MARIAH

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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 for The Voice