Ryan Reynolds and his family see The Nutcracker at Christmas every year

Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and their children see The Nutcracker onstage as one of their yearly Christmas traditions.

The Deadpool star and the Gossip Girl actress make the most of living in New York during the festive season and typically go and see the New York City Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.

"It's all about the lead-up. I love the few weeks that lead-up to Christmas," he told Metro.co.uk. "We live in New York. So there's a tonne to do - whether you're driving down Fifth Avenue or going to go see Christmas musicals at the Lincoln Center. I mean, The Nutcracker is a big one for us. We do that every year."

Ryan and Blake, who married in 2012, have three daughters - James, eight, Inez, six, and Betty, three - and are currently expecting their fourth child.

He shared that they don't go overboard with gifts for the kids and Blake prefers to go for sentimental presents over expensive ones.

"Christmas is not over the top by any measure. We kind of go by the 'one gift from Mom and Dad, one gift from Santa' kind of rule with the kids," he explained. "Blake is amazing at hitting up my brothers for old photos and stuff. She'll sometimes get an old photo that is from my childhood or something that I just thought was lost forever. So she always makes it interesting. It's usually something personal - more sentimental than expensive."

Their Christmases are very different from the ones Ryan experienced growing up in a "pretty working-class family". As the youngest of four boys, he typically received hand-me-downs, but although the presents were "anticlimactic", the family was always together.

"We were all together always... which is something that I've carried forth with my own family," he added.