The 54-year-old singer is known to be a huge fan of the holiday period and her own blockbuster single is a fixture throughout the month of December, but she admitted neither that or her other Christmas track ‘Oh Santa!’ are at the top of her seasonal playlist.
“My favourite all-time Christmas song is Nat King Cole’s version of [The] Christmas Song — that’s my favourite,” she told talk show host Jennifer Hudson.
But there is still lots of time for Mariah – who has 12-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with ex-husband Nick Cannon – to listen to her own festive songs because she doesn’t “let anybody listen to anything but Christmas music” during the holiday period, and even the “movies have to be Christmas-related.”
Jennifer asked: “Do you have a favourite Christmas movie?”
Her guest replied: “Well, I love ‘Elf’. I gotta say that. And then I like ‘Miracle on 34th Street’, the original one. It’s an older one, but it’s got something about it.”
The ‘Dreamgirls’ star noted her own favourite is ‘Home Alone’, prompting Mariah to agree: “Yes, everybody loves ‘Home Alone’!”
When it comes to decorating for Christmas, the ‘Fantasy’ singer has multiple trees.
She explained: “In the main part of the house, there will be a nice, tall Christmas tree with gold and silver — not actual gold. Then I have a smaller multicoloured-lights tree, like the Charlie Brown tree, with some ornaments that my fans made for me and different stuff like that.”
And while she admitted “nobody believes” her, Mariah insisted she does her fair share of cooking over the festive period.
She said: “I cook Italian food on the 23rd, because my father had a recipe for linguine with white clam sauce that he left for me before he passed away. It’s very good.
“I make that and some other things.”
“I do a traditional Christmas dinner, and I help. I’m not there doing everything alone. I’m not gonna say that. But I do add a little bit of seasoning.”
