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It’s no secret that Mariah Carey loves Christmas. The Grammy-winning singer and actor has been deemed the unofficial queen of Christmas by fans and non-fans alike. And now, she’s sharing her love of the holidays with children in a new book.

Mariah Carey smiles on stage
Mariah Carey performs on ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’ 2019 | Terence Patrick/CBS via Getty Images

Mariah Carey loves Christmas

Mariah Carey’s love of Christmas actually comes from a dark place. She opened up about her childhood and her relationship with her family and the holidays in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

Carey looked back fondly on decorating her house and singing Christmas carols while her family tried to put all the “trauma and drama” in their lives to the side for at least one day. But by the time Christmas dinner rolled around, her brother and sister would get in heated arguments that would “explode in a torrent of verbal abuse.” 

“I would sit there in the center of the chaos, crying and wishing,” Carey remembered. “Wishing they would stop screaming, wishing my mother could stop them from screaming and cursing. Wishing I could be somewhere safe and merry — somewhere that felt like Christmas.”

All Carey wanted was to escape and find her own happiness. “I set about creating my own little magical, merry world of Christmas,” she reminisced. “My imaginary Christmas was filled with Santa Claus, reindeer, snowmen, and all the bells and trimmings a little girl’s dreams could hold.”

Mariah Carey wrote a Christmas-themed children’s book

In early 2022, Carey announced that she was releasing a new book that in many ways was written for little Mariah. The Christmas Princess is a children’s book that is meant to uplift and inspire kids both around the holidays and year-round.

“So many of us have been drowning in ‘bleakocity’ for the last year and half, why not create an enchanted land to escape to?” Carey told People in a statement. “The Christmas Princess springs from the same need as my memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey — to emancipate the little girl in me.” The book was co-written by Michaela Angela Davis, who collaborated with Carey on her bestselling memoir, while the pages were illustrated by Fuuji Takashi. 

“Little Mariah represents my inner child believing in her own vision, she represents all children, especially those who feel like outsiders or ‘others’, striving to believe in themselves,” Carey continued. “It is for all children of all ages. It was empowering to transform my childhood turmoil into a modern classic fairytale full of wonder and boundless hope.”

Carey was honest about her intentions with the book in an Instagram post announcing its release. “The Christmas Princess is a fairytale for holiday lovers of all ages!” the singer said in an Instagram post. “Little Mariah represents my inner child believing in her own vision, she represents all children, especially those who feel like outsiders or ‘others,’ striving to believe in themselves. It was empowering to transform my childhood turmoil into a modern classic fairytale full of wonder and boundless hope.”

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Mariah Carey’s reign over Christmas continues

Carey’s grip on all things Christmas won’t be letting up any time soon. In 2019, she earned her 19th No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” 25 years after its release. Not only that, but the song has topped the chart every holiday since then, making her the first artist to have the same song go No. 1 in four separate years.

Carey has also worked to keep fans fed and feeling tipsy during the holidays. She launched her Mariah’s Cookies brand in 2020, and in 2021, she launched Black Irish, her own brand of Irish cream.

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