Faith, Jo Dee, Darius at Thanksgiving

Faith Hill performs at the Nightly Concert on the Vault Concert Stage LP Field Friday, June 6 in Downtown Nashville during the 2008 CMA Music Festival. Photographer: John Russell / CMA

Nov. 25, 2008 — If nothing else, Thanksgiving means a day off for most Americans. And for many of country music’s stars — most of whom live in Nashville — it will likely also include watching the Tennessee Titans football game on TV.

But the holiday, which is built around gratitude, has plenty of meaning and tradition. Here are some of the ways — both conventional and unique — that country stars will be observing the day:

• Faith Hill, who shares her home with husband Tim McGraw, puts giving thanks at the top of the priority list for the day. "I enjoy my children, and I enjoy my life, I live my life — that’s what I’m most thankful for," she told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. "I’m thankful for a lot of things?it’s almost like a domino effect. One makes the other better. My family, my children make music better for me, you know, make everything better."

• For the third year in a row, Jo Dee Messina plans to run in the five-mile Boulevard Bolt, a run/walk fundraiser that assists Middle Tennessee nonprofit groups. She’s doing it even though she’s six months pregnant. "I can't not do it this year because we had so much fun the last couple of years," she told The Tennessean. "When I registered, it was like, 'I'll run it or I'll walk it, depending on how I feel.' Today, I'm still running. I'm planning on running as far as I can."

• Emerson Drive will celebrate the holiday for the second time this year. The group is from Canada, which observes Thanksgiving in October. "We get spoiled," lead singer Brad Mates says, "because we all try to make it home to Canada to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families in October, and now with three of us married, we celebrate with family and friends here in the U.S." Fiddler David Pichette will have an additional reason to be thankful this year. He and his wife, Jill, welcomed a daughter, Emma, on Friday.

• Alan Jackson looks forward to his wife’s homemade stuffing, a "cornbread-based kind of dressin’ that we always have with turkey. That recipe is a kind of a combination of my [mama’s recipe], and Denise has taken it and perfected it over the years, so that me and my children really enjoy it."

• Chuck Wicks associates the day with a non-traditional favorite food choice: "Homemade macaroni and cheese," he says. "I skip the turkey, I skip the ham. I skip all of that. Homemade macaroni and cheese, without a doubt."

• Rodney Atkins’ table will likewise be stocked with another comfort food not usually associated with Thanksgiving, according to Country Weekly: chicken and dumplings.

• After "American Idol" kicked off a year that included the Idol concert tour, recording a new album and promoting it, Kristy Lee Cook is looking forward to going home for the holiday. "It’s gonna be like the first time I actually get to go home and relax and eat a ton of food," she says. "That’ll be awesome." Best dishes: sweet potatoes with marshmallows, pumpkin pie and a dip made with both mustard and mayonnaise. She insists it’s better than it sounds.

• Like Kristy Lee, Montgomery Gentry counts hanging at the house among the day’s best benefits. "We know what it’s like to be on the road and have to work all year long and spend time away from the family," Troy Gentry told GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. "So right from the get-go, Eddie [Montgomery] and I have always tried to make sure? to take off the holidays to be around family." "My mom," Eddie adds, "just basically said ‘I’m cooking Thanksgiving dinner on this day, and if you’re not here, I’m gonna kick your ass.’ So, you know, I always make sure I’m there for Mom. I wanna make sure, ‘cause my mom will."

• Josh Turner might take his gun out to the woods. "It’s a great time to go hunting, especially in South Carolina," he says. "The temperature starts to drop and the conditions get just right, for deer season in particular. It becomes a good time for me to get out in a deer stand and get away from everything — the noise, the lights and the diesel fumes. I can just relax and enjoy the peace and quiet."

• Singer Stephen Cochran, who previously served with the Armed Forces in Iran and Afghanistan, plans to visit the Veterans Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif.

• Darius Rucker’s Thanksgiving usually is spent with the family over food and football, he told Country Weekly. He might have to make some adjustments this year: He’ll be in New York for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which also features Trace Adkins, Miley Cyrus and James Taylor.