Neil Patrick Harris’ Kids Think Big For Christmas

Christmas is an exciting holiday for most 6 year olds. But the twin kids of Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka have big gifts on their minds for the upcoming season — literally. As Us Weekly reported, Harris told Stephen Colbert this week that son Gideon wants a life-size rocket ship and daughter Harper wants a life-size doll house. The star of How I Met Your Mother was quick to ask his pint-sized offspring for clarification.

“We live in the city. That’s what I said to him — ‘Where are we supposed to put a life-size rocket?

“I said, ‘Harper, a life-size doll house is just a house. You want me to get a house for you?’ And she said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said,’ What is it with these giant gifts? Where do we put a life-size doll house that’s large enough for you or a person?’ And she said, ‘On the roof.'”

Harper also wants not just any old karaoke machine, but a pink one. Her dad, himself a bit of a song-and-dance man, got the idea but questioned why she was so specific about the color.

One thing that may show up in the Harris-Burtka home this year is a live Christmas tree instead of an artificial one. According to Mashable, Harris showed up at a New York City event earlier this month to encourage people to go green with a living tree. He gave unsuspecting passersby tickets to The Lion King and Hamilton in order to promote the initiative of The Christmas Tree Promotion Board.

Harris was asked to participate by the Board, whose information led him to conclude buying a live tree is actually better for the environment than buying something artificial. While the fake tree ends up in a landfill, a real tree goes back to the earth and Christmas tree farmers plant three for every one that’s cut down, according to the Mashable article.

“I love the real tree idea. I love the holidays. With kids now, we’re real big fans of cookies and fires and smells, and nothing says that more than a real tree, right?”

While things may be busy at home gearing up for the holidays, Harris is also working steadily. He’s promoting his role as Count Olaf in the Netflix version of A Series of Unfortunate Events. As People reported, Harris enjoyed swapping out makeup and prosthetics to transform into Olaf’s many guises as he tries to swindle a trio of orphans out of their late parents’ fortune.

“I think I was able to be as fearless as I have ever been before as an actor, because I was so hidden. I was able to hide within the prosthetics and a totally different look and play someone who is just as overtly ridiculously mean as possible.

“There’s no real humanity to Olaf, because it’s kind of a fable from the eyes of kids. They’re not really seeing him with any redemptive qualities.”

Harris’ turn as Count Olaf comes more than 10 years after Jim Carrey played the same role in the movie version of the story. Both actors underwent physical transformations to play the character. The version of the story starring Harris is an eight-episode limited series that, according to IMDb, also features Alfre Woodard as Aunt Josephine in two episodes.

A Series of Unfortunate Events premieres January 13, 2017, on Netflix.

[Featured Image by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images]