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Winter Wonderland: (l-r) Mariah, Nick and Jasmine

MTV Base's Jasmine Dotiwala spills the behind-the-scenes-beans

MY Christmas adventure began in New York

where I had 24 hours before my annual trip

to Aspen with MC (Mariah Carey). I used

the time to cram in plenty of fun: brunch

with Tracy Cloherty, former head of New

York hip-hop radio station Hot 97; a visit

The Ritz Carlton at Central Park to see my

former boss/ surrogate older sister Kim

Luck; and a visit to Estelle’s stunning

Brooklyn apartment, where she was cooking

for some of her peeps!

The next morning I met MC's family and

we headed to Aspen, where we arrived to be

greeted by a lovely dinner. As we held hands

and prayed for our festive blessings, I

should’ve prayed for luggage, coz mine

didn't arrive until the following day!

Next, after doing our Christmas shopping

in quaint yet horrifically expensive Aspen

town, we arranged a men vs women

snowman building competition, with both

teams trash-talking each other and making

‘secret SAS snow plans’!

Later, we had our traditional two-horse

sleigh ride through the snowy packed

mountains, where MC and hubby Nick (who

from hence forth are to be referred to as 'Mr

and Mrs C’) are still so loved up only

months after being married. Their clothes

compliment each others’ most days and they

hold hands whenever they're together. Mr C

clearly adores her and I've never seen her

looking so at peace and smiling so much. I'm

not surprised though. Nick really is a very

entertaining, multi-faceted guy who always

makes us laugh in fun moments, as well as

engaging us in deep and educational

debates. They really are a match made in

heaven.

We had fun trying to out-sing each other

with Christmas songs where Mr C brought a

whole new flavour to the game this year by

remixing many of the songs into dancehall

beats, complete with DJ-style "rewind selector

and come back again" chants. It was hilarious!

On Christmas Eve, we wrapped our gifts

whilst sat by the fire and Mr C’s brother

Shawn was heckling all sorts of things that

were, shall we say, not exactly in the name of

Jesus! Ironically, we later headed to church

for midnight mass, which was led by Nick’s

best friend, ‘Minister’ Kase. He did a

fine job of reminding us that God has his own

plan for us all. He was the flyest sneakerwearing

pastor I have ever witnessed!

Christmas day began with me wanting to

kill someone who was banging on all our

doors yelling "ho ho ho" early in the

morning. When I emerged to see who was

causing the commotion, there was Nick

dressed as Santa, complete with beard and

boots!

We all had breakfast then pulled our cards

out of our personalised stockings and began

opening presents. I must have been on

Santa’s good list, as I got great gifts

including a Gucci top, O Neal purple ski

goggles, an ipod Nano and diamond

earrings. But my best gift was a beautiful

photo album of Mr and Mrs C's wedding,

with stunning photos of the day and a

personalised message that I will treasure

forever!

After opening gifts, we jumped into our

bikinis and splashed into the outdoor hot

tub. Mrs C and a couple of the fam rolled in

the snow, but Mr C and I were ok in the

sanctuary of the boiling water!

That night, we wore red to our traditional

Christmas dinner where this year we had

‘fried’ turkey. Apparently, it’s a San Diego

thing (where Mr C is from). It tasted just as

good as roast turkey and only took 45

minutes to cook!

The next few days for me were full of

relaxation – and yoga. At one point whilst,

going into my sixth sun salutation on my

yoga mat, I felt so content and at peace.

Working out whilst hearing Mrs C cooking

her annual clam linguine just yards away in

the kitchen, and hearing laughter and

conversation bubbling away was a great

moment.

On December 29, we got up bright and

early and took the private jet to St Martin en

route by boat to St Barts for the second part

of our magical annual adventure. As we

touched down at Princess Juliana

International I thought: how appropriate!

Part two next week!

Jasmine Dotiwala is the head of MTV

Base. Email her at: jasmine@hiphop.com

Published: 12 January 2009
Issue: 1354

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