Donnie Wahlberg Jokes How Christmas Is Different Now That His Kids Are Older: ‘They Always Want Money!’

With Christmas quickly approaching, Donnie Wahlberg is looking forward to spending some well-deserved time off with his wife, Jenny McCarthy, and their blended family of kids. However, the beloved Blue Bloods actor joked the holiday season is a little different now that his children are growing up.

“As far as their Christmas, we’ve gone from toys to clothes,” the 50-year-old hunk exclusively shared with Closer Weekly at the 10-year milestone of Target’s annual holiday Heroes & Helpers program in early December, hilariously noting that his sons, Xavier, 26, and Elijah, 18, don’t ask for their dad’s cash. “Oh no, they always want money!”

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Gift-giving isn’t the only thing that changed in the Wahlberg-McCarthy household. Donnie — who is also the stepdad of the Masked Singer star’s 17-year-old son, Evan, who has autism — explained that this is the first Christmas since revealing the news that Santa doesn’t exist.

“We just had to break it to Jenny’s son that Santa is quasi-real,” the New Kids on the Block singer sweetly explained. “He took it the way you can hope. He understands what Santa represents and the symbolism of Santa is good enough for him.”

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Donnie even commended his incredible stepson for being such a good sport regarding the news. “Somehow Evan, my stetpson, he gets it. He sees the good in everything and he saw the good in learning that Santa didn’t actually land in the sleigh on the roof,” the proud dad gushed. “But he knows that Santa and people that play Santa, and people who are generous at Christmastime are the real Santas and why it’s so important.”

While attending the Heroes & Helpers program — which pairs local police officers and firefighters with more than 15,000 underprivileged children across the country to help them shop for holiday gifts for their families — the Wahlburgers star stressed the importance of helping the community around the holidays.

“I get to show my kids it’s not all about what we’re going to get,” he shared with Closer, reiterating how important it is to be an inspiration to Xavier, Elijah and Evan. “I get to teach my kids and be a hero to them by helping out and being apart of this special event.”

As much as Donnie loves being a Hollywood star, he marveled over the fact that he gets to enjoy some family bonding this holiday season. “We’re going to be home for Christmas with our kids,” he shared. “We’re going to spend the holidays together, not on television, for the first time in a long time. It’s just going to be great.”

He is especially excited to enjoy some R&R with his stunning wife, 47, considering this is Jenny’s first time in 10 years that she won’t be hosting Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve TV celebration. “We both work really hard, and we try to give back as much as possible,” he said. “So a lot of times when we’re not working hard, we’re volunteering and doing other things.”

Donnie couldn’t feel more blessed to “be able to spend some time together this Christmas and not have to think, ‘We have to leave for Times Square tomorrow for New Year’s Eve,'” he added. Aww!

We hope Donnie and Jenny have the best Christmas with their sweet brood of kids!

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