Actress Amy Adams has a new interview and Christmas photo spread with Parade Magazine. I love Amy and enjoy reading her interviews, but I have to say that her holiday photos are super cheesy. It’s like they’re channeling her Enchanted persona for Christmas. You get the impression that she’s somewhat like that, though, and that this photoshoot is closer to her real personality than any sexy half-dressed generic starlet spread.

Most outlets are pointing out that Amy is saying she’s not in a hurry to lose the weight she gained while she was pregnant. She’s filled out a little, sure, but I barely see the weight on her. You can tell that she’s not stick thin, but that’s about it. In Parade, Adams also talks about her relationship with her fiance, how they work out their differences and co-parent their daughter Aviana, 7 months.

Adams is promoting her role in The Fighter, alongside Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it earns her another Oscar nomination.

On the holidays
“There was always a lot of energy around my house during the holidays growing up–a lot of food, a lot of football. The whole season has a magical feeling for me that I don’t think ever goes away,” says this middle child of seven kids, who grew up mostly in Colorado and whose parents split when she was 11. As she does every December, she’ll call her dad to get the recipe for the family’s traditional Banana Ice (a frozen whipped concoction featuring bananas, orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, ice, and Sprite or 7-Up). This year, she’s also looking forward to starting some new traditions: “Just little things, like a certain candy in a certain dish,” she says. “I find that it’s the simple things that remind you of family around the holidays.”

How she realized she was pregnant
Adams realized she was starting her own family one morning when she tugged at her refrigerator door. “I saw almond milk in the fridge–Darren drinks it, but I’d never tasted it–and it triggered an animal response,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘I need that,’ and I drank the entire carton in 10 minutes. I looked at Darren and said, ‘I think…yeah, I’m pregnant.'”

On finding pregnancy liberating
She describes the months that followed as one of the most liberating periods of her life. “Being pregnant finally helped me understand what my true relationship was with my body–meaning that it wasn’t put on this earth to look good in a swimsuit,” she says (though anyone who saw her 2008 pictorial homage to Rita Hayworth in Vanity Fair might disagree). “I was like, ‘Look, I can carry a baby! I’m gaining weight right, everything’s going well.’ And I’ve had that relationship ever since.” Since the birth, she adds, “I’ve been working out when I can, and I’m trying to eat in a healthful way, but losing weight is not my number-one priority. It’s part of my job to return to some semblance of what I was before. But I don’t feel I’ve ever made my career on my rockin’ bod.”

On toning up for her role
The role [in The Fighter] required Adams to wear short shorts and a crop top for the bar scenes and lingerie in the bedroom with Wahlberg. “David said, ‘This is kind of how we see her dressing,'” she recalls, “And I said, ‘I’m getting in a gym, ’cause there’s no way I’m going to end up not looking my best.'” But Russell KO’d that impulse, telling her he didn’t want her to look like an actress who’d gotten in shape for a role. “He said, ‘I want you to look like a girl who drinks beer,'” the actress recalls with a laugh.

On her relationship with her fiance
Le Gallo [Adams’ fiance] has also turned out to be “a great swaddler” and helpmate in managing the work/parenting balancing act. The couple, who met in acting class, have been together nine years, but the birth of their daughter has deepened their relationship, Adams says. “Now we understand the importance of teamwork. And if we have a disagreement, we work toward a solution.” They have a policy of never spending more than two weeks apart. For example, when Adams went to New Orleans in August to film an adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Le Gallo and Aviana joined her for the 11-day shoot. At home in Los Angeles, they share baby night-shift duties and have a dinner date once a week. As for a wedding, she says it’s going to happen but isn’t sure exactly when–she hasn’t been able to wrap her head around the planning process.

Mostly, Adams says, she’s been learning to focus on the moment and not be too hard on herself. “The best advice I’ve gotten as a parent is, ‘You’re not gonna be perfect,'” she says with a chuckle at the understatement. “Take today–she’s teething and I want to be in there with her. But I also want to do a good job here for everybody who worked on the film.”

She pushes back a lock of her naturally strawberry-blond hair. “I actually love my work more now, ’cause I feel if I’m going to be away from her, I’d better enjoy it. I’m trying to be more present in each moment of my life. She’s taught me that.”

[From Parade]

Amy doesn’t say anything particularly personal or groundbreaking, but I love to cover her because she’s just so damn normal. Plus we never hear from her unless she has a film to promote and that’s refreshing. Parade also has a recipe from Amy for “guilt free” pumpkin pie with Splenda. I hate Splenda because my son is allergic to it. Regular sugar (or Stevia) has to be much healthier than anything that gives people rashes. Regular sugar also goes along with the whole theme Amy stresses in this interview. She says that her family’s signature holiday drink involves 7-up and that she’s putting out candy in a specific dish to create a tradition. And she’s not pushing herself to lose weight. So let’s see a recipe with real sugar and butter! It feels good to have something minor to criticize her about.

Photos and video are from Parade, which has more photos from Amy’s shoot.