ormer University of Virginia and NFL star-turned-announcer Tiki Barber didn't have a lot of Fourth of July family traditions when he was growing up in Blacksburg. Neither did "Today" national correspondent Natalie Morales.

They have one now. Barber, a Barber"Today" correspondent and "Football Night in America" studio analyst, and Morales return this year as hosts of the "Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular" at 9 tonight on NBC.

The salute to the patriotic holiday is one of several programs with a Fourth of July theme airing today.

Barber's Fourth of July traditions didn't start until he was drafted by the New York Giants.

"After I came into the NFL, we started taking trips down to the Outer Banks [North Carolina] and having a big barbecue with five other families and doing our own little fireworks show down there, which has always been fun," Barber said during a telephone interview.

"Now that I work on the Fourth up here, we do it the day before, and so they get kind of two. They get my personal one and my friends' personal ones down in North Carolina, and then they get the one that I'm hosting on NBC. It's kind of the best of both worlds."

Morales lived overseas while growing up because of her father's military service, so she didn't have a lot of Fourth of July fireworks.

"But I think every time that Moraleswe did visit the U.S. around that time, we were always tuned into the 'Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular,'" Morales says.

The NBC telecast includes performances by Natasha Bedingfield, Kenny Chesney, Katharine McPhee and Jordin Sparks. The telecast also includes the nation's biggest fireworks show. The musical soundtrack for the fireworks is "American Dance."

Robin Hall, executive producer of the salute, says more than 35,000 fireworks shells will be used in the television display.