If there was ever a year we needed something to celebrate, it’s 2020, at least according to Carrie Underwood. The 37-year-old released her My Gift Christmas album earlier this year, and says it is more important than ever to bring on the holiday spirit.

“I’ve heard of people decorating their houses with Christmas stuff early, and about radio stations that usually flip over and start playing Christmas music,” Carrie tells Nashville Lifestyles. “They’re doing it earlier this year. People do need Christmas. They need some hope, some happiness to look forward to,” she says. “I also think people just want this year to be over. Christmas is the happy finish line to 2020.”

The Oklahoma native also just released her My Gift: A Christmas Special From Carrie Underwood, streaming now on HBO Max. The special was, in many ways, a gift to herself as well, after spending so much of 2020 unable to perform, even if she had to do it without an audience.

“I was really glad I played the Opry [a few weeks earlier] and got to be onstage and see it empty,” Carrie reflects. “But I would say that the feeling of gratitude and happiness—getting to sing and getting to play—outweighed the weirdness. Even writing sessions and stuff like that aren’t really happening right now, so that outlet has been taken away from us to some extent. I could still walk around my house and sing however much I want to, but getting to be onstage with a microphone in hand… I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder.”

Carrie recorded My Gift at the start of 2020, finishing just as the world was feeling the impact of COVID-19.

“We got so lucky with this project. We started working on it before everything got shut down,” Carrie reflects. “It was such a bright spot in my year because I got to have Christmas real early. I got to go in and sing these songs and just feel that joy early in the year.”

The mother of two might be grateful the holiday season is here, but she still has no idea how her family will actually spend Christmas Day.

“I don’t know 100 percent,” Carrie admitted on the Today Show. “Usually we spend it with family, but obviously everybody’s just rolling with the flow, and trying to figure out what their plans are going to be, and we’re the same. But no matter what, the four of us are going to be together. That’s what it’s all about, so we’ll figure it out as we go along.”

Purchase My Gift at CarrieUnderwoodOfficial.com.