Unique traditions for Padres' Green at holidays

First-year Padres manager Andy Green was able to get away from San Diego this week, hopping a plane with his family to get away from baseball and get back to family in his native Kentucky.

Green, a native of Lexington and a former standout for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, has spent Christmas at home with family for as long as he can remember.

This year won't be any different.

Green recently spoke with MLB.com about the holidays, some unique traditions he was raised with, and what Christmas means to him now that he has his own family.

MLB.com: So paint a picture for me of what a typical Christmas was like growing up in Lexington.

Green: [Christmas] was big for me. It was all centered around my grandmother [Virginia Wesley Rentz, known to all as "Wes or "Weeso"]. My fondest memories were waking up early on Christmas and she would always be awake in the living room. She always let me open a present, one-on-one. That was as special as anything.

MLB.com: The mood would get pretty festive from there, right?

Green: My cousin would come over and she would play "Feliz Navidad" on the record player.

MLB.com: So you open presents and all, but there was much more to it than that.

Green: What stands out is the crazy games she used to have us play. She was a PE teacher, so she put her whistle in her mouth and had me and my brother, Tommy, stand back-to-back and she would start rifling dollar bills in the air for us to grab.

MLB.com: I don't think I've ever heard of such a thing.

Green: It probably wasn't really in the Christmas spirit, but in our house, it was cheered. It probably sounds a little dysfunctional. I could go on and on about the Christmases we had.

MLB.com You have a family of your own now -- wife Jessica, daughter Lainey (8) and twins Emily and Anna (6). Andy, don't tell me you have adopted any of the craziness you had growing up into your Christmas traditions?

Green: We've kept it somewhat low-key. As a parent, for me, the most exciting time is watching my daughters get up on Christmas morning and come out in their pajamas and see the tree, hearing their squeals and screams.

MLB.com: So no fighting over dollar bills. Anything you've transitioned from your Christmas as a kid to what your kids do now?

Green: When I was little, we used to sit and read from the Book of Luke, myself and my cousins. Now my daughters sit with their cousins and read that story.

MLB.com It's certainly been hectic since you were hired, and I know you haven't gotten back to your home to Arizona much, let alone Kentucky. You have to be looking forward to this?

Green: We're heading back to see my mom and family. You try and spend it with the people you love and who you don't get to spend much time with.