Picture: Kris Jenner, Instagram
The Kardashian-Jenner family is known for being over-the-top—especially when it comes to their Christmas decorations. This probably comes from the fact that the family matriarch, Kris Jenner, is especially fond of the holiday. “It is my favorite day of the year,” the mother of six tells AD. “We talk about and plan for Christmas all year long. Just the whole season is so delicious.”
Of course, they have a secret weapon to help them deck the halls: florist-to-the-stars Jeff Leatham. He has worked with the family on many occasions, and typically helps Jenner decorate her home for the holidays. This year, Leatham and Jenner are teaming up to host an Airbnb Online Experience where they will teach up to 10 guests their holiday decorating tips and tricks. The experience, which benefits Watts Empowerment Center, sold out in mere minutes, but on December 15 at 11am PT/2pm ET, fans can tune in to watch a livestream of the event on YouTube.
Below, Jenner tells AD more about her famous family’s love of Christmas and how she’s decorating her home this year.
Architectural Digest: What is the theme of your Christmas decor this year?
Kris Jenner: We are going vintage. I’m particularly fond of ornaments by Christopher Radko and I have been collecting those for a couple of decades now. I’m doing a green tree all lit with white lights and full of Christopher Radko ornaments. The way that they have always styled their ornaments on greens is just an overabundance of ornaments kind of overly stuffed onto, for example, a garland. I remember the first time I ever saw one. It was magic. It just evoked such an emotional feeling.
It is special that you are using this collection you’ve had for such a long time.
A fun fact is that a couple of weeks ago, [my daughter] Kourtney [Kardashian] started pouring on the sugar. She was trying to be super nice to me for days and I’m like, what do you want? And she said, “I just want to borrow your Christopher Radko ornaments from when I was a child.” I said, “Well, you don’t need to butter me up anymore because I’m already using them on my tree.” And then the following week I got another call saying, are you sure you don’t have any extra ornaments? A couple of days ago she stopped asking me and started asking my assistant because she thought she would get a different answer.
What have you learned from working with Jeff Leatham and what is your relationship with him like?
He has become one of my dearest friends. He is a beautiful man, a beautiful soul. The nicest person in the world. On top of it he is incredibly talented and creative. I met him at [my daughter] Kim [Kardashian]’s wedding in Paris. We were staying at The Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris and he does the flowers in the lobby there. The first time I ever walked into the lobby I just stood there and it took my breath away. My grandmother always had a love of flowers and I think she really passed that down to me…I have always just been so appreciative and fascinated by flowers and gardening. One day I saw this guy walking down the hallway and he had his arm full of flowers and I said, “Excuse me, are you the one who did the flowers in the lobby?” He said yes and asked me my favorite flower—peonies—and the next day my room had so many peonies. There were so many flowers in my room you couldn’t believe it. I couldn't even move.
Is there ever any competitiveness among the different family members about who can have the best decorations?
Oh, my God. Is there ever. Of course! I remember one time I wanted to do an ice skating rink. We were really getting carried away back in the day. Kim wanted to do an ice skating rink as well and we were discussing who was going to do it. Then Kim found some lighting that Jeff had shown her and I liked the same one. She said, don’t you dare do this lighting. It was funny. You know what it is? We all want to surprise one another. We have so much fun decorating and we can’t wait until all the family comes over.
Are you able to pick a favorite Christmas decor theme from the past?
One of the ones I liked off the top of my head was the candy theme. Jeff did a huge tree in the entry of my house and I had the black-and-white checked floors and he did this red-and-white-striped candy, these huge giant pieces of candy all over this gorgeous tree. It was just out of a dream.
What is your favorite family Christmas tradition?
I thought you were going to ask me to pick a favorite daughter! This is much easier. I think my favorite has to be our Christmas Eve party. Just celebrating together as a family.
Why did you decide to partner with Airbnb for this limited-time Online Experience?
The kids use Airbnb all the time, and I use it when we travel, and it's just been an amazing experience. It made perfect sense.
Written by Rachel Wallace.
This article originally appeared on Architectural Digest.
