Audrey Hepburn with Baroness Ella van Heemstra, New Jersey and Audrey Hepburn with Santa Claus, New York, both December 1953two gelatin silver press prints

Audrey's mother, the Baroness Ella Van Heemstra, arrived in the United States for the first time on 17th December, 1953, to stay with her daughter until the following May. Having not seen the Baroness since she left London in October 1951, Audrey greeted her mother aboard the liner Nieuw Amsterdam in Hoboken, New Jersey. In an interview with Photoplay magazine, Audrey enthused I want everything to be perfect, I've ordered tickets for all the new plays, and I'm going to lay it on real thick - New York that is. I want mother to love it as much as I do. I plan to spoil her as she's never been spoiled before!

Four days later, Audrey was photographed with Santa Claus during ceremonies at the Heart Thrift House in New York on 21st December, 1953, for the benefit of the New York Heart Association.