Emma Roberts is having a blast.

Not only is the 17-year-old beauty an accomplished actress and singer, but she’s also the niece of Julia Roberts.

How do they spend the holidays together?

“I usually stay at home with my family,” the star of January’s Hotel For Dogs tells me. “A couple days before Christmas when we get our tree, we all decorate our tree together and have hot chocolate and family time. It’s important around the holidays.”

Emma enjoys sleepovers with her twin cousins Hazel and Phinnaeus, 4.  (Henry, 1, is too young to join in the parties.)

“We have so much fun running around and playing,” she tells me. “We read and play with dolls. We do what normal little kids do. I love them.”

For their birthdays last month, she bought them “really cute knit hats.” She also gave Hazel a doll, and Phinnaeus a dinosaur painting set.

What’s the best advice Aunt Julia has given her?

“I don’t really ask her for advice, to be honest. When we’re together -- since we don’t really get to be together that often -- we have family time.”

Hotel For Dogs is in theaters January 23.

It took David Beckham to convince Natasha Bedingfield that her life is best spent with her businessman beau Matt Robinson.  

“I was at the Teen Choice Awards and David Beckham and Posh were sitting right in front of me,” the Pocketful of Sunshine singer, 27, tells me at Cosmopolitan’s Star Launch Finale Concert. “I looked at them, and I looked at Matt, and I just thought he was the hottest man in the world even though Beckham was standing right in front of me. I thought ‘if you’ve got the hottest guy in the world that you’re dating, you should probably marry that guy.’”

The couple got engaged in September after two years of dating.

Now is the fun part – planning the wedding.  

“I got engaged and went straight off on the New Kids On The Block tour. I’m starting to do all the planning and look through the magazines.”   

Has she picked a dress?

“Not yet,” the Brit wonder tells me. “I’ve got some ideas, but I haven’t picked it yet.”

This is certainly an exciting time.

“I think it’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime things that happen, and it’s what every girl dreams of. I’m enjoying the fact that I can talk to my sister and it’s something fun that we can do together.”

One thing Natasha isn’t hoping to rush is starting a family.

“I’m not talking about that,” she laughs.

Jennifer Aniston lets her Marley and Me dog Clyde shine during the Tribeca Cinema Series screening of her comedy held Wednesday at Tribeca Cinemas Gallery in NYC.

While she’s off hitting the talk-show circuit, Clyde is being feted with congratulatory barks when he takes the screen during the V.I.P. (Very Important Pooch) event attended by celebs including Denis Leary and Beth Ostrosky Stern and their dogs. (Abigail Breslin stops by the cocktail party sans pup.)

Clyde’s trainer, Mathilde DeCagny, says working with Jennifer was a dream.

“Jen was loving, and very attentive,” she tells me. “She’s such a normal, sweet, fun person. There’s no ego, there’s no complication. All she wants to do is be professional and do it right. I never thought she would be that easy and outgoing. We loved her.”

Other pampered pets – like Denis’ dog Daphne – are pleased to be in the company of the movie star pooch.

“She’s flipped out that we brought her where there are other dogs, because she likes to think of herself as special,” Denis tells me. He’s keeping a tight grip on Daphne thanks to help from wife Ann.

The comedian has no regrets for 2008 – even though he inflamed parents with particularly vile comments he made about autism in his book Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid. “I would’ve voted for Obama about ten more times if I could have,” he tells me. “That’s about it.”

This holiday season the Rescue Me star jokes that he will gift his three dogs with cars and designer clothing in exchange for the affection they give him.

“Dogs love you no matter what you smell like, no matter how tired you are, or where you just came from,” Denis says. “No matter what mood you’re in or what’s going on, they always love you. You can’t pay a human being to do that – maybe for an hour, but not much longer than that.”

Mrs. Stern moves along with bulldog Bianca Romijn-Stamos-O’Connell, who recently came home with a pink toe when she brought her along to a manicure appointment. “Howard wasn’t too happy about that,” Beth says.

What’s her dog’s idea of a perfect night?

“Lying in her bed between Howard and me,” she tells me. “She’s so happy right between the two of us.”  

For the holiday season, Beth tells me the best pet gift is “lots of love.”

Certainly Jennifer would agree.

Marley and Me is in theaters December 25.

And, pick up the OK! on newsstands now for more on Jennifer Aniston and an At Home with Clyde, the dog featured in Marley and Me. Jennifer Aniston/“Obsessed With Angie” is the cover line.

Looking for a great gift this holiday season? Both Denis Leary and Beth Ostrosky Stern agree that pets make great gifts. Visit your local shelter to give one a home.

Tom Cruise arrives at 6:50 p.m. for the NYC premiere of his Nazi suspense thriller Valkyrie held Monday at Frederick P. Rose Hall in Time Warner Center.

Because a motley group of fifteen Scientology protesters is stationed outside the venue, the glitzy spectacle is located deep inside the building away from all the hubbub on the bustling street below.

The hysteria makes one feel sorry for the warm, kind, generous man who looks everyone in the eyes and finds joy in making others laugh. But he takes it all in stride. The Top Gun star asks to snap a photo mugging with a fellow red carpeteer, saying, “Give me this, man. Appreciate it.”

He also makes fun of WPLJ’s Brad Blanks by copping a fake snore. “I thought we were having a good time, what happened?” Tom yuks. (See video!)

And when asked about his Golden Globe nod for Tropic Thunder, Tom gets in the zone, cocks his head and starts swaying, saying he learned to dance by watching Soul Train. “They always had the best moves.”

Although the likeable actor, 46, dismisses the question “does Scientology give you power?” that comes from a brazen international TV crew, he’s more than happy to gush about his beautiful family that includes wife Katie Holmes, who turns 30 Thursday, and kids Bella, 15, Conor, 13, and Suri, 2. A few highlights:

*Suri was afraid of the eyepatch he wears in the flick, and would remove it whenever she saw Tom wearing it. “The girls in the makeup trailer had a little teddy bear and put the patch on it, and gave it to her so she would play with it. She got used to the patch on the teddy bear.”
   
*She was also afraid of her Santa Claus doll. “At first she was like ‘no, dada, no, no.’ She happened to give it another go, and it’s great.” As for Christmas plans? “We still haven’t decided.”

*Suri’s a big talker. “Her vocabulary is incredible.” His favorite phrases? “The one that we love is ‘I love you.’ I love hearing that. ‘I love you mama.’”

*The keys to his relationship with Katie are communication and taking turns. “She’s in there hosting the family and friends tonight, the same way I did when she did her Broadway show -- that was my job. That way she can go out and do her thing.”

*Tom enjoys being Mr. Mom. “I always wanted to be a father. I love every moment. Now we’ve got the teenagers and the 2½ year-old. I feel lucky to have that dynamic of they’re going through their things while we’re all surrounding her and enjoying every moment of entertainment that she brings.”  

It’s no wonder Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are the biggest movie stars in the world. They know how to work it. Very impressed.

Valkyrie is in theaters December 25.