Jason Kelce started a new tradition on Thanksgiving this year — a family viewing of A Philly Special Christmas Special.
Jason, 36, uploaded a video to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, November 23, of his eldest daughter, Wyatt, 4, sitting on the couch alongside his parents, Ed and Donna Kelce.
“Do you want to see the donkey?” Jason asked as A Philly Special Christmas Special could be seen on the television in his living room. The animated short features Jason and fellow Philadelphia Eagles players Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata in their second annual Christmas special, which debuted on Thursday.
Jason, Johnson, 33, and Mailata, 26, released their second holiday album, A Philly Special Christmas Special, earlier this month. Proceeds from the release benefit Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Last year, the debut A Philly Special Christmas album raised $1.25 million for charity.
This year, the trio shook things up by recording an animated special to go along with the album’s release.
“One year ago, Eagles linemen Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson surprised us all with a Christmas album,” famed Eagles announcer Merrill Reese said while narrating the holiday special. “This year, they’re putting on a whole Christmas show!”
Of course, animated versions of Patti LaBelle and Travis Kelce — both of whom were featured on this year’s album — were also in the special.
Lynch, 81, asked Travis, 34, if the group of “merry men could turn from blockers to rockers?” Naturally, Travis was skeptical.
“This needs to be the best Christmas show of all time,” an animated Jason told his teammates. “We need music, we need stars, we need donkeys. So, let’s kick this off with a classic.”
They kicked off the musical portion of the “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),” which was complete with an actual garbage fire … because of course it was.
Then, it was time for Mailata’s debut with Philadelphia native LaBelle, 79. Together, they sang her song “This Christmas.”
Before recording the duet, Mailata noted that he was “very nervous” to sing with “the queen.”
“I got stage fright,” Mailata admitted during an interview on Today late last month. “Every time I opened my mouth to sing with her, I just couldn’t.”
Nervousness aside, they sounded fantastic together.
The animated feature also included a donkey as Jason sang “Dominick the Donkey.” Travis, watching the entire performance go down quipped, “Hard to say which performer was the bigger ass … can I say that?”
“Pretty Paper,” “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and “Fairytale of Philadelphia” (featuring Travis) were among the other songs performed within the special. Days before A Philly Special Christmas Special premiered, the Kelce brother duet actually reached No. 1 on iTunes.
“That’s right, ‘Fairytale of Philadelphia,’ our song from the new Christmas album debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes chart,” Jason gushed during the Wednesday, November 22 episode of their “New Heights” podcast. “That’s right, we are officially rock stars.”
Jason went on to credit Travis’ girlfriend Taylor Swift’s fans for the listener boost. (Travis and Swift, 33, kicked off their romance in September after she was spotted at one of his NFL games.)
“We owe a big thanks to one group in particular, besides [‘New Heights’ fans] the 92 percenters, and that’s the Swifties, ‘cause the Swifties came out,” he added. “I sent out one tweet when it got to eight, and I got, like, 85 tweets from Swifties across the world saying, ‘Oh, you think eight’s good? We’re taking this to No. 1,’ and they did. It’s a powerful group, it’s a powerful group of people.”
