Bryan White Seeing Christmas Through Children’s Eyes

Bryan White just finished writing a Christmas song -- 'Finding Christmas' -- inspired by his sons Justin, 6 and Jackson, 4.

"The song is about becoming jaded as we get older and when we become adults, there's really no mystery any more," Bryan tells The Boot. "The element of surprise and mystery is gone and ... I'm finding it all again through their eyes. I feel like I am seeing it all again the second time around through them, and it's awesome. They've been really anticipating Christmas since October. As soon as Halloween was over, their Christmas questions were just being fired at me right after that."

Bryan's own childhood recollections of Christmas serve as a blueprint for the memories he wants his children to have.

"I remember when I was a kid [my parents] knew we were just bursting at the seams, so most of the time we got to open one gift on Christmas Eve just to kind of tide us over until the morning. We'll probably do that. We've had our tree up since Thanksgiving. That was a fun process, just getting the tree down and them helping us. They're old enough now that they want to have a purpose with everything, they want to be a part of it."

And before the kids go off to bed on Christmas Eve, they'll have one more task to complete.

"We'll write a note to Santa, and we get the cookies and milk and set that out," Bryan says. "Then the next morning, I'm up before them with the video camera. I got them last year really good coming down the stairs. They were still kind of half asleep, kind of wiping their eyes, but you could tell as soon as they walked in the living room and saw the gifts, they were just so excited. It was just awesome!"

Bryan and his wife, actress Erika Page ('One Life to Live'), also feel it's important to bring the 'real' meaning of Christmas to the forefront.

"I would say we probably spend more time devoted to Christ being born ... why we're celebrating, more than the Santa Claus. We sort of make sure they know -- we try to just let them know that Santa is just one of God's helpers."

Bryan's been busy chasing Donner and Blitzen on his radio tour for the last few months, promoting his latest studio album 'Dustbowl Dreams.' He plans to record his new Christmas song in 2010.