Mariska’s Christmas tree spree
Sholiday. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star Mariska Hargitay bought not one, but two Christmas trees this week. First, the TV detective showed up at SoHo Trees on the corner of 81st and Columbus with a gal pal, where they started small. “She bought a $60 Noble fir tree,” according to one Christmas elf, who tells us the timber salesman explained that type of tree sheds its needles much more slowly than Fraser, spruce and Douglas trees. “It was a small one, like for a kid’s room or something like that. Her friend helped her carry that one away.” Apparently Hargitay liked what she saw. A short time later, she returned with her kids, Andrew , 6, Amaya ,6 and August, 11 and struck again. “Then she went back for a bigger one,” says our spy. This time around, the Emmy winner picked out a 10-footer that cost $350, we’re told. “This was a big tree!” says our insider, who saw Hargitay making arrangements to have that one delivered. Her husband, fellow actor Peter
Hermann, was not around to help lug the shrubbery back home.
Christmas is a big-time family affair for Hermann and Hargitay, who gave birth to son August in 2006 and adopted daughter Amaya and son Andrew six months apart in 2011. Both actors have spoken about their Christian faith, including an InStyle magazine article in September where Hargitay confessed one of their first dates was a 2002 church outing.
Hargitay gave “Law & Order” fans a special present Nov. 30 when she appeared in an Instagram photo with former TV crime-fighting partner Chris Meloni. “Tis the season … ran into this happy man,” she captioned the shot, which was reportedly taken in a Lower East Side bar called The Skinny. Meloni left the show in 2011.