Alison Sweeney Embraces Big Change in Family Holidays: ‘So Hard’ But ‘Thrilled’

Alison Sweeney’s life has taken some big turns this year, and she’s facing the changes with strength and a good sense of excitement. One of those changes is that her oldest child, Ben, is now in college. It puts a different spin on the holidays.

“It’s so hard,” she admitted to People. But, she was quick to add, “We’re thrilled for him.”

Alison Sweeney Celebrated Her Son’s Return for Thanksgiving

In an interview with People, Sweeney talked about how different the holidays are looking for her now that her son Ben is off at college. It’s not easy, she said, but they’re working around the changes and still enjoying their time together.

“It’s so hard,” Sweeney told People. “We’re planning stuff, and then I have to text him and say, ‘So, when do you want to come home? How long you thinking of staying here?’ He’s got a whole new life, but we’re so excited to have him come home for Thanksgiving, and then we’ll plan Christmas. But we’re living vicariously for him, letting him have this great new life out in Texas, and we’re thrilled for him.”

But Sweeney was quick to share her excitement when son Ben did come home for Thanksgiving.

“We are all in on holiday spirit!” she wrote on Instagram. “We stayed up late last night hearing all about school life. As an aside, he’s adopted the phrase ‘y’all’ quite quickly.”

Sweeney and her husband Dave Sanov helped their son move into Baylor University this year, Soaps reported.

After he left for college, Sweeney admitted that the tears “sneak up on me” sometimes, but she tries to “stay under control,” she told People.

Sweeney’s Son Used to Take Her Daughter to School Every Day

She and her husband also have a teenage daughter, Megan, who was born in 2009, Wide Open Country reported. Megan rides horses, and Sweeney is very proud of her.

Sweeney told People that one of Ben’s “chores” was taking his sister to school every morning. She joked: “So we’ve been aware this whole time of like, ‘Wait, who’s going to take Megan in the morning?. We had a built-in Uber driver there!”

She also told People that her favorite memory of Christmas with her son dates back to when he was just five years old.

“He woke up on Christmas morning and Santa had totally transformed his room into a Star Wars room,” she recalled. “[The] bedding he slept in and stuff on the walls. I … got a video of him just like, ‘Wow.’ He was so young and so sweet and sincere, the magic of Santa just really blew his mind. That is a memory I will treasure forever.”

Sweeney’s new Christmas movie, “This Time Each Year,” premiered on October 24.