When it comes to buying gifts for your significant other, Alex Rodriguez knows how to do it right! The 43-year-old athlete recently spoke with Access Hollywood and gushed that the gifts that he likes to give to his girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, for Christmas are the ones that come from the heart.

“It has to be something creative. I can’t just go out and buy something expensive. For Jennifer, something that is handwritten or maybe is a photo,” he shared, adding that he has something creative in mind for her this year. “I don’t want to give any secrets away for this holiday. It’s something that is heartfelt. It is something that resembles a memory that we’ve had together that involves our children or involves our home.” Aww!

Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez
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Jennifer is sure to get the surprise of a lifetime once she sees Alex’s gift. “Ultimately, that’s what it is all about,” Alex gushed of gifting J.Lo the creative present.

This year, Jennifer and her boyfriend are planning to follow tradition by taking their kids to give back to children in need. “I think the holiday season is really about giving back. One of the things that we mandate for our kids, all four of them, is to go into the Boys and Girls Club, go into the inner city — whether it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas — and they have to give back,” the doting dad explained. “One Christmas we made it where they only got one gift and all the gifts that were supposed to go to them, they donated to people who couldn’t really afford it. I think it’s really important for our children.”

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Since Alex and J.Lo didn’t grow up very wealthy, they don’t want to spoil their children by giving them everything that they never had as kids. Alex said that since his two girls, Natasha, 14, and Ella, 10, know the importance of giving back during the holidays, “they don’t ask for too much,” he said.

His daughters and J.Lo’s 10-year-old twins, Maximilian and Emme, are “grateful for everything they get.” So this year, he and Jennifer plan on giving their blended family a really special Christmas!