Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell’s daughters won’t be leaving cookies and milk out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Lincoln, 5, and Delta, 3, don’t believe in Saint Nick.
“This is going to be very controversial,” Shepard told Us Weekly at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles on Monday, December 3. “I have a fundamental rule that I will never lie to them, which is challenging at times. Our 5-year-old started asking questions like, ‘Well, this doesn’t make sense, and that doesn’t make sense.’ I’m like, ‘You know what? This is just a fun thing we pretend while it’s Christmas.’”
While the Bless This Mess actor’s kids understand the man in the red suit won’t be sliding down their chimney on December 24, the little girls re big fans of his. “They love watching movies about Santa, they love talking about Santa,” Shepard, 43, explained to Us. “They don’t think he exists, but they’re super happy and everything’s fine.”
This holiday season, Shepard and Amazon launched an easy way for customers to donate a gift to a child in need with the help of the e-commerce company’s virtual voice assistant Alexa. As the Parenthood alum explained in an Instagram video: “Just say ‘Alexa, donate to Toys for Tots.’ That’s it! @Amazon will do the rest.”
Shepard and Bell, 38, teach their girls about the spirit of giving all year long. “We encourage them to give something of theirs to whatever friend comes over,” Shepard told Us. “We’re trying to show that an object can give you some joy when you get it, but then seeing how it can make someone else happy is sometimes even more fun then the thing was itself.”
But Lincoln and Shepard might not be ready to part with their Barbie Dolls. “Grandma just introduced them to Barbies,” Shepard said. “For better or worse, and now they’re infatuated. They want all the stuff.”
Though Shepard and the Good Place actress usually head to his mom’s place in Oregon for Christmas, their traditions will remain the same. “We have matching onesies. There’s Santa hats that we wear,” Shepard told Us. “And the kids have matching Christmas pajamas.”
Shepard will be busy in the kitchen. “I have about seven dishes I make, and weirdly they all work well with the holidays. So I’ll be cooking my spaghetti and my meatballs and something we call s—t on the shingle.” (Ingredients: Jimmy Dean extra hot sausage, ground beef, Velveeta cheese, garlic salt and rye toast squares. Teased the actor: “It’s a wholesome treat!”
With reporting by Emily Marcus
