Meghan Markle Says 'Every Year It Gets Better' When It Comes to Holiday Traditions with Prince Harry and Their Kids

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"Every single holiday is a new adventure," the Duchess of Sussex said in a new interview

Meghan Markle is opening up about her favorite holiday traditions with her family.

In an interview with Marie Claire, the Duchess of Sussex, 43, said, "I love the holidays," and said of Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3, the children she shares with husband Prince Harry, 40, "every year it gets better."

"At first, I think as a mom with children you're just enjoying having them there, but they're not understanding everything that's happening yet," she said. "But now we're at the age where I just can't wait to see it through their lens every year."

As Thanksgiving approaches, Meghan told the outlet that the family of four are "always pretty low-key," and that, of her mother Doria Ragland — who the family now lives near since they relocated to Meghan's home state of California in 2020 — "being close to my mom is great."

"I was thinking about, in the past few years of having Thanksgiving here, like many of us, I think you always make sure there's room at the table for your friends who don't have family, which is really key," Meghan said. One such friend? None other than Gloria Steinem, who "came for Thanksgiving" last year.

Of the Thanksgiving holiday itself, "We're always making sure we have something fun to do," she told Marie Claire. "Like any other family, you spend time having a great meal and then what do you do? Play games, all the same stuff, someone brings a guitar — fun."

"Every single holiday is a new adventure," she added, as she stressed the importance of Archie and Lilibet experiencing the "magic" of traditions like "great recipes that they end up connecting to a formative memory."

For Christmas, the Duchess of Sussex added, the family puts "carrots for the reindeer" out as one of their traditions.

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Marie Claire spoke with Meghan as she hosted a holiday dinner for Afghan women starting new lives in the U.S. — specifically California — in Venice Beach, part of the Archewell Foundation's Welcome Project. The women of Mina's List, an organization that empowers women in politics and human rights, joined the Southern California chapter of the Archewell Foundation's Welcome Project for the dinner at Our Place, a woman- and immigrant-owned cookware company.

Harry and Meghan launched the Welcome Project in 2023 to support programs for women who have resettled in the U.S. from Afghanistan, and there are currently 11 Welcome Project branches in nine states.

"From my standpoint, I think part of why we wanted to make sure we had this opportunity to all be together again — so many of us — right now is that as the holidays come up, and have already begun in many regards, it brings up so much emotion for people," Meghan told the group at the dinner.

"You miss home, you miss your country, and also can find comfort in the new community that you have here," she continued. "I'm grateful that we are able to be a part of that community."

"All of you have stories to tell, and the power of you telling them and sharing them with each other — with our broader community — is what will help propel the change that I think we all dream of," she said.

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Meghan told Marie Claire that The Welcome Project "is that perfect example of seeing an immediate need and then saying, 'Okay, how do you make this a much larger vision so it's not just a short term banding on a problem, but a long term solution?" She added that it was rewarding to see women "on the other side of what has been a really hard time for many of them, more than most can imagine."

After hearing a story of a woman who'd been separated from her son for years, Meghan said, "As a mom, can you imagine not being able to see your child?"

Of the women of the Southern California Welcome Project in particular, Meghan said, "For so many of them it would be very easy to go, 'My life has ended, because everything I knew that I was familiar with is gone.' But these moments of togetherness that they have with each other and the Welcome Project, I hope, reminds them that no, your life is just beginning. It's a very, very different chapter. It's the beginning of something where you've taken steps that you never thought you would."

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As for what others can do to help people feel welcome, "It's really easy," Meghan told Marie Claire. "Just think about how you'd want someone to treat you … How would you want someone to open their arms to you?"