Ian Harding's 2-Year-Old Son Doesn't Understand Christmas, Thinks It’s a ‘Day He Gets a Bunch of Gifts' (Exclusive)

Kids around the world might be preparing their Christmas lists for Santa Claus, but Ian Harding’s 2-year-old son doesn’t quite understand that concept just yet.

“My dad also has a white beard, so [my son] sees the images of a bearded man and he's like, ‘That's Papa,’ ” the Holidazed star, 38, tells PEOPLE. “I'm like, ‘No, that's Santa.’ And he's like, ‘Who's Santa?’ He doesn't really know. I think once he hits 3, he's really going to make that connection.”

Harding says that Christmas always felt special to him as a kid “because both my parents were off work and everybody came over.”

Related: Holidazed’s Ian Harding Reveals He Left Hollywood to Move Back to His Hometown: ‘I'm So Grateful’ (Exclusive)

But for his son, “because both of his parents are freelance artists, we're intermittently employed, so we're always home,” Harding, who married photographer Sophie Hart in 2019, says. “I think the only thing that's missing is a tree. Hopefully, he'll start to make the connection, but for right now, he just thinks it's a day that he gets a bunch of gifts. It's still, ‘We're putting things on a tree? I don't understand this.’”

In 2021, Harding moved back to the Washington, D.C. area where he grew up, which puts him in charge of hosting the holidays now. However, since Harding had been away working on a new project in Toronto, he describes the holiday season as "a mad dash" to Christmas Day.

“It's just going to be: the living room is bare and then all of a sudden over the course of two hours, it's going to be a light show and my electric bill is going to be a $1,000," Harding jokes.

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Harding’s favorite holiday traditions include baking sugar cookies to share with the neighbors and, in a nod to the Swedish side of his family, making Glögg, a Swedish spiced wine punch. But since becoming a dad in 2021, he says, “Even though we have some of our older traditions, we are trying to create new ones because now we are a family in this way."

The Pretty Little Liars alum brings festive vibes in Hallmark+’s Holidazed, the network’s first-ever holiday series that follows six families on the same cul-de-sac as they gather for the holiday season. As Josh Hill, Harding returns to his hometown to see his parents before they make a big move. Despite having a girlfriend, Josh reconnects with a police officer — and former high school flame (Erin Cahill) — who gives him a ticket when he first gets back into town.

“There definitely is a history there,” Harding says. “But Josh is with somebody when they meet and they're very set on their game plan of what they want their life to be. There's a connection, but I think Josh was torn.”

The father of one can relate to his character’s mishaps on the road.

Related: Ian Harding Calls the Idea of Doing a Holiday Rom-Com with Pretty Little Liars Costar Lucy Hale 'Amazing' (Exclusive)

“I have unfortunately had a couple of run-ins just because I enjoyed seeing speed limits as a suggestion,” he says. “I haven't met a very attractive and funny female police officer that I then connected with. It's mainly been very stern men who have informed me that I was doing double the speed limit on a suspended license and enjoy court time. That's a big difference.”

Harding says viewers will have to tune in to see how things between Sherriff Nora (Cahill) and Josh turn out. “There's a beautiful storyline that I think people are going to enjoy,” he says. “It hits on all the feels.”

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Holidazed is streaming now on Hallmark+.

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