JUSTIN BIEBER’s best Christmas present: “The first two-wheeler bike I got when I was eight. That was real cool.”
BRITTNEY SNOW: “I’m from Orlando, Florida, so I don’t get this whole snow thing. I love to go to the beach and make sand angels.”
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: “I was obsessed with Fame so all I wanted was a leotard and leg warmers. One Christmas, I got a purple leotard, a blue leotard and leg warmers that matched each one.”
KEVIN BACON: “For us, Christmas is an anniversary of sorts. It was on Christmas Eve, 1987, that I surprised my wife [Kyra Sedgwick] with a proposal and an engagement ring.”
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: “One year, when I was a kid, my brother and I begged and begged our mother for a bike. We couldn’t figure out how Santa was going to slide two bicycles down the chimney, but we had high hopes. Then we sneaked out of bed in the middle of the night and saw mum in the living room, cursing as she tried to put together two bicycles. In the morning, we pretended to be surprised.”
KIM KARDASHIAN: “On Christmas Eve, my grandmother would give everyone in the family a set of flannel pyjamas with a holiday theme. We’d wear them to bed and then keep them on all the next day.”
NICOLAS CAGE: “For me, Christmas is about igniting the imagination. One year, my father was in Italy, on sabbatical, and I had a little toy car that was driven by Pinocchio. For whatever reason, Pinocchio’s head fell off the day before Christmas. I played a little too roughly. My father picked up the head and he went into the garden and planted it. The next morning, it was this enormous thing that had grown. I dug it up and found a giant wooden Pinocchio. I couldn’t figure it out, so I started planting everything. I planted all my Hot Wheels, G.I. Joes. My father got me thinking in an imaginative way at a young age.”
MINNIE DRIVER: “Since my parents were divorced, I’d spend Christmas with my father, whom I didn’t get to see that often. He used to take me and my sister away somewhere. One year, he took us skiing in this little town in Switzerland. We flew to Zurich and then took a train through the Swiss Alps on Christmas Eve. I thought we were in a fairy tale. When we arrived at the train station, my father had a sleigh waiting to take us to the hotel. It was every kid’s fantasy.”
JON BON JOVI’s best Christmas present: “My first electric guitar, which my mother worked six days a week to buy for me. I was 13 when I got it. After we had opened all our presents on Christmas morning, my mum said, ‘Jon, clean up under the couch.’ I reached underneath and found the guitar.”
OWEN WILSON: “The best present I ever got was a clack go-kart from my parents, even though, later that day, my brother wrecked it by trying to drive it between two trees, bending the wheel. My dad had a friend who raced cars and he came over after Christmas and souped it up by messing with the engine. That made up for the damage.”
TOM HANKS: “When I was a boy, I asked for a slot-car racing set. I didn’t think I would get it, but on Christmas morning, there was that big box under the tree.”
SARAH JESSICA PARKER: “My husband [Matthew Broderick] is Jewish but we celebrate Christmas with our children. We decorate the house and buy a tree which stands naked until Christmas Eve. After we put the children to bed, we decorate it. We’ll leave cookies and milk for Santa and oats for the reindeer.”
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: “That was the year my sister, who’s seven years older than I am, gave me a real gold necklace with letters that spelled out ‘extra special sister.’ It was the first time I’d received a gift like that from her — something really special. Actually, I had asked her for a Barbie and was disappointed. But I was only eight at the time — and since I’ve grown older, I’ve appreciated the necklace more and more.”
DANA DELANY’s best Christmas present: “The Barbie Fashion Shop! I was really into Barbie when I was a kid.”
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS: “I remember one Christmas as a boy in England when we were snowed in for days. It was a perfect winter wonderland. The world seems so far away. Our family built a big fire. I never wanted the snow to melt, because I felt, that way, Christmas would go on forever.”
KELLY PRESTON: “Johnny [Travolta] and I go to our home in Maine every year. I’m huge on Christmas in the snow and we love to go sledging — in the backyard or on the golf course.”
TYRA BANKS: “I was around seven or eight when I got a Holly Hobbie oven — and I was in heaven. I baked cookies and cakes all day for everybody. When I ran out of mix, my mum tried to help me, and we used a box of cake mix but it ruined my oven…and we didn’t have enough money for a replacement.”
SABRINA BRYAN: “As part of Disney’s The Cheetah Girls, I travel all around the world but, every year, I look forward to my family’s tradition of making tamales. It comes from my dad’s side of the family, and we make it into a whole-day experience while we play music, watch movies and just spend time together.”
MARG HELGENBERGER: “Whenever I can, throughout the year, I shop for my friends and family. Gift by gift, I find them, sometimes in the most unusual places. Long before the holidays, all my shopping is done and I’m not stressed out.”
JOHN TRAVOLTA: “I was eight years old and was given a wonderful toy airplane with propellers that turned and passengers that went in and out. It was battery-operated and very elaborate. I was obsessed with it. And then my older sister Ellen, who was about 21, gave me a gift that was even more magical — my first plane ride — from Newark to Philadelphia for lunch. It took 20 minutes, and I was so excited I thought I’d gone to heaven. Those two gifts formed the beginning of my love of flying — and made for the best Christmas I ever had — until my children came along.”
CUBA GOODING JR’s best Christmas present: “That would have to be when I was in junior high school and found a moped under my tree. My sister and I had to share it, but still…”
NOAH WYLE: “My first best Christmas present was to see Peter Pan at the Pantages Theatre on Christmas night. We sat in the balcony, front row. Sandy Dennis flew up right in front of my face. It was awesome!”
LAUREN GRAHAM: “It sounds like a cliché, but I remember the Christmas I got a puppy. I’ll never forget it because I woke up very early to the sound of whining. I just lay in bed and listened. It was too early to wake the adults but, when I could, I rushed into the living room and acted so surprised when I saw my gift.”
SANDRA BULLOCK: “We have to read and then watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas on television. I have this thing for Dr. Seuss. I just love him, especially around the holidays.”
