During an interview with Elle, Mariah Carey said that she would go overboard for Christmas, even if she didn't have any children. She explained, “After I kind of emerged from my first relationship-slash-marriage to Tommy Mottola I created the Christmases that I wanted to have. A lot of very bad stuff happened to me when I was 12. But also, there is the spirit of that kid, that fighter who doesn’t give up, who does embrace who she is, even though the world didn’t understand that from my point of view.”
She continued, “I literally go to a snowy place. Reindeer are there — I’m not making this up. Santa Claus comes, hangs out with the kids. And by the way, even if I didn’t have kids, I would be doing this.”
She added, “I think it’s just that longing that I had as a child, that I always wanted things to be perfect for the holidays. And they never were. It was always somebody ruining the moment, always these dysfunctional family members who came around and foiled everything. And so I just made a pact with myself that I wasn’t going to allow that to happen anymore.”