Jennifer Hudson is ecstatic to be hosting her first televised holiday special.

Jennifer Hudson: I’ll Be Home for Christmas, airing tonight at 8 PM ET on ABC, features musical performances shot on location in Hudson’s native Chicago. The American Idol-turned-superstar will also introduce audiences to her family, former teachers and childhood friends. She visits the local church where she got her start singing in the choir and the music academy where she studied, among other places.

“The first thing you do for the holidays is go back home, so I went back home, and the next thing you do is spend it with all of your family and your friends in those familiar places. That’s why I chose to go back home and share it and make it personal.”

This holiday season will mark the first for her 4-month-old son David Daniel Otunga Jr.

“I need to make it great for him,” says the Oscar and Grammy winner. “I just want to make it as exciting and fun for him as it was for me. And I want him to have this feeling each time this time of year comes around. Whatever that is, that’s what I want to make my tradition.”