Kathie Lee’s ‘Gifts’ celebrates her Conn. home
Kathie Lee Gifford says there’s no place like home for the holidays — hers. Gifford’s new book “Good Gifts: One Year In the Heart of a Home,” celebrates the 20th anniversary of life in her family’s Connecticut home through a collection of photos (many snapped with her iPhone), sweet anecdotes, her song lyrics and recipes.
The fourth-hour “Today” show co-host will donate all proceeds from the book to underprivileged families this holiday season through The Salvation Army’s Red Box Campaign. The campaign — which provides a box of items like non-perishable foods, Christmas CDs, DVDs, hats and gloves to families in need — has raised $420,000 to date, thanks in part to book contributions.
“[The book is] a combination of memories, scriptures and beautiful recipes in our home where we’ve raised a family and built a life together,” Gifford tells the Daily News of her self-published book.
In it, she reflects on milestones like buying her Greenwich house (which she calls the Gifft Cliff), overcoming Superstorm Sandy, and turning the big 6-0 last year.
“Turning 60 was tougher than turning 50 which was tougher than turning 40 which was — well, you get the picture,” she writes.
“I feel like I’m 28, but my thighs tell a different story. So I ignore my thighs and everything else that’s fallen apart and I try to stay creative.”
What’s her secret to staying young? She gets by with a little help from her friends, and “Today” show colleagues.
“They are FUN! Think that’s easy at 4 a.m.?” she jokes about the hour she wakes up for the morning show. “One of my favorite things to do is to invite women I love over for a ‘Girls’ Night Out,’” writes Gifford, who threw a 50th birthday bash for her partner in wine, “Today” co-host Hoda Kotb this past summer, complete with a serenade from Kenny Loggins.
Gifford recounts when she and her husband Frank, a former New York Giant and sportcaster, first put an offer on their house in 1994. “Frank and I couldn’t afford our house when we bought it 20 years ago,” says Gifford, who didn’t get her hopes up when a Wall Street type made a jaw-dropping offer.
But it turned out the man who owned the house was a lifelong Giants fan. The Giffords moved in on their daughter Cassidy’s birthday. “He probably lost a fortune on the sale, but that didn’t seem to bother him one bit,” Gifford says. “Some things aren’t about money.”
The Giffords’ backyard was uprooted from Superstorm Sandy in October of 2012.
“We had been through many storms together in the past but this one, we all knew, was going to be different,” she recalls, adding “250-year-old trees had been downed, more than 50% of our foliage also never recovered from Sandy’s rage.”
The book is a family affair. Gifford includes a savory recipe called “Joanie’s Sage and Sausage Thanksgiving Stuffing,” an ode to her mother’s Turkey Day staple, and remembers her late father with heart-twarming lyrics to a song she wrote called “He Is With You.”
As for 2015, the Daily News columnist has some advice for moving forward. “Keep doing what makes you happy, keep impacting lives and d keep creating something beautiful so you won’t be e tempted to fixate on yourr face.”
jsettembre@nydailynews.com