How can people find your music? DanAshleyMusic.com
What is your current single and/or album? “Outside Looking In” and “Put Up the Lights”
What was a typical Thanksgiving meal look like for your family? Thanksgiving is a very special holiday in our home and we really try to be mindful of the meaning of the holiday—to be thankful. My wife, Angela, is an incredible cook, a gourmet-level chef in many respects, so she goes all out to prepare an elaborate meal. In fact, she begins preparing food days beforehand. My only significant contribution to the meal is to bake three apple pies, a recipe from my late mother. I always tell people she made the best apple pie you’ve ever had and, when they taste it, they almost always agree. The secret is a few of her trade secrets that make her apple pie incredibly tasty. The day is about being together with our family and friends with great food, great conversation, laughter, and some football!
What were your Thanksgiving traditions when you were younger? When I was a kid, Thanksgiving always involved “The Turkey Bowl”, a tackle football game with the neighborhood kids. That tradition continued into my late twenties, only it wisely became touch football. When my kids were little we always took them to a church or a shelter for a couple of hours to serve meals to those in need. We wanted to make sure our children were aware that they were fortunate and they should help those who were not. I remember watching in tears one year as my two boys went around the room asking people at the dining tables if they could bring them anything. They didn’t want to go that morning, but it turned out to be a meaningful day for them and a good life lesson.
How has your Thanksgiving celebration changed since you have became an adult? I don’t really think it’s changed too much. It is still one of my favorite days of the year and we tend to keep the same traditions and the same foods. They have all become familiar touchstones as the years pass which creates a familiar and comforting continuity to Thanksgiving and the other holidays as well.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving Day memory? Certainly one of my favorite Thanksgiving Day memories was just a few years ago when all of our grown boys, my two and Angela’s three, went for our traditional walk before the meal and then curled up to watch a Christmas movie afterward. A wonderful memory of a perfect day.
What are you most thankful for this year? I am a very fortunate person to have such an incredible wife in Angela. We have great kids with whom we have terrific relationships. I also have three siblings, two brothers and a sister, and we are extremely close and talk every day. So, family.
Do you prefer artificial Christmas trees or real trees? Well, that’s an interesting question. When Angela and I got married a few years ago, I had a really nice artificial tree. She would have nothing to do with it as she loves a real tree, which I do as well. But the fake kind sure is easy! She started a tradition with all of the kids, along with one fiancé’ and one wife, to go out Friday after Thanksgiving to all pick out a tree together. It’s really special. The good news is that my artificial tree has now earned a spot in the front hallway. So we have two each year!
When do you decorate your Christmas tree? We decorate it over the course of a couple of days after we get it home on the Friday after Thanksgiving, starting with the lights of course. But the tree-topper, sometimes a star and sometimes a Santa, doesn’t go on until Christmas Eve.
What is your favorite Christmas song? What makes it your favorite? There are so many! Of course, I am partial to the two I’ve released, but my all time favorite is probably “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”- I love the way it takes me to the holiday as depicted by Charles Dickens. After that, I would probably say “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams.
What is your go-to holiday drink? Hot Chocolate for sure.
What is your favorite Christmas present that you have ever received? Captain Lazer. He was an action figure in the 70’s whose ray gun, chest emblem, and eyes lit up when you pushed the buttons. I still have it on a shelf in my study to this day. I found it again after cleaning out my mother’s house after she passed in 2017.
What were your Christmas traditions when you were younger? I was the oldest so I was in charge of making sure my three siblings didn’t’ come downstairs before 7:00am as our parents requested. So we would sit at the top of the stairs together and wait anxiously. We didn’t wait one minute after 7:00! After opening presents, mom always prepared a wonderful meal as we played with toys amid a pile of wrapping paper, boxes, and ribbons in the family room.
How have your Christmas celebrations changed since becoming an adult? Not really. I’ve always wanted to give our kids the same kind of memories that I was so grateful to have from my parents. Angela is really remarkable in the way she honors traditions from year to year. We really try to create for our children lasting and meaningful memories of the Christmas season that they will carry with them for their entire lives, as we have.
What is your favorite Christmas memory? I remember being about nine years old when, on one Christmas Eve, I woke up to the sound of sleigh bells over the house. It was so vivid and so clear that I had no doubt about what it was. I ran to my little brother’s room because his window looked out on to part of the roof so that I could see the sleigh land. Strangely, as real to me as the sleigh bells I heard were, I saw nothing. But the next morning, it was very clear that Santa had indeed been to our house and had landed on our roof.
How do you spend the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day? Panic shopping. Just kidding! I get it done early now. I may pick up a few last-minute gifts the week before Christmas but, even if I don’t need to, I like to go to shopping areas and just enjoy the atmosphere. Watching the hustle and bustle and appreciating the good mood most people seem to be in. It’s really magical to me. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day I spend anchoring the news at ABC7 in San Francisco where I’ve worked for thirty years. It’s usually a quiet week and kind of festive to be on the air for our audience as they tend to be at home with time away from work. New Year’s Day itself, I also spend at home. I’m not a New Year’s Eve person at all, but I like to be off on January 1st as a time to relax and reflect on the year that’s past and look forward to the next.
How do you spend New Year’s Eve? Having never been a New Year’s Eve reveler, I always volunteer to work that evening and ring in the new year with our audience. I do, however, zip out of the station right away while Angela leaves the house to meet me a few miles from home so that we can be together for a hug and a kiss at the stroke of midnight.
What do you typically eat on New Year’s Day? Being from the south, we often have Hoppin’ John (rice, black eyed peas, stewed tomatoes, and onions). We usually have ham, cornbread, green beans, and other fixings. And, of course, chips, salsa, and other snacks for football!
Do you have a New Year’s Resolution for 2025? I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions for some reason. I suppose it’s because I really do try to focus on goals or areas of improvement, etc. all year long. That seems more achievable.