Exclusive: Mean Girls' Lacey Chabert talks holiday homeware must-haves and the Christmas tree lighting method you need to know for 2024

While the holiday season is short and sweet, oftentimes we wish we could exist in a festive world year-round. For actor Lacey Chabert, this is nearly a reality; the performer has starred in over 15 Christmas movies for the Hallmark Channel, which means she has got a lot of inspiration from sets for her own home decor.

'Not only have I got inspo [from being on set], but I may have taken a thing or two as well,' she tells us over the phone recently. 'Obviously, with permission, I haven't actually stolen anything. The set decor on the Christmas movies that I do is so incredible and gives me so many different ideas and I just love it. I love to walk in and see what these incredibly talented people have created and it changes the whole mood of the scene with your environment.'

As the unofficial queen of Christmas movies, it makes sense that she has joined forces with Russell Stover Chocolates to promote a holiday sweepstakes centered around happy memories.

'I can remember back to being a kid and being at my grandparents' house and seeing that beautiful box of chocolates and so excited to take my favorite piece,' she tells us of the collaboration. 'And it's something that through the holidays, through the years, I've always given as a gift over the holidays or a stocking stuffer. And so it just felt like the perfect partnership. And I love celebrating. I love hosting. I'm really into gifting chocolate, especially during the holidays.'

When asked about white lights vs. colorful lights (an eternal debate), Chabert says she actually goes for both nowadays.

'I typically go for the white lights, but now that I have trees in different rooms, I've decided to kind of do a different theme for each tree,' she explains. 'So I have ones like gold and metallics, and I do have one that has red and green and more traditional. And then I have one that has some pink and mint green, the pastel color theme. I try to mix it up. I love a real tree because I love the way it smells. But if you have artificial trees, you can obviously pull them out much sooner. So that's kind of been a bonus for us too.'

Chabert tells us that when it comes to celebrating the holidays, she likes to get her family together, usually at her parents' house, though she takes decorating her own home pretty seriously.

'I'm definitely not a minimalist,' she shares. 'The more glitter, the more sparkle, the better. I have multiple Christmas trees. I keep adding to the collection every year. I just love when it feels like a winter wonderland in our home. I've decorated quite a bit already and I still have more to do. We have a really special Letters for Santa mailbox and my daughter puts her Christmas wish list to Santa in it every year ,and it magically disappears overnight. Elf on the Shelf, they come and have a lot of fun in our house as well. And I have ornaments that my grandmother made when I was a child that we still hang up and I have ornaments that my daughter's made throughout the years. I just love the special memories that those things bring up when you take them out of the box every year.'

When it comes to holiday essentials, however, Chabert needs a few items on hand for a happy (and sweet holiday).

'I love a good candle,' she says. 'Obviously the typical things like garland. I have that everywhere. The more twinkly lights, the better. And then my Russell Stover chocolates, which will be going in everyone's stockings.'

Shop some of her essentials below.

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