Holidaze

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree ... how pricey are thy Executive Branch's expenses?

The cost of President Trump's second National Christmas Tree Lighting on Wednesday totaled $141,944 -- up slightly more than $2k from 2017 ... according to federal receipts.

The White House tab includes $115k for event management services, $14,322 on a sound system rental ... and $12,622 for ballistic glass to protect Donald, Melania and the fam.

For comparison -- the cost of lighting the tree last year was $139,881. We originally thought it was $128,424 ... but we found an additional invoice for more than $11k on event management.

Perhaps Trump heard about consumer spending being up on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and joined the party.

BTW, this Christmas bill doesn't the include the giant evergreen -- it's usually donated -- or the notorious blood-red trees Melania picked to line an East Wing hallway.

An OG castmember of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is firing back at critics who call the holiday classic "problematic" for the modern world.

Corinne Conley, who voiced the dolly for Sue in the 1964 TV special, tells TMZ she can't believe the outcry of criticism after more than 50 years of it being a beloved tradition for kids and their parents.

Critics came for 'Rudolph' this year, calling it out for sexism and bullying -- like the scene where Rudolph is forced to cover his red nose just to avoid all of the other reindeer laughing and calling him names.

Corinne, however, insists that any bullying or negative plot points are happily resolved by the end of the show. In fact, she contends if someone was a bully before watching, they'd learn a valuable lesson by the time the credits roll.

Bottom line for Corinne ... Rudolph should go down in history, and not just for pulling Santa's sleigh.

If this isn't the most Mariah Carey move of all time we don't know what is ... 'cause teaching her twins backup vocals is pretty legendary.

Mariah put Moroccan and Monroe to work Wednesday night, teaching them the backup vocals to her 1994 classic "All I Want For Christmas Is You." You can tell the kids have listened to this song once or twice ... they jump on cue when the song starts.

Roc and Roe -- as Mariah's dubbed them -- are definitely into this. You can see Moroccan crack his fingers and dab before putting in some work. Mariah kicks things off before the kiddos jump in with their I's and O's.

Mariah says the kids have been practicing the vocals ... and bravo, 'cause they nailed it.

A North Carolina man grabbed a shotgun and fired at his son during a HEATED Thanksgiving Day argument about kneeling players in the NFL.

Makes you feel a little better about your family, right?

Here's the deal ... cops say 51-year-old Jorge Luis Valencia-Lamadrid had invited family members over to his home for Turkey Day when his two sons began arguing about NFL kneelers.

The sons began fighting and Jorge tried to break it up -- but realized his kids were too strong. So, he went and got his shotgun.

Officials say Jorge told his 21-year-old son -- who appeared intoxicated -- to leave the home.

Things began to escalate again -- and the son allegedly threw a water bottle at Jorge, striking him in the face -- and causing him to squeeze the trigger on his gun.

The shot connected with his son -- striking him in the hand and leg. Jorge told cops he checked on his son, made sure he wasn't seriously injured and then went inside to change his clothes.

Don't worry, the son will be fine.

As for Jorge, he was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He's since been released.

Could Tim Tebow's days as an unmarried man be numbered?!?!

Certainly seems that way ... 'cause the ex-NFL superstar brought his Miss Universe girlfriend to the Tebow Family Thanksgiving -- a sure sign that things are getting THAT serious.

Tim and Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters -- Miss Universe 2017 -- have been dating for a while now ... and they've been getting super cozy with each other the last few months.

Remember ... the South African model wished him a very public "happy birthday" back in August AND the two had a date day in New York with DLNP's fam in September.

In fact ... Demi even hinted she was "falling in love" with the minor league baseball star after the two hit up a Florida game last month.

But, the couple took things to another level last week ... when Tim brought her to the fam's turkey dinner.

"My first American style Thanksgiving with the sweetest family," DNLP said of the holiday ... "Grateful for an incredible year and everyone I got to share it with."

Tim never got a ring in his 3 years in the NFL ... but we wouldn't be shocked if he bought one pretty soon!!!

11/25 -- Ariana eloquently responded to a Twitter troll who accused her of "milkin" Mac Miller's death, saying quite simply ... "i pray you never have to deal with anything like this ever and i’m sending you peace and love." Ari later tweeted, "some of the sh** i read on here makes me sick to my stomach. it scares me the way some people think and i don’t like this world a lot of the time. if only we could be more compassionate and gentle with one another. that’d be sick."

Halsey jumped to her defense, telling AG's trolls in not-so-subtle terms to STFU. Ariana responded to Halsey with, "i love you very much."

Ariana Grande still has Mac Miller in her memory bank ... and Thanksgiving was a day for her to remember out loud.

Ariana posted this pic of her and Mac that was snapped one year ago to the day ... November 22, 2017. Her message -- simple -- "you're v missed."

