Chris Janson Makes Christmas a Family Affair

Chris Janson has four children, including two step-children (he calls them “bonus kids”) from his wife, Kelly Lynn’s, first marriage. But Janson didn’t just inherit a ready-made immediate family, he inherited a big extended family, which makes the holidays that much sweeter.

“I love my wife’s family,” Janson gushes to PopCulture.com. “She has two great brothers — I never had brothers or sisters, and then I didn’t ever really want them, but once I got married, and I had a wife with awesome brothers, they became my brothers, too, in a way. They come over, they each have families and that kind of thing. They come over with their kids, and we all just hang out and eat fried turkeys and just chill. Santa comes and we do the deal. It’s pretty simple, but it’s really awesome and we just make it all about kids.”

There is one part of Christmas that Janson, surprisingly, is not a fan of: receiving gifts!

“I’m a great gift giver, but I’m awful at getting gifts,” Janson reveals. “I don’t like getting them, but I love giving to people. So, we just give a lot of gifts and then we try to just make it all about the kids, and hang out.

Asked if he spoils his children, Janson says, “Absolutely!”

“I think that it’s okay to spoil your kids, in my opinion,” explains Janson. “As long as the spoiling doesn’t go to where their attitude is spoiled, then I think it’s okay.”

Janson and his wife structure not just Christmas, but their entire lives around their four children, ranging in age from toddler to teenager.

“They tour a lot with us,” Janson says. “But they have their own lives, even the youngest one, and we just kind of let them be who they want to be. I’m a very traditionalist, conservative-type parent, but I’m also a very liberal arts type parent, and I let my kids be who they want to be, do what they want to do. As long as people respect and love them as I do, then I’m cool with it. Even to the youngest one, who’s three, we make the decisions, obviously, the final say-so, because we’re the parents, but we try to let them be free-willed and be free spirited, and kind of do what they want.

“So, if they want to go on tour, they go on tour,” he adds, “and if they would rather have a more structured, normal kid life, if you will, then that’s what we’ll do, too.”

Janson’s four kids have only a couple months to decide what they want to do. Janson, along with Lauren Alaina, will serve as the opening act on Cole Swindell’s 2018 Reason to Drink Tour, which kicks off on Feb.15 in Allentown, Pa. A list of all of Janson’s upcoming shows is available on his website.