JB- Christmas is here, a time to be with the loved ones.

BM- Yup.

JB- You have a special new loved one, I know, added to your family.

BM- Yes.

JB- What are some of the Mulroney family traditions? Take us inside one of your holiday dinners. What happens?

BM- Oh, everyone gets together to cook our Christmas dinner. Our Christmas dinner has been expanded to include good family friends. We get together in Florida because, you know, I am not a stickler for a white Christmas. I like to get out of the snow every now and then, and getting down to my parents' place in Florida for a few days is always nice. We have some good family and family friends who join us. The Christmas dinner that we cook is phenomenal. My brother Mark a few years ago bought a deep fryer for a turkey so we actually make a turkey in the oven and deep fry one and, believe it or not, the meat of the deep fried turkey is more tender than the over-roasted one. And we have phenomenal dinner followed by a midnight mass. Then we come back from midnight mass, we open a couple presents, we go to sleep and we open the rest of them the next morning.

JB- I'm just on the WestJet website. Where in Florida am I going?

BM- (laughing)

JB- What's your favourite thing about the holidays? What's the thing you look forward to?

TK- This year, I just purchased a new place, a new home. So, my family -- my mom, and dad and my brother -- will be driving up from the Sault (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) to come and stay with me and the dog. We're just going to have a nice little family Christmas in Toronto. So I'm very much looking forward to relaxing and spending time with family and friends. We're pretty hectic throughout the year so it'll be really nice to just spend some quality time with the family.

JB- Do you have a favourite goody that you wait all year for? Mine is eggnog.

TK- You know, I've never had eggnog before.

JB- Oh my.

TK- What is eggnog? Ben was trying to explain it to me once.

JB- It's like a thicker kind of milk but sweet.

TK- Ewww.

JB- You have to try it.

TK- Ewww.

JB- OK, I'm going to send you a carton of eggnog.

TK- Really? With booze? There's booze in it, right?

JB- No. If you put it in there… I know how the eTalk newsroom is!

TK- Ben was mentioning rum. Something like that, I don't know.

JB- Ben would.

TK- Favourite treat for me for the holidays… to be honest with you, I'm not really a sweet tooth, I'm more of a salty snack person. So throw a bowl of Cheezies my way and I'm good as gold.

JB- What about chips and onion dip?

TK- Chips and ohhhhh! Like plain Ruffles and onion dip, yes. That's delicious.

JB- You know, in the States they've got Lays onion dip. Have you seen that?

TK- No, I haven't seen that.

JB- It's a little orange jar of Lays. Yeah, when I was in L.A. in September I brought like four or five jars back.

TK- Lays onion dip.

JB- Yeah, check it out.

TK- That's amazing. OK, when I'm there for the Oscars, I'm going to go look for the Lays onion dip.

JB- Yeah, I was shocked.

TK- (laughing)

JB- That's all I was having for breakfast in my hotel room.

JB- Ben, do you have a favourite holiday treat? Besides the turkey, of course. Like pie or any kind of dessert?

BM- I like a pumpkin pie. Down in Florida we bring out the festive key lime pie as well. My mom has this recipe for these phenomenal carrots that she makes with onions and a little bit of garlic and salt and pepper, and she just puts it in a pot that allows them to start caramelizing on their own and when they come out they're incredibly sweet. And they are the perfect addition to the stuffing and mashed potatoes and the gravy and the turkey and the ham and everything.

JB- I just put on 10 pounds, Ben.

BM- It's phenomenal. I've already prepared, by the way. I already went out and bought all of these sort of protein shakes and the new gym shoes for when I get back to town and after new year's I am ready to get back in shape.

JB- Do you have any new year's resolutions?

TK- Nooooooo! Jeremy, come on! Who keeps those? (laughing) I'm just kidding. Um, new year's resolution. Probably just… hmm… to learn how to say no without feeling guilty. That is to say, I guess, taking better care of myself. Maybe… is that a decent one?

JB- I was going to say learning to walk backwards.

TK- (laughing) You know what… thank you! That one I think I could do for sure. So I think I might be able to keep that one, so maybe I'll switch my resolution. I appreciate the advice.

JB- What I'll do is I'll swing by the newsroom with some eggnog and…

TK- Sans rum!

JB- Exactly. We'll get messed up on eggnog and walk backwards.

TK- OK, great.

JB- And people can watch us through (the studio's) windows.

TK- It's a deal. I look forward to it.

JB- What can we expect on eTalk in 2009? What are you covering? What's happening? What's going on?

TK- Of course, the Academy Awards. You know, the award show season is just gearing up right now so we're just getting ready for all of that. Academy Awards will be the first major one, I would say. ETalk will be bigger and better in '09. We just moved into our new storefront studio on Queen Street West. If any of you guys are in the neighbourhood, come on by and knock on the window, come say hi. We'd be more than happy to see you. I'm sure Hollywood and Hollywood North will be giving us lots more to talk about in the new year.

BM- You know, as Hollywood grows, so too will we. Juno coverage in Vancouver will be better than ever. I know we've got ambitious plans for our backstage Juno lounge where all the stars come out after they win. Of course, the Oscar red carpet where we have the best position. We are right behind ABC so we have the number 2 position on the red carpet. Expect us to be on every red carpet, breaking every story and to start to push the envelope and do things that haven't been done in this country. I think there's this expectation you need to go get your information from other sources from other countries, and that's just not the case. We have the best production team in the country -- and I would say on television -- working upstairs to put together the best TV show that they can. And what you see on television is just that: cutting edge, edge of your seat, sort of giving you the latest and greatest news that Canadian entertainment junkies need.

JB- It makes you want to say, Entertainment Tonight Canada who?

BM- Oh, uh, I, um… I'm not aware of that show! (laughing) I'm, I'm sorry, I don't know that show!

JB- You're not missing much, Ben!

BM- (laughing harder)

JB- Ben Mulroney, Tanya Kim, thanks for joining us today. Check your local listings to catch Ben and Tanya talking everything entertainment on eTalk on CTV. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

BM- All the best. Talk to you soon.

TK- Happy Holidays to you and yours.

JB- Thanks very much. Take care.

TK- Bye.