Lady Rerun Talks about Her Favorite Holiday Traditions and Her Father’s Bobble-head Christmas Tree

Born in Los Angeles, California, Portia Allen (also known as Lady Rerun, daughter of the famous entertainer Fred Rerun Berry) spent most of her childhood in Atlanta, Georgia with her mother and little brothers.  Allen is now an actress, celebrity hostess, radio and TV personality and plus-size model.

As she got older, she would fly back to LA to visit her famous dad for the holidays and that offers some pretty unique stories about celebrating the holidays!

At her mom’s house, they started celebrating the holidays early. Allen says they put up the tree the first week of November, before anybody else.

On Thanksgiving, they switched around from her house and her grandma’s house. Her grandma always made “slap your momma food” says Allen. “You’d be embarrassed from eating so much.”

The kids ate from paper plates and the adults had the fancy china. Allen says it was a true rite of passage once you were allowed to eat from the fancy plates! You were officially an adult.

Her very favorite dish at the holidays is green bean casserole, “made with cream of mushroom soup, crunchy stuff and so many green beans you can see them. I love it!” she says.

The tradition of having dinner together as a family was so strong, you didn’t even have to call to say you were coming – you could just show up, she says.

Going to see her dad at the holidays offered something completely different.

“It was like two different worlds,” says Allen. At her mom’s, they would have a tree and play board games and eat huge meals. At her dad’s, they may or may not have a tree. They usually stayed with someone else and oftentimes, ate the big holiday meals at a restaurant.  With her dad, she was either in LA, New York or Alabama, closer to where her mom was.

Her dad was most famous for his role as “Rerun” in the hit 70s show “What’s Happening” and later “What’s Happening Now.” His famous red beret and suspenders were his trademarks and he wore them even after the role ended because that’s how people identified him.

He was also known to be a fantastic dancer and later in life became a Baptist minister. After being diagnosed with diabetes, he lost over 100 pounds as well. He passed in 2003 while recovering from a stroke.

Because of his fame and fortune, Allen didn’t get a lot of wrapped gifts at Christmas because her dad would take her to the store and buy her whatever she wanted. “He’d buy it and say ‘Merry Christmas’,” she says.

One of her strongest memories of Christmas with her father is his ancient bobble-head Christmas tree he kept on the dashboard of his car. That was his Christmas tree most years.

He was married six times and Allen says his wives were always trying to sneak some holiday traditions in for him but he was always like “whatever.”

One of her most favorite traditions from childhood that she has now carried on with her own three kids was getting candy bags from her auntie.

Each kid had a bag with their name on it which made it personal and really their own. In the bag was “real” candy, she says, “not the cheap $1 kind everyone throws away.” Also in the bag was an apple, an orange and a scripture. Each kid’s scripture verse was different and always meant something special for that child based on what was going on in his or her life.

“I always looked forward to that,” she says. Now she makes her own bags for her kids and puts them under the Christmas tree. It makes her feel nostalgic to do something from her childhood now for her own family.

One thing she misses from childhood was their tradition of lighting candles for passed away loved ones. They would turn off the lights and remember the person in the candle-lit darkness.

She feels the most important part of the holidays is learning how to receive with grace. She says giving is easy but feeling the blessings of receiving from someone is important because “someone else is blessed too by giving.”

You can see Allen in a SafeAuto commercial currently airing in 14 states as well as some up-coming projects with Ernest Thomas who played Rog on “What’s Happening” with her dad. She also judges talent contests and does plus-size modeling. For more information about Allen and her work, please check out her website at www.ladyrerun.com.

Photo courtesy of Paul Amoido Photography