LOS ANGELES?Somehow, in the mad rush of interviews with the stars before the holidays, we were able to bring up the subject of Christmas?their plans, traditions and thoughts about it. Here are excerpts:

?We have a proper log wood fire in my living room that really gets me in the Christmas mood,? ?Harry Potter? star Emma Watson said in our chat in London. ?And we have mince pies. That?s a very English thing. If you?ve never tried one, mince pies are absolutely delicious. You must have a mince pie.?

Emma added: ?We always watch really good Christmas-y films by Richard Curtis like ?Love Actually,? ?Bridget Jones? and ?Notting Hill? or old BBC dramas like ?Pride and Prejudice.? I always play Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby?s Christmas album which is great ... I curl up with my cats. I?m a cat person.?

Emma observes these traditions at her own place in London which she painted white. ?My life is so chaotic and mad, so everything in my apartment is white,? she explained. After the holidays, she goes back to her studies at Brown University and in her dorm where ?everything is blue and other calm colors.?

Rupert Grint confessed that he?s a serial shopping procrastinator: ?I usually do the shopping at the last minute.? Otherwise, Rupert claims that it?s a pretty conventional Christmas in the Grint household. ?We usually have a routine and we?ve stuck to that for the whole of my life,? said the carrot-haired actor who told us they have miniature pet animals at home. ?I have a massive family. We just stay at home. It?s good to get everyone together. It?s a good time.?

In contrast, Daniel Radcliffe has a smaller gathering. ?The whole family?it?s only a small group of us, really?get together and that?s it,? said the actor who?s doing musical theater on Broadway next year. ?I?m always at home for Christmas. My only holiday wish this time is that England goes to Australia and win The Ashes (a cricket series). I?ll be staying up late quite a lot more to hopefully watch them win.?

The stars of another popular book series-based film franchise, ?Narnia,? namely, Georgie Henley, Ben Barnes and Skandar Keynes, echoed each other: There?s nothing like being in their respective homes in real life, not in the titular fantasy realm.

Anne Hathaway, who stars with Jake Gyllenhaal in ?Love and Other Drugs,? said, ?The holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year. I really get into it. I love decorating, like trimming the tree, baking and cooking. But the reason I love all those things is because my family is usually in one place and that means we?re doing all these things together. It?s so wonderful. We go for long walks with our dogs and then go inside, make hot cocoa and watch films. It?s very innocent and nice.?

The holiday spirit of giving is not lost on Anne who explained, ?When you?re a child, the gifts matter a whole lot more. You want your new toys, etcetera. My family is very lucky. We don?t really need anything so we donate to groups like the Heifer Project (a charitable organization) or we?ll adopt a family for Christmas.?

Anne said that family members try to make each other presents. However, she couldn?t help but go out and buy something for a special person in her life. ?I usually break down and buy my mother something,? the actress confessed. ?She is my mom. But we?re more about things from the heart and making things than we are about splurging on items.?

Colin Farrell quipped: ?I?m a ho ho ho baby. I love Christmas?it?s my favorite time of the year. I really do love it.?

The Irish actor joked: ?Once a year only though ... I?ll be in Dublin. I?ll be there for two weeks. Irish expats from all over the world will come home for those two weeks. We?ll all sit around, eat and drink.? Colin, who has been clean and sober for several years now, added: ?I?ll have a Diet Coke now but I love it.?

He?s not big on giving gifts, said Colin, who appears in ?The Way Back,? Peter Weir?s drama about a group of men who escaped from the Siberian gulag in 1940. ?I?m so lazy when it comes to that. I?m the worst.? But Colin more than makes up for it by calling and greeting friends.
Filipino-American cinematographer Matthew Libatique (?Black Swan?), who shot Colin Farrell?s first major US movie, Joel Schumacher?s ?Tigerland,? told us that he was surprised and touched to get one such call from Colin last Christmas.

?I can cook but not the Christmas dinner,? Colin declared. ?For me, the trouble with cooking a Christmas dinner is the timing to get it all together. My mother will do the cooking. I?ll help her out a little bit.?

Without meaning to, Jim Carrey reminded us where his zany humor comes from?his family. ?I can?t even tell you about the old days because I wouldn?t remember,? the Canada native quipped. ?All we did was get drunk on Christmas eve and sleep through the morning. For the Carrey family, it has always been about letting loose and having as much fun as possible?being complete donkeys, you know. Just spending time with each other. We?ve gotten naked and run out into a snowy field together. There have been insane things that happened in my family.?

Jim, who teams up with Ewan McGregor in ?I Love You Phillip Morris,? said, ?I go back to Canada a lot of time. I will probably go to a property there this Christmas and gather the whole family. Just have a blast. It gets blurry ... Food and gifts and all that, but the most important thing is to just stand in the kitchen and joke with each other.?

For Rachel McAdams, another Canadian actor, ?Christmas is usually pretty much the same. I?m always with my family in Canada. We do the big Christmas dinner.?

With a chuckle, she revealed: ?We still have the stockings?we can?t seem to let go of the stockings. My mom was like, ?You are 30 plus. It?s time to put the stockings away.? My brother, sister and I were like, ?No, we love the stockings.? That?s our favorite part, so what we do is everyone buys something for each other?s stockings. We all contribute something special so it?s not just my mom going out and buying.?

She likes to cook, stressed Rachel, who top-billed ?Morning Glory.? ?I like to do the sweet potatoes. We take turns with the duties every year, from setting the table to cooking.?

The thought of Christmas motivated ?Tron: Legacy? heroine Olivia Wilde to heed those early morning call times. ?When I?m getting up in the freezing cold at 4 a.m. to go to work, I just think, soon there will be Christmas and I?ll be able to sleep,? she remarked. ?I?ve been looking forward to the holidays for so long. I have so much to be thankful for this year. Christmas is going to be a fun time.?

A vegetarian, Olivia admitted that, in her household, she?s responsible for bringing in the non-meat food items to the table. ?No one else will do it. Being married to an Italian and the child of an Irishman, I have to say there?s not a lot of vegetarian instincts in my family,? she said. ?But my sister and mother and I are vegetarians. I love the seasonal local vegetables that California has. It?s so easy to create amazing meals with them so I?ll do my best.?

(To be concluded Saturday)

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com.