Mariah Carey duets with 11-year-old daughter for the first time

Mariah Carey performed a public duet for the first time Friday with her 11-year-old daughter Monroe Cannon at the first of her two Christmas concerts at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena.

In audience videos posted throughout social media, Carey and Monroe — one of the pop star's twin children with her entertainer ex-husband Nick Cannon — are dressed virtually identically as princesses in white tulle and tiaras. On a stage adorned with holiday motifs including a giant nutcracker soldier, Carey, 53, crosses to her daughter and the two sit together.

"We've put this together really quickly," Long Island native Carey tells the sold-out crowd. "I never wanted to …" she begins saying, before turning to Monroe. "You care if I tell ’em a little story, just a little one?" Carey asks the girl, who smiles up at her mother adoringly. "You good?"

Monroe indicates yes, and Carey tells the audience, "I never wanted to force them into doing anything music-related … I'm speaking of Monroe and Moroccan, aka Roc and Ro, my twins, and this is my baby girl here. And so 11 years ago I got the greatest gift. You know what? I don't have birthdays, but the birthing day was the greatest gift ever when I had my twins …. And right now I'd like to once again introduce you to my daughter Monroe. This is our first duet," she says, introducing "a beautiful, beautiful hymn … called 'Away in a Manger.' We've been working on this one for a minute."

Monroe takes the first verse, Carey takes the second, and then they harmonize, including on difficult whistle notes. They continue to trade lyrics and to duet on an abridged version of the 19th-century traditional Christmas religious song.

Carey exclaims as the two conclude, "My daughter, Miss Monroe! I love you, baby girl!” They kiss each other on the cheek and Monroe exits. As a gentleman in a white tuxedo escorts Carey offstage, she cries, "One more time, give it up for RoRo!"

Elsewhere in the show, Monroe — now dressed 1980s-style in black fishnet stockings, a plaid skirt and a black top — and two other girls perform The Waitresses' much-covered 1981 song "Christmas Wrapping," doing choreographed moves and appearing to play guitar.

Five-time Grammy Award winner Carey performs Tuesday and Friday at Madison Square Garden, with concerts that are being recorded for a Dec. 20 CBS TV special.