John C. McGinley On Family Holiday Traditions, Including 1 Son Max Loves (Exclusive)

John C. McGinley’s son Max loves the holidays — and the actor’s entire family enjoys creating special memories together.

Speaking with PEOPLE for an exclusive interview in honor of Down Syndrome Awareness month in October, the actor, 66, opened up about the appreciation his loved ones have for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“Everyone out here loves Halloween,” John said. As for Thanksgiving, theScrubsalum explained that his wife, Nichole McGinley, asked their family if they wanted to travel for the holiday, “And the chorus of ‘Nos’ was resounding.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

But Christmastime is a favorite for the McGinley family, especially 28-year-old Max. “Maxie loves Thanksgiving, but he goes out of his mind for Christmas,” John said of his son, who has Down syndrome.

“We put a tree in the big room, it looks like Rockefeller Center. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, and it’s way too expensive and silly, but it makes everybody happy,” he added.

John shares Max with his ex, Lauren Lambert, plus daughters Billie, 17, and Kate, 15, with wife Nichole.

“Nichole puts these miniature lights around (the tree), almost 4,000 lights. It takes her a day and a half putting these strands, and then everybody comes,” the actor — who is on the board of directors at the Global Down Syndrome Foundation (GLOBAL) nonprofit —said.

Highlighting how he and his wife made the decision to use only non-glass ornaments so Max doesn’t have to worry about dropping any of them, John said, “It was a tactile fine motor skill exercise for Maxie at first to get the hook on the branches.”

“Now he can do it in his sleep,” the proud dad added.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Looking back at his son’s birth, John said he and Lambert were initially unaware that Max had Down syndrome.

“We did not have an amnio, so Max was to be a girl and all squared away. And then he showed up, and he was a boy,” John recalled. “I’m saying this now almost in a glib way. It was like getting hit by a cosmic hammer. It was very disorienting.”

“He became this pretty high-functioning, largely non-verbal, beautiful little boy and now young adult, whose biggest challenge is language,” he added.

Nowadays, John said Max plays in a rock band with other individuals with Down syndrome, held a job at Starbucks for some time and is currently opening up new avenues of communication via Spellers, which teaches spelling and typing to nonspeaking or minimally speaking people.

“He’s a loving older brother,” John told PEOPLE of his son. “He loves going down to the beach with his sisters. We have a new dog, Duke, a black lab, and Max loves him.”