Coincidence or calculated?

That's the question some suspicious types (hey, don't look at us) are asking after Katie Holmes revealed in a hard-hitting Parade profile (and by "hard-hitting," we mean she opened up about the awesomeness of hubby Tom Cruise and her plans to make Christmas cookies with -- whoa -- sprinkles!) that stepkids Bella, 14, and Connor, 12, have dubbed her with an affectionate new nickname.

"His first two children are incredible, really smart and kind," Katie effuses to the Sunday paper insert of Cruise's kids with Nicole Kidman. "They call me 'Mom.'"

While it's an illuminating disclosure about TomKat's happy blended family (they wed in November 2006), it could also be perceived as slightly insensitive to the well-preserved Oscar winner, who, funnily enough, just recently shared her own story about Bella and Connor's not-all-that-atypical-for-adolescents parental moniker preference.

Last month, Kidman was widely quoted as telling Britain's GMTV, "My kids don't call me mommy, they don't even call me mom. They call me Nicole, which I hate and tell them off for it."

But it turns out she was misquoted. In a clip of the interview, it's clear her response was actually prompted by the interviewer channeling her kids as he jokingly says, "Hey, mummy ..."

Mrs. Keith Urban good-naturedly scoffs, "They don't call me mummy."

When asked what they do call her, she laughs, "Mum, or sometimes Nicole. I'm like, 'Hey!'"

Whatever they're calling the authority figures in their life, Bella and Connor, who spend the school year with their dad (they're being raised Scientologists), are likely going to have plenty of family together-time this Christmas.

Holmes tells Parade the clan will make its annual trek to Telluride, Colo., a trip she's apparently so excited about she's reduced to spouting off haphazard declarations of all the fun things they're gonna do.

"My whole family and Tom's whole family will go up to Telluride again. We ski," she randomly bubbles to the mag. "We have big dinners and laugh. We love cooking. My mom's stuffing is my favorite. I'm a huge fan of pie, especially pecan. I will probably cook some garlic mashed potatoes and maybe a cheesecake."

But wait, there's more.

Katie Holmes celebrates her birthday by shopping with Suri in Los Angeles on Dec. 18.

"We always make a lot of sugar cookies with decorating and sprinkles. Suri will be in the dough everywhere," she continues. "Tom has shown me the greatness of extra chocolate chips. Tom's really good in the kitchen. He makes great pasta carbonara and lemon pasta."

Katie, who celebrated her 29th birthday on Tuesday by doing some shopping with button-cute, mop-topped Suri followed by a night with Tom at the tony Raffles L'Ermitage hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., (the same place Britney and her paparazzi contingent have been camped out) also gushes about her adventure-filled life with her once box office-ruling husband.

"Oh, we have so much fun," rhapsodizes the blissed-out, back-to-work actress, who is promoting her forthcoming flick "Mad Money" (don't worry -- she briefly mentions it in between the Cruise compliments). "Tom has introduced me to so many new experiences. I have done things I never thought I would do, like climbing mountains and flying in the P-51 [a World War II fighter]. That's what is so inspiring about being with him -- constant thrills and joy."

Despite the excitement of her so-called "big life," crammed as it is with the "greatness" of extra chocolate chips, Holmes wants everyone to know she's still that cute little girl next door who had to choose between Pacey and Dawson.

"With everything that's happened, I still feel the same," she says when the mag asked what she's "really like now." "I'm really happy being a mom, being a wife. I understand the curiosity. It's a reality for me, another dimension of awareness. I appreciate the man that I'm with and my family and my work. I feel very lucky to be able to say that. I mean, what we do in a week is extraordinary."

Nicole Kidman at a screening of "The Golden Compass" for seriously ill children in Sydney on Dec. 18

Speaking of extraordinary, Kidman turned up in her hometown of Sydney this week to brighten the holidays for some of her littlest and most deserving fans.

The Daily Telegraph reports she hosted a special screening of "The Golden Compass" for kids undergoing treatment at Sydney Children's Hospital, which she has long supported (she and Urban donated proceeds from their wedding photos to the hospital).

The actress happily posed for pictures with the sick tykes and their families, with one impressed boy marveling, "She's very tall."

Nicole, who received a bouquet of flowers from a 7-year-old cancer patient she met while hosting a screening of "Happy Feet" this time last year, pointed out that the gathering was the least she could do.

"This is a small gesture and I would just like to say I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year," she told the crowd, before warning the younger members of the audience, "I play a villain in this film, so to all the little kids -- don't stay."

Kidman also earned a roar of approval when she hinted that she might return next year to show the Baz Luhrmann-directed epic "Australia," in which she co-stars with fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman.

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