Mariah Carey has real reindeer at her house Christmas morning because of course
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Her name is synonymous with the holidays for a good reason, not the least of which is her earworm track "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which has become a wintertime staple since we were first gifted it way back in 1994 and then hit another level of ubiquity thanks to Love Actually.
So when Etalk's Traci Melchor had the chance to chat with Mariah Carey herself, draped in a sparkly red gown and surrounded by throws and pillows and all matter of soft ephemera in front of a crackling fire of course, she just had to know what Christmas Eve looks like at the House of Carey.
"I have to say it's pretty unconventional," Mariah reveals. "Although Santa Claus comes every year—for real—and real reindeer come every year and the kids have grown up seeing this."
But the next morning is where Mariah might surprise you. If you were thinking she goes even harder on December 25, think again. The Queen of Christmas is actually about keeping the festivities low-key after hosting live reindeer and old St. Nick and has never been more relatable.
"It's rough. It's rough for me. Kids wake me up super early," says says with a laugh, referring to 10-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe she shares with ex-husband Nick Cannon.
"But I'm like, I'd rather watch them open their presents, you know, and then kind of like, take a nap."
Same, same.
When asked about what items are at the top of her kids' wishlists, she becomes every frustated parents who struggles to balance teaching children to be patient with wanting to indulge their whims.
"She, my daughter, will ask me, "Mommy, I want this,' and it's, like, something cool you want to get for her. She is an artist; she likes to draw and paint. And so these are, you know, different coloured pencils and also magic markers and stuff. And I'm like, 'Oh, of course, I'm going to get that for you! Put it on your list.' She's like, 'No, why can't I have it now?'
"And I'm like, 'It's Christmas in a month. Oh, do you know that I never got anything like this?' But it's whatever like, you know, I go with it because I want them to be happy. I just want to make their childhood magical," she says.
The singer will do her part to make everyone's holidays a little more magical with her new Apple TV+ special Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues, where she'll be performing a new track, "Fall in Love at Christmas" with Khalid and Kirk Franklin for the first time.
"It's like this love song that bursts into a gospel extravaganza.," she says. "And it's been like my favourite thing for so long, and I haven't been able to play it for anybody because I'm trying to keep it to myself until it becomes a thing."
Like most things Carey touches, it will likely become a thing, maybe even a new holiday standard, when her new special drops December 3.
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