The holiday season is finally upon us—and Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry are getting ready for the festivities just like any other family.
Meghan gave rare insight into their holiday plans—including why she’s excited to spend time with her kids, Archie Harrison and Lilibet Diana, this year—while hosting a dinner this past weekend in Venice Beach, California. A partnership between the Southern California chapter of the Archewell Foundation’s Welcome Project and women’s empowerment organization Mina’s List, the event brought together resettled Afghan women for an opportunity to build community and establish new holiday traditions.
“I love the holidays,” the Duchess of Sussex told Marie Claire at the dinner. She added that Archie and Lilibet are now “three and five, so every year, it gets better.”
“At first, I think as a mom with children you’re just enjoying having them there, but they’re not understanding everything that’s happening yet,” Meghan continued. “But now we’re at the age where I just can’t wait to see it through their lens every year.”
When it comes to Thanksgiving, the day is “always pretty low-key,” Meghan said. She also enjoys living near her mom, Doria Ragland, in order to ring in the American holiday: “Being close to my mom is great.”
The holidays are about spending time with friends as much as it is spending time with family. “I was thinking about, in the past few years of having Thanksgiving here, like many of us, I think you always make sure there’s room at the table for your friends who don’t have family, which is really key,” Meghan said, revealing that Gloria Steinem previously “came for Thanksgiving.”
As for their specific Thanksgiving plans, she said, “We’re always making sure we have something fun to do. ... Like any other family, you spend time having a great meal and then what do you do? Play games, all the same stuff, someone brings a guitar—fun.”
