Design duo Chip and Joanna Gaines are going to make their Fixer Upper fans happy in the new year with a flurry of new projects. The most eagerly awaited venture probably is their planned return to television with their very own Discovery network. Joanna’s latest design guide Homebody leads The New York Times bestseller list of non-fiction how-to books. Some 300 new products will be added the day after Christmas to their Target collection with a focus on bringing their signature modern farmhouse style to a line of bedding. And, of course, their Magnolia empire based in Waco, Texas continues to expand.
With all that activity, it would be understandable if the Gaines clan collapsed around the Christmas tree in their pajamas during the holidays. In fact, Joanna divulged the game plan in an essay she wrote for the winter issue of Magnolia Journal. “We count down the days, just to experience it nearly exactly as we always have,” she wrote. “It is so comfortable, familiar and perfectly nostalgic that, frankly, we have no desire to improve upon it at all.”
The mother of five cherishes a traditional holiday so much that she’s not about to inflict seasonal experimentation on her family. She’s been starting Christmas off by serving the same breakfast for her family for years. “It’s rare for me to get excited about a new holiday recipe or trendy ideas for decorating the tree,” wrote Gaines. “I’m not looking for ways to reinvent this season. Instead, all I want is to gather the same ingredients for the same beloved cinnamon rolls that I’ve baked on Christmas morning for as long as I can remember.”
She hopes the first Christmas for baby Crew shows their new son how much the Gaines value the true meaning of the holiday.
“We get to experience our family traditions through his delighted smiles, with his bright eyes serving as a sort of mirror,” she writes. “I hope he’ll see that we’re not looking for new and improved. But rather we’re taking the best parts of every Christmas past and unpacking them for Christmas present. That we celebrate this season not based on circumstance but based on hope. A hope that’s so thrilling, even a weary world can rejoice.”
The Fixer Upper stars announced in September 2017 that they would end their hit HGTV series to focus on their businesses and family. That show aired its last episode in April. Their new network will be a partnership with Discovery Inc., which also owns HGTV.
“I think we’re really going to carve it out in a way that really makes sense to us and our families,” Chip has said. “It’ll be filmed a lot in Waco, Texas, so we don’t have to travel a whole lot. All things being equal, we could not be more excited.”
Chip and Joanna count among their ventures the new Magnolia Table restaurant and the ever-expanding Magnolia Market at the Silos, which has turned Waco, Texas, into a tourist destination.
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