It's clearly way bigger for Ariana than Throwback Thursday ... she was torn apart by Mac's death.

TMZ broke the story ... Mac died in September of a drug overdose. According to the L.A. County Coroner, Mac died from a mixture of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.

Ariana gave Mac a shout out in her song, "thank u, next."

Justin Bieber and new wife Hailey Baldwin went ice-adjacent at the Ontario Junior League.

JB and HB seemed somewhat more into themselves than the game, as the Stratford Warriors battled the Kitchener Dutchmen. Justin cheered on Stratford -- his home team as they scored a goal.

Justin's grandparents were beside them in the stands, as Justin and Hailey joined in the chuck-a-puck, a Canadian Junior Hockey tradition where fans buy pucks for a buck to raise funds for the team, and then throw the pucks onto the ice during intermission. The person who throws the puck closest to the center wins a prize.

7:33 PM -- GOOD NEWS!!! The Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute has rescued the baby sea lion and it's being dubbed #99 because it's the 99th seal the org has saved this year. We're told volunteers found the pup had turned up at Mussel Shoals, which is about 7 miles south from where it had originally been spotted by Kaley & Co. on Thanksgiving Day.

We're told the male pup is very underweight ... at just 26 pounds. The good folks at CIMWI will provide medical care for the pup and rehab will last for a few months before the pup can fend for itself. Awesome!!!

1:33 PM PT -- Kaley just took to Instagram and said her husband, Karl, went looking for the pup up and down the beach and they did not see it. She added that she assumes the pup is OK and might have gone back into the ocean since the tide was close to the rocks where the pup was stranded.

10:14 AM PT -- The Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute, whose volunteers showed up to the beach to offer help, tells TMZ ... "unfortunately, we were not able to attempt a rescue effort [Thursday night] because it would not have been safe due to the animal's location on the rocks and the sun setting." A rep for the org also tells us people at the beach last night said they would check on the animal Friday morning and call the hotline if a rescue attempt was needed but it has not received any phone calls. The org added that volunteers are at the ready to respond if the pup shows up again.

Kaley Cuoco did a good deed on Thanksgiving ... an unexpected one as she strolled the beach and spotted a baby sea lion in a desperate state.

Kaley was spending the first Thanksgiving with her in-laws in the Santa Barbara area when she saw the animal on a rock, clearly in distress.

Kaley and hubby, Karl Cook, called a 24-hour marine and wildlife hotline and asked for help in rescuing the sea lion.

While they waited, a bunch of volunteers came to lend assistance. Everyone stayed, trying to help.

The sea lion's condition is unknown. We'll update when we find out.

Well done, Kaley and Karl.

Shaq didn't need to throw on a cape to become a hero and comfort a family that had just been involved in a scary car crash, because he had a different superhero outfit -- Broward County Sheriff's issue.

The NBA legend was on his way to give away turkeys in Florida on Thanksgiving when he and members of the Broward County Sheriff's Office witnessed a head-on collision. Shaq and the deputies rushed to their aid ... you can see him comforting the kids.

After cops handled the situation, they all continued on with their plan to hand out turkeys. BTW ... Shaq was on holiday duty. He recently became an "auxiliary deputy" for the Broward Sheriff's Office. See, even NBA Hall of Famers get stuck working the holidays when you're a newbie.

Dikembe Mutombo loves Joel Embiid so damn much, he wants the young star to carry on his legendary finger wag ... so he's offering up personal lessons!

First off, props to Mutombo who spent his Turkey Day volunteering at the Hosea Williams Feed The Hungry Thanksgiving dinner in Atlanta. Good on you and everyone involved in that program.

As for Embiid, Mutombo has previously talked about how he views the Philadelphia 76ers star "like a son" -- but clearly thinks the kid needs a little more swag in his game!

"I'm trying to teach him the 'No, no, no! Not today!'"

Ya gotta watch Dikembe talk about Embiid -- he loves the guy ... but he also loves to tease him about how he'll never break his records or go down as the greatest NBA player who hails from an African country.

And, if you want to learn more about the Hosea Helps organization -- click here.

Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger got all Kennedy fam for Thanksgiving ... goofing around and playing a little football.

Katherine and mom Maria Shriver spent Thanksgiving morning on a hike and then watched as the guys got into it with the pigskin.

It's actually a momentous and sad day in the Kennedy family ... 55 years ago yesterday, Maria's uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas. Football is a significant sport because JFK and the brood always played during holidays.

It's clear, Chris and Katherine are super serious ... almost a year after his split from Anna Faris.

Hailey and Justin Bieber celebrated Thanksgiving together, as well as Hailey's 22nd birthday, along with friends and family.

