{blackbabes} Vanessa Williams on Holiday Weight Gain: 'I Just Kind of Succumb'

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Vanessa Williams

Fans of M&M's Crispy rejoice: The late-'90s favorite is back after a 10-year hiatus.

Actress Vanessa Williams — the voice of M&M's Ms. Brown for the past two years — is helping to relaunch the candy, which hits shelves this week.

But at home, she says her holiday indulgences are centered around the cravings of her four kids, ages 14-27.

"Everyone has their favorites," the star, 51, tells PEOPLE. "My daughter Jillian's is lemon squares. I gotta make those for her. One is cornbread, so I have to make sure we have cornbread with the meal. My son loves crepes. It all depends on what they want when they want it. Come holidays I'm doing a lot of fixing favorites for everybody in the family."

Not that she minds the work. With her three oldest children out of the house, "I actually miss the hustle and bustle. But come holidays, they'll all be home and I'll be cooking brunch and dinner and snacks and goodies. I can't wait."

How does she avoid gaining weight during the calorie-rich holiday season?

"I don't!" the former Ugly Betty star says with a laugh. "I usually give in and then I just do the work come January. You go to the parties and they're serving cocktails, and then you have great dinners and you're drinking wine, and the desserts and cookies are all available. It's hard to not be tempted. But I just kind of succumb and then just do the work in January."

Vanessa Williams

Williams has also been busy with her Broadway play, The Trip to Bountiful, which she also performed in L.A. and Boston. To mark the show's recent closing, "I got personalized M&M's for everyone, brown of course and white and blue which were kind of the colors of our show," she says. "I had 'Trip to Bountiful' printed on one and 'congratulations' and 'break a leg' on the others."

And she has plans to incorporate them into her upcoming wedding to Jim Skrip.

"I'll definitely be using them as party favors," she says of the big day, revealing that it's set for "next summer."

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