Mariah Carey - Queen Of Christmas

This year All I Want For Christmas… (the greatest festive song of all time) turns 25. But how does pop’s own Mrs Claus celebrate the holidays? There’s only one way to find out…

- Nicola Fahey

This month marks the 25th anniversary of her iconic anthem All I Want For Christmas Is You and, as she cuddles up on the sofa with her beloved Jack Russell Cha Cha for our chat in her 10,000-square-foot, peach-coloured Beverly Hills mansion, Mariah is feeling nostalgic. “I’m sitting here and thinking about it – I’ve been looking for pictures from that original photoshoot, which was like me in the snow in that little Santa suit. It became the first song that I wrote for that album.” So how do you write on the classic Christmas songs? “I just sat down, decorated a little tree and put on It’s A Wonderful Life and tried to get into that mood. Then I sat in this small room with a keyboard and starting doing little melodies and stuff. I was going over all the things I think about at Christmas time that make me happy and how to turn it around and make it into a love song.”

The song brought with it an equally iconic video which, of course, sees Mariah cavorting around in the snow and tossing around presents with glee. “See me in the snow in that little Santa suit? That wasn’t a studio, that was real moment,” she says proudly. “I was freezing cold, my hair was frozen, it was outside in a snowy field [in New Jersey], and I’ll just never forget it because there were real reindeer.” But if you’re wondering if MC still dons that Mrs Claus outfit every holiday season, prepare to be disappointed. “I don’t know where it is! That was one of the first things I had done in my career, so I didn’t realise, ‘Oh, save these things because one day it might be something you want.’ But we’re going to have another one made, I think.”