Paul Giamatti on His Classic Italian Christmas Tradition — and the Year His Family's Tree Caught on Fire (Exclusive)

Giamatti has starred in two holiday movies: 'The Holdovers' and 2007's 'Fred Claus'

For Paul Giamatti, Christmas just isn't Christmas without a good panettone.

In a December interview with PEOPLE, The Holdovers actor, 56, shares that while he doesn't have many Christmas traditions, securing a loaf of the Italian sweet bread — a type of fruit cake most often found during the holiday season — is always a must.

"Well, I'm Italian, so we had a panettone every year," Giamatti says. "That's the only thing I still do, which is an Italian breakfast cake you eat on Christmas."

Giamatti, who is nominated for a 2024 Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy for his role in The Holdovers — a movie set in a 1970s-era boarding school over the Christmas season — is no stranger to holiday films. In 2007, he suited up as Santa Claus himself in the film Fred Claus, which he starred in alongside Vince Vaughn, who played Santa's slacker older brother, Fred.

But despite having two festive films under his belt, the father of one — Samuel Paul Giamatti, 21 — says he had "a standard sort of Christmas growing up." Still, he did recall one year being memorable for all the wrong reasons.

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"One year the tree fell over and caught on fire," he shares. "I remember that. Everything was okay, but that was probably the worst one."

If the tree catching fire is his worst Christmas memory, the Oscar nominee's best holiday memory is one involving an unforgettable present.

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"I remember — when I was probably about age 7 — getting a plastic castle set," Giamatti says. "That was probably the greatest thing I'd ever gotten that I remember."

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