Chrissy Teigen Reveals Family's Holiday Plans and Why John Legend Will ‘Take Over the Turkey Duties' (Exclusive)

Chrissy Teigen is already feeling festive.

The Cravings cookbook author, 39, revealed her holiday plans to PEOPLE while hosting Amazon’s Home for the Holidays event in New York City on Thursday, Nov. 6. She teamed up with the retailer to share her picks from Amazon’s Holiday Shop. 

Teigen says she’ll be heading back to N.Y.C. for Christmas with husband John Legend, and their four children, Luna Simone, 9, Miles, 7, Esti Maxine, 2, and Wren Alexander, 2.

The family spent the holiday in the Big Apple in 2023, and the mom of four says it “just was so beautiful.”

“It’s so easy, there’s so many amazing things to do, especially for our bigs, because we have two older kids and two little babies or two toddlers at least, and so just there’s the breadth of things to do here for all ages of children,” she says. “It’s so amazing. So we’re coming here, and yeah. I can’t wait.”

Teigen also opened up about her family’s slightly unconventional Thanksgiving meal.

“I hate turkey, so I have a chicken recipe in my book,” she says. “We usually nestle two chickens together, they’re about four and a half pounds or so, to equal one turkey.”

“But recently for the past five years, we’ve had John’s entire family, which is very extensive,” she adds. “So we’ll usually do four chickens, two chickens nestled together in a little bin. But then John also just bought a smoker, so I feel like this year, he is going to take over the turkey duties.”

As for sides, Teigen will be making her mom’s scalloped potatoes, and Legend “loves” making his mac and cheese, she says, noting, “Those are the things that are staples every single year.”

When it comes to gifts, she says her husband is “a simple man.”

“It sounds dumb, but he really loves getting a beautiful silk robe or something,” Teigen explains. “He loves a man bag. It’s hard, because obviously, he is a musician, and I’m like, ‘Should I get him Miles Davis’s old recordings, or this?’ But, no. He’s a simple dude, and he likes really simple things.”

She adds that her most memorable gift from Legend is a personalized “yearbook” of their family’s life, which has become an annual Mother’s Day tradition.

“It’s almost like a coffee table book,” she says. “And it’s three inches, and it’s the most beautiful photos from our whole year. They’re just a bunch of cell phone photos, but they’re photos that are important to us and significant for us.”

The kids love to flip through the books too — especially Miles.

“He’ll bring it out during breakfast one day and just love going through it, and, ‘Is that me? Is that Wren? Is that this?’ It’s so cute. So it’s a gift for everybody, really, and I love it,” she says.

Homemade ornaments are Teigen’s holiday decorating must-have, since her home is full of “big crafters.”

“Luna loves crafting,” she says. “ I love the gingerbread houses that you don’t eat. They’re kind of frosting mixed with glue and everything and you have those out.”

However, there’s one Christmas decor item you won’t find her putting up.

“I hate poinsettias so much,” she says. “I hate the color red in my home. There’s something about red that just really irks me. I get it for the holidays. I understand it being on your tree and if you’re going for a very big Christmas-y look. But aside from that, unless you go full-on with it, I really hate that plant so much.”