Politics Politician Families Bill Clinton Shares His and Hillary's Holiday Plans with Chelsea and Their Grandkids in N.Y.C. "We always go down on Christmas Eve, spend the night and have Christmas Day with them," the former president says. "And I think it's the right thing to do, intergenerationally" By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall Sandra Sobieraj Westfall Sandra Sobieraj Westfall is a former national political correspondent, digital writer and editor at large at PEOPLE. She left PEOPLE in 2023. People Editorial Guidelines and Virginia Chamlee Virginia Chamlee Virginia Chamlee is a Politics Writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE for three years. Her work has previously appeared in The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Eater, and other outlets. People Editorial Guidelines Published on December 21, 2021 02:50PM EST Hillary and Bill Clinton in January 2018. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Bill Clinton is getting ready for another season of festivities in the Big Apple. "Hillary says I've always been our family's Christmas elf," the 75-year-old former president tells PEOPLE during an interview about his new video lecture series with MasterClass. This year, Clinton and his wife — former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — will continue a tradition of decamping from their Chappaqua, New York, home to spend the holiday in New York City with daughter Chelsea, her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, and their three children: Charlotte, Aidan and Jasper. "We always go down on Christmas Eve, spend the night and have Christmas Day with them," Clinton says. "And I think it's the right thing to do, intergenerationally. And then we normally go to the train display at the Bronx Zoo. It's great." Bill Clinton Shares Secrets of North Korea Talks in New MasterClass, Reacts to FX Impeachment Series The holiday season has long been a special time for the Clintons. Hillary, her husband says, took special pride in how the family tree (kept on display in the upstairs residence) was decorated when the two lived at the White House. "Even when we were in the White House, and they have that huge Christmas tree, she took responsibility every year for how it would be decorated and what we would do at Christmas," he says. "One of the most valuable things that came out of that was her effort to get American artists and craftspeople to contribute to Christmas." Bill (left) and Hillary Clinton. AP Photo/Mark Duncan The couple still keeps a memento from that time: a set of glasswork designed by American craftspeople. "It's down at the library and we've always got parts of it on display," he says. Want to get the biggest stories from PEOPLE every weekday? Subscribe to our new podcast, PEOPLE Every Day, to get the essential celebrity, entertainment and human interest news stories Monday through Friday. Clinton is close-lipped on what he's getting his wife this year, though he says his track record with gifts includes a few big winners. "Every now and then I had a home run," he says. "I gave her a ring once after we had been married for 25 years, and she liked that a lot." Close