Justin's mom, Pattie Mallette, posted the vid ... capturing the fam singing to Hailey as Justin holds a cake with candles. The second video shows how they did it up with a larger cake that Justin shoves into Hailey's face.

As Hailey blows out the candles, someone happily yells out "First married birthday!" They hug, and Justin says, "I just want to say, she's the love of my life, she's amazing..."

Hailey's cousin Kahlea Baldwin was also there.

Justin and Hailey secretly tied the knot in September at a New York City courthouse after taking out a marriage license. Still unclear why they wanted to keep it so under the radar.

They're expected to have a big ceremony sometime early next year ... possibly in Canada.

So far, so good.

If money's no object this Black Friday, and you're willing to spend a bit LOT more on that special someone -- why not drop millions for a fancy smell? 'Cause this year ... you can.

Morreale Paris has rolled out a brand new line of perfume that retails for $20 million. That's more money than any of us could ever hope to see in our lifetimes -- but hey, somewhere out there is some Richie Rich who's thinking ... "Eh, I'll give it some thought."

The reason for the astronomical price tag ... it's literally covered in gold and precious stones. The $20m bottle is laced in over 20,000 diamonds and rubies from Russia, Botswana, Cambodia and Thailand -- all of which sit on an 18-karat gold frame.

You're also getting the most bang for your buck if you make the purchase -- bottles come in multiple sizes, from 5L to 7L and even 10L.

Maxime Rancon is the creative director behind the whole thing, and tells us, "Le Monde sur Mesure is an absolute work of art, a true conversational piece, it is the most exclusive and luxurious perfume in the world. Rancon was also the brains behind the incredible video for Nile Niami's Opus mansion.

Rancon created a video for the fragrance directed by Clement Oberto and starring Logan Polish and the voice of Loan Chabanol.

As for the fragrances, Morreale will customize an aroma of your liking. You can mix scents like black pepper from Vietnam, cardamom from forests of southern India, cinnamon from Sri Lanka, grapefruit from the Caribbean, lavender from the Canary Islands, cloves from Madagascar, juniper from the French Alps, and lemongrass from Cambodia/Vietnam ... among other options.

Rita Ora is taking tons of heat for lip-syncing her performance at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade ... but with freezing temps and technical issues, the deck appeared to be stacked against her.

Check out the clip ... Rita is standing on a float, doing her best to put on a show, but everything is totally out of sync.

Social media users were quick to blame Rita, but Macy’s blamed the hiccups on tech issues and apologized, saying the problems were out of the artist's control.

John Legend, who also performed in the record-low temps, quickly came to Rita's defense, explaining why lip-syncing was necessary for the parade ... and they both said vocals at their shows are 100 percent live.

7:45 AM PT -- Looks like Tekashi will be dining at a new facility for Bird Day. TMZ broke the story, Tekashi got moved to a new center late Wednesday night for "security reasons."

The most notorious prisoners behind bars this year will partake in Thanksgiving like the rest of us.

According to prison menus across the country, guys like Tekashi69, Bill Cosby, Suge Knight and Paul Manafort -- all of whom left public life in jumpsuits in 2018 for one reason or another (or several) -- are set to be served relatively modest meals Thursday, all of which include basics like turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce and greens.

Here's what 6ix9ine will be chowing down on in Brooklyn's MDC:

-- Turkey or eggplant, mashed sweet potato, corn, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, biscuit and pumpkin pie

Cosby at Pennsylvania's SCI Phoenix:

-- Turkey (or a garden burger for vegetarians), bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green peas, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls with margarine and pumpkin pie with whipped cream or fruit

Manafort at Virginia's Alexandria Detention Center:

-- Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin pie

Suge at California State Prison:

-- Turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad, cranberry sauce, ice cream (no pie, sorry Suge) and veggies

And, if you care what Larry Nassar will be eating at US Penitentiary Coleman II in FL:

-- Turkey, baked turkey ham, tofu stir-fry or vegetable stuffing, macaroni and cheese or baked potato, candied or baked sweet potato, green beans, cranberry sauce, gravy, whole wheat bread and margarine and assorted holiday pies

Paris Hilton defied the reality of Thanksgiving by showing up a little lighter ... but only lighter by a bunch of carats.

Paris strolled through the Melbourne airport Thursday, looking relaxed and happy after her breakup with fiance Chris Zylka. She was coy about pretty much everything, which means things are back to normal.

Check out her ring finger ... it's bare. As we reported, Chris is legally entitled to get the $2 million engagement ring back from her, although we're told up to this point he hasn't asked for it.

We're told Chris got the ring at a massive discount because the jeweler has a long-standing relationship with Paris. That means he's positioned for a huge windfall if he gets it back and sells it.

As for Paris, she's already ridiculously rich so it doesn't matter much.