omg! caught up with Chen in Manhattan last week, where ‘The Talk’

omg! caught up with Chen in Manhattan last week, where ‘The Talk’ was on the road, shooting from CBS studios. The Queens, New York, native told us she was looking forward to sticking around the Big Apple after the show wrapped, so her 3-year-old son, Charlie, could experience Christmas in the city.

‘I feel like I haven’t a Christmas in New York for so long and I wanted to do that for my son,’ the 42-year-old tells omg!. ‘While we’re here, I’m doing every touristy thing. Everything — the tree, ice skating. I’m going to play New York tourist.’ Will she be bridge hopping from Manhattan over to her old stomping grounds in Queens? ‘I might go to a diner there, but I’m not sure yet. My parents don’t have a house there anymore.’

As for what little Charlie will find under the tree when he wakes up on Christmas morning, Chen says she and her husband, who is the President and CEO of CBS, take a personal approach to the gift giving rather than a commercial one.

‘My son is still at the age where he doesn’t ask for anything and presents, like a toy, don’t mean anything to him,’ says Chen, who also hosts ‘Big Brother.’ ‘So what we do is we write letters to my son for his birthday and for Christmas. I write a letter, my husband writes his own letter, then we’ll save them until he’s 21, 25, or whenever he’s mature enough to appreciate what he means to us.’

The tradition started two years ago when Charlie was turning 1. ‘As his first birthday approached I remember thinking, What are we going to we going to do to celebrate? What do you get for a 1-year-old? Toys? Whatever. Our letters are our gift.’