As the release of her highly anticipated new album Made in Canada fast approaches, the country’s queen of R&B teaches us a thing or two on how to party our way though the holidays

CL: What’s your most cherished holiday tradition?
JB: Hands down, my favourite holiday tradition for the past six, seven years is the Xbox Kinect. My mom’s 78 years old. My sister, everyone, we all sleep at my mom’s place and we break out the Kinect and play until we fall asleep. We say we’ll wake up and do presents, and we don’t until, like, 1 p.m.

CL: Favourite Christmas song?
JB: Whitney Houston’s version of “The First Noel.”

CL: What’s on your wish list this year?
JB: Now, this is where I break out
the Martha Stewart in me. I actually want this Frigidaire stainless steel fridge that I saw. It’s like the Transformer of fridges. This is a serious fridge.

CL: How do you plan to give back this season?
JB: Lots of philanthropy. I’m doing work with Care Canada, and I personally believe that when you empower a girl, you empower her whole community. So my platform is educating girls and women in developing countries. We’re actually doing a big event in February for International Women’s Day, and proceeds go to Care Canada’s work in Ethiopia. Tickets make a great stocking stuffer!

www.jullyblack.com