Notre Dame makes the most of Christmas with Holiday Spirit filled practice

ARLINGTON, Texas – Notre Dame took care of business and made plenty of time to celebrate Christmas on Tuesday.

The Fighting Irish (12-0), No. 3 in the CFP rankings, practiced for two hours at AT&T Stadium in preparation for the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the 83rd Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

It was a festive start. Instead of the usual pre-practice music jam, the team warmed up to Mariah Carey’s All I want for Christmas is You and other energetic holiday tunes.

“Today was a good day,” Irish Head Coach Brian Kelly said. “We got in yesterday to get the kinks out and get used to the environment, so today was a lot more like a normal Tuesday for us. It felt like more of a routine day. For us as coaches, we like routines.”

Besides preparing for No. 2 Clemson (13-0, 9-0 ACC), Notre Dame’s team and families celebrated Mass and came together for a Christmas party and dinner.

“The Cotton Bowl does such a great job of hosting families and making them feel part of this experience,” Kelly said. “So the Cotton Bowl and the [team] hotel, all of us being together, it really makes for a special day for us. We can be with our football team and we can be with our families and that doesn’t happen very often.”

On Monday night, former Irish and current NFL players Jaylon Smith and Zack Martin of the Dallas Cowboys and Tyler Eifert of the Cincinnati Bengals joined the team at a comedy show.