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Five nights a week, Tom Llamas is one of the faces of election coverage for NBC News NOW.
But on Sundays, he is about 40 minutes north of NBC’s Manhattan studios working out and hitting baseballs with his son at home in Westchester County, N.Y.
“In New York City with kids, you have to get up and go somewhere — whether it’s a car ride, or an Uber, or a taxi — to do anything,” said Mr. Llamas, 45, who moved with his young family to a seven-bedroom home in Purchase in 2022 after five years in a three-bedroom apartment in Midtown East. “As the kids were getting older, the process was starting to weigh on us.”
The home — which is outfitted with a gym, a gymnastics area and a record room — is a welcome respite from the busy news cycle. Over the past few months, Mr. Llamas has gone to Paris to report on the Olympics; Chicago and Wisconsin to anchor from the Democratic and Republican National Conventions; and Florida and New Orleans to cover hurricanes.
“What people are going through during the hurricane is way worse than what I have to go through, but it’s been incredibly difficult,” said Mr. Llamas, who was born in Miami and recently returned from an assignment covering Hurricane Milton in Florida.
Mr. Llamas, who commutes to NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza by either car or Metro-North train, lives with his wife, Jennifer Llamas, 43; two daughters, Malena, 11, and Juju, 8; and a son, Tomas, 7.
PRECIOUS REST Sunday is the only day I’m allowed to sleep in, because the kids have so many sports and events on Saturdays. It’s amazing if I can sleep until 8 a.m. When I’m on the “Today” show during the week, I’m up at 4:45 a.m. Otherwise, I’m usually in between noon and 1 p.m.
OLD-SCHOOL NEWS I’ll make coffee and start reading the paper. That’s The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post. I’ll also look at NBCNews.com, Drudge Report, The Daily Mail, RealClearPolitics. I’ll also light a fire in the morning; I love that there’s space to have fireplaces. Small creature comforts go a long way, especially when you have children.
ORDER UP My wife and daughter Juju will start making breakfast, usually pancakes or omelets. Juju loves to cook — and she’s pretty good at it, too!
SUNDAY SOUNDTRACKS There are certain albums we save for Sundays, which are about relaxing and enjoying the day. If I had to pick three albums for my Sunday playlist, they’d be Bob Marley’s “Kaya,” the Paul Simon live album “Live Rhymin’,” where he sings with the Jessy Dixon Singers, and George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass,” which is the greatest Beatle solo album that exists on this planet.
FAMILY MASS My wife and I are both Catholic, and our faith is a big part of our life. We go to church at Resurrection in Rye and will try to hit the 8:30 a.m. Mass, but if we’re dragging a little, there are a couple of other opportunities at 11:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. When my kids aren’t in sports, we’re going to the 5 p.m. weekend Masses on Saturdays, which are good for families because they’re a little quicker.
BATTER UP We’ll come back home and pop out to the backyard for an hour of family playtime. My son has become obsessed with baseball, so we’re hitting lots of balls, going over his swing. Sometimes the girls come by and want to hit balls, too, or Juju and Malena will play together on the trampoline.
LEFTOVER-PALOOZA We’ll eat lunch at home, which is kind of a choose-your-own-adventure situation. It’s probably sandwiches or leftovers. Sunday lunches aren’t a big thing for us since we’ve usually eaten a pretty good breakfast.
SPORTS BREAK After lunch, we’ll turn on a football or baseball game. My son is obsessed with the Yankees — and has made us all obsessed with them, too — and also loves the Dodgers. My wife is a Saints fan, and I’m a Dolphins fan, so our kids have mixed allegiances.
GYM TIME I try to squeeze in a workout in our home gym. It helps me with stress — we have a SoulCycle bike, and I do a lot of weight training and weight lifting. My kids will often join me. Of course, they’re little-kid workouts — box jumps or trying to hang from the pull-up bar. Their workouts only last about four minutes!
RECORD ROOM I collect records — I have around 200 — and the walls of this room are essentially completely covered in them. I grew up listening to Latin music, classic rock, pop music, reggae. It’s a cool spot where I can go to read, research and get ready for work.
There’s so much preparation I’m doing for election night. It’s like preparing for the bar exam and training for a marathon at the same time, because we’re going to be on television live from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m. There’s seven battleground states, but there’s also states like Virginia, Texas and Florida that are very important, and you have to be ready for anything. The door is always open, and if my kids want to come in, they definitely can. The only rule is that if you come in, you have to play something.
ART WALK When we moved to Purchase, we found this incredible spot — it’s the headquarters of Pepsi, and they built this sculpture park outside. There are beautiful trees, which are all labeled so you can learn about them as you walk. It feels like you’re completely detached from New York City. Every time I go, I discover a new tree or piece of art.
PIZZA PICKUP We found a great spot in Greenwich, Conn.: Glenville Pizza. They have a pie there called the Grandpa Salad Pizza. I was never into salad pizza, but some friends who live near us said, “You have to try this; it’s going to change your life,” and now we get it almost every Sunday. We’ll put in the order around 5 p.m., and my son and I will go pick it up and hang out there for a bit.
FAMILY TIME Sunday dinner is a big deal because I’m never home for dinner, so it’s the one time a week we can all sit down together. Everyone goes around, and they say one nice thing about someone in the family that they did for them that week. It’s more of an exercise for the kids so they appreciate each other, but it’s also good for me and my wife to acknowledge each other.
MOVIE NIGHT We try to watch a funny movie that’s appropriate for everyone, though that’s getting harder and harder. The whole family gave a thumbs-up to “The Sandlot,” and we’ve been watching some of the Adam Sandler comedies. Everyone loved “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” which he did with his wife and his daughters.
BEDTIME, ROUND 1 We try to get the kids to bed by 8:45. Some of the baseball playoffs have been going pretty late, though, so if it’s a close game, I’ll sometimes let my son stay up a little later. He would stay up all night watching the game if he could, but he can’t, so I have to tell him in the morning who won.
TV FIX After the kids are in bed, I’ll read, pray and then watch something with my wife. Lately, we’ve been bingeing “The Perfect Couple” with Nicole Kidman on Netflix. My wife won’t watch thrillers or anything scary at night, so there’s a small window of things we can watch together before bed!
BEDTIME, ROUND 2 If I can fall asleep before 10, that’s a huge win. But sometimes I can’t — we’re in one of the most intense news cycles I’ve ever been through, and clearing my head can be hard. But I would rather get up in the early morning and attack the day, and I know if I want to get up early, I need to get that rest in.
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