How Tamron Hall Spends Her Sundays

Tamron Hall has a highly organized life — it’s how she manages to put on the “Tamron Hall” talk show five days a week while being present for her family and writing the occasional novel.

“I have a routine,” she said. “It’s my nature.”

Ms. Hall, 53, whose second book in the Jordan Manning crime series, “Watch Where They Hide,” comes out in March 2024, started her literary career during the coronavirus pandemic, while in lockdown. Now she keeps it up in an outdoor writing nook in her backyard in downtown Manhattan, where she lives with her husband, the music executive Steven Greener; their 4-year-old son, Moses; Exodus, a Bernedoodle; and the family’s Senegal parrot, Josephine Birdker, known as Jojo.

“With my father’s discipline” — he was in the military — “I find time to do things that make my soul feel fed on Sundays,” she said.

SWEET SETUP We usually wake up with my son’s internal clock. He’s up between 6:30 and 6:45. He’s a participant in preparing his meals, including breakfast. He helps chop his apple. He’ll put his oatmeal into a bowl. I sit down with a cappuccino with a lot of sugar and a lot of milk. It’s not good for you, but that’s me: I like sweet tea and sweet coffee. My husband usually works out around that time, so it’s time for me and Moses. I’m teaching him how to be more independent. I’ll give him a choice of two outfits to wear, and he gets to choose from those two. I’ll limit the choice, but I’ll give him a choice.

STRENGTH: EXTRA When my husband gets back, he takes over and I’ll do my workout. I have a Peloton and a couple of apps. My workouts are always in flux. I’ll rotate between Pilates and weight lifting. For women over 50, we should try to balance cardio with weights; we do need muscle mass. I do Pilates for mobility. I don’t work out more than 30 minutes. When I’m being really extra, I might throw in a 15-minute stretch.

OPEN-MINDED My church service is from 11 to 12, at Madison Avenue Baptist Church. I’ll leave about 10:30 or 10:40. I walk or ride my bike. I’ve been going there since 2012. At the time I was living in Midtown, and I think I Googled “open-minded church near me.” I stumbled upon it and I fell in love with the Southern minister Susan Sparks. In her off time she’s a comedian, and that’s perfect for me. She’s a comedian who wears cowboy boots.

SLOW BRUNCH My husband is Jewish. He practices his faith, and I practice mine. After church, I’ll meet my son and husband for brunch at Hancock St. in SoHo. It became our ritual after the pandemic. The maître d’, Bob, loves us. It’s a beautiful restaurant with white tablecloths that’s kid friendly without it feeling like we’ve compromised our adulthood by going there.

We always start with cinnamon rolls; that’s the sweetness in me. My son likes crispy bacon, and they do the most amazing crispy bacon. Fun fact: I always said I was not going to be a parent who has an iPad at the table, but I’m a parent with an iPad at the table. It’s being realistic. We’ve been up since 6:30 and we want to not rush through our breakfast. Some days we use it, some days we don’t.

NOT THERE YET Depending on the weather, after brunch we’ll usually walk home. Being a Texan, we drive to the mailbox, so I have a great appreciation for walking now. My colleague Al Roker, when I was on the “Today” show, recommended I buy a bike. Biking became a big part of how my husband and I connected as a couple when we were dating. Now I’m not biking as much, because many people can bike with confidence with a kid on the back, but I’m not there yet. My son’s always curious about New York when we’re walking. He notices everything. When you’re not seeing New York through the eyes of a 4-year-old, you can forget how special it is.

THE MEANING OF WORDS Around 2:30 or 3 my son gets a little tired, and that’s around the time I’ll start scripting for my shows. We’re on five days a week, and three of those days are live.

I start looking at the layout of the show and thinking about if I’m going to ad-lib an intro for a guest. I hate not working. My grandfather was born in 1901. He was a sharecropper, and he couldn’t read — I make my living with words. My work on Sunday is not grueling. Typically it’s a second pass or a third pass of an upcoming show. It’s not a seven-day workweek. My Fridays are more flexible. I can take my son to school and pick him up. And I try very hard not to work on Saturdays.

NUGGETS NO MORE I get a grocery delivery, Fresh Direct, around the same time I’m working on the show, and I start doing the usual thing we all do as parents: What are we going to do for dinner during the week? I always cook on Sunday nights. I don’t have a specialty.

My son’s favorite thing is chicken spaghetti. On Sundays I’ll usually roast two drumsticks, and he either eats it whole or I’ll put it in spaghetti or lasagna or sometimes it’s chicken mac and cheese. For his lunches during the week, I might make chicken quesadillas with more drumsticks. Recently I was able to get him off chicken nuggets.

BED PREP, DINNER PREP One of us sits at the dinner table and eats with my son. I do love the idea of us eating together, but that’s not realistic. At 7 we have Moshi. It’s a children’s meditation video. It helps them get ready for bed. There’s a song that walks them through brush your teeth, put your PJs on, the whole thing. He gets in the bath — he loves a bubble bath — and we start storytime at 7:30. I start cooking after his bedtime. Dinner is pretty late for me and my husband, about 9. I’ll switch it up, depending if I want to do a Sunday sauce. I do a lot of the prep work on Saturday night.

SPLIT SCREENS After dinner, I’m a binge-watcher of TV. I’m a sci-fi fanatic. I love “The Changeling” and “Invasion.” Before that it was “The Walking Dead.” My husband’s show is “Justified.” There are a few things we watch together, like “Only Murders in the Building,” but he has his own thing.

AN UNCLUTTERED BRAIN Before bed, I plan my son’s clothing for the entire week so he has two outfits a day to pick from, and I check the weather. I also take out what I’m going to wear the next day and get everybody’s food out so all you have to do is put out the dog food and uncover the bird seed in the morning. Doing small things like that allows me to keep my brain space clear. Life can seem regimented, but it’s also so much easier when you plan ahead.

Sunday Routine readers can follow Tamron Hall @TamronHall on X and Instagram.