Valerie Bertinelli has made some new traditions over the years, but her Thanksgiving dinners these days are anything but traditional!

The celebrity chef, 65, spoke with PEOPLE at the 2025Food & WineClassic in Charleston about her Thanksgiving plans on the road this year ahead of the upcoming holiday.

Bertinelli’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen34, whom she shares with late ex-husband Eddie Van Halenis currently on tour with his band Mammoth.

“Thanksgiving for me, the last few years has been interesting because my son’s been on the road,” she explained. “So the first Thanksgiving, I think it was four years ago, we had Thanksgiving in Milan with Alter Bridge, the band. And it was amazing. It was fun. Not a Turkey in sight though!”

She laughed and continued, “The next year, I don’t know where we went. And then last year we were in Secaucus (New Jersey) at a Houlihan’s and it was so much fun. We all sat at the bar because the restaurant was full and they sat all of us, the band, everyone — my brother, my son, his wife — was there. It was fun. And this year I think we’re going to be in Kansas City. I love it. So it’s wherever Wolf’s bus takes us, that’s where we’re going to be for Thanksgiving.”

Though the holiday season will be full of travel and festivities, Bertinelli says that she’s excited to have some time to wind down and relax in the following weeks.

“I’m looking forward to some really great family time and animal time because I do travel a lot, but I won’t be traveling for a little bit during December, so that’ll be nice,” she said.

Bertinelli said that in the months ahead, she’s also looking forward to filming episodes ofThe Drew Barry Showwhere she serves as a lifestyle expert and the release of her forthcoming memoir,Getting Naked.

The book, which is slated for a March 2206 release, features a stripped down cover of Bertinelli stripped down in her living room, an idea she says she came up with herself.

“I told my editor that I think maybe I should be naked on the cover, and then after I said that, I’m like, ‘Oh, now I have to actually do it!’ because I don’t do that,” Bertinelli told PEOPLE. “I’ve never done, you know, naked scenes in any movies or anything. But I was surrounded by a team that I use all the time, and they’re like friends and family to me; the photographer, he is like a friend and family to me and his team.”