John C. McGinley Reveals the Thoughtful Accommodation He Makes for Son Max, Who Has Down Syndrome, at the Holidays (Exclusive)
The actor, who welcomed Max with ex-wife Lauren Lambert in 1997, tells PEOPLE how decorating the Christmas tree "works like a well-oiled machine" in his house
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John C. McGinley and his son Max at the Global Down Syndrome Foundation's 14th Annual Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show at the Sheraton Downtown Denver Hotel on Nov. 12, 2022 in DenverAs Nat King Cole sings in “The Christmas Song,” Christmas everyone from ages 1 to 92 deserves a merry Christmas. Actor John C. McGinley makes sure that includes his son 27-year-old son Max, who has Down syndrome, by adapting classic holiday traditions.
“My wife, I don't know how she does it, but she strings about 4,000 miniature lights, the electric ones, around the tree, and then the rest of the family is invited to put the ornaments up. It works like a well-oiled machine,” McGinley, 65, tells PEOPLE of his wife Nichole.
“My son Max was born with Down syndrome, so we have ornaments that can't break. If a hook doesn't take and it drops, no big deal.”
Meanwhile, his daughters Billie, 16, and Kate, 14, don’t always want to partake in decorating the tree. “The girls sometimes can exercise some petulance,” McGinley says.
In response, McGinley says he tells them: “You can not hang ornaments if you don't want to. But your sister's going to hang the ornament that you wanted to last year, but you don't seem to want to be involved in this year. Fine. Go sit in the dunce corner and put the dunce cap on. But we're doing this with or without you. We're going to dress the tree.”
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ohn C. McGinley with wife Nichole and daughters Kate (left) and Billie and son Max at the Global Down Syndrome Foundation's 9th annual Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show in Denver on Nov. 11, 2017.The Scrubs star says that, for his family, “Christmas in our house starts the day after Thanksgiving.”
He also tried to institute a rule when it comes to holiday gift-giving.
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“I have tried to initiate a movement in our house where we started to diminish the number of tchotchkes that you get and instead afford you the opportunity to get one big present,” McGinley says. “And it failed miserably. It was something I tried to introduce with vigor, and I got run over, so I surrendered. People in my house want a lot of presents, and I've gotten out of the way of that. Get all the presents you want. I don't care.”
In Hallmark+’s Holidazed, the network’s first-ever holiday series, McGinley’s character Chuck Manetti-Hanahan puts up a fight when his wife (Virginia Madsen) tries to put some guidelines to hopefully make the holidays as conflict-free as possible — especially her no drinking rule. McGinley says he “was super-duper looking forward” to teaming up with Madsen, 63, again after working with her in 1991’s Highlander sequel.
Hallmark Media
John C. McGinley and Virginia Madsen in 'Holidazed'After nearly 40 years in Hollywood, McGinley considers his lengthy resume a true Christmas gift that has afforded him to be known for a wide breadth of movies and TV shows today.
“It depends on who's recognizing you, and that's not born out of arrogance,” McGinley says of the project he gets recognized for most by fans. “It's born out of the fact that if you're old enough, you know Platoon; if you're old enough, Wall Street; if you know Scrubs, if you know Office Space, that it goes around there. And how lovely to be able to say [that]. It makes me happy.”
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Holidazed is streaming now on Hallmark+.
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