Saldaña is making the most of both. She hopes that her children will return again and again, even when they’re grown, to the warmth and camaraderie that she works so hard to foster. To rediscover during every holiday season the joy of shared laughter, the comfort of familiar traditions, and the unbreakable bond of family. And maybe a round or two of Mario Kart thrown in for good measure.
Find out how our favorite celebs spend Christmas, Hanukkah, and more wintertime holidays with their families.