Blake Shelton proves time and time again that he's one of the most lovable singers in country music. Not only has he been one of the coaches on NBC's The Voice since day 1, but he has been open about his love story with pop singer Gwen Stefani. And we can't help but swoon at how sweet he is with his mother, Dorothy Shackleford. After raising a superstar son, Blake's mom actually worked as a songwriter for him—and even helped turn one of his songs into a Hallmark Christmas movie.
Back in 2012, the country singer was working on his country Christmas song "Time for Me to Come Home" for his upcoming holiday album Cheers, It's Christmas. He ended up getting some help from Dorothy that took the song to places he probably never imagined.
"Blake was writing the song for his Christmas album and said he needed help with the second verse," Dorothy explained to Country Living. "So I came up with the second verse and that's how the song was born."
He even asked his mom to sing the Christmas song with him, adding her vocals to the album.
"That thrilled me but at the same time it made me very nervous because I'm not a great singer," Dorothy continued, pointing out she even performed the song with her son at Blake's Christmas special in 2012. "I just about passed out. . . but somehow I got through it."
Following the success of the song, Blake's mom decided to partner up with Travis Thrasher and turn the lyrics into a novel. She found inspiration from past holidays with her son during his Oklahoma upbringing and the end result was a sweet holiday story. The novel follows fictional country music star Heath Sawyer, who—despite his insane success as a singer—decides he needs to go home for Christmas. Back to Oklahoma, of course.
Five years after the book's 2013 release, Dorothy's story made it to the Hallmark Channel. Blake served as co-executive producer for Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas, which stars Megan Park and Josh Henderson.
"Heath has some of Blake's personality," Dorothy explained. "He's a little witty, and he's a nice guy. Heath's father has passed, and Blake's father has passed in real life. There are bits and pieces of Blake in it. But mostly all fiction."
So far, their film has inspired two sequels: Time for You to Come Home for Christmas and Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas. Blake has served as executive producer for all three and it's safe to say he can thank his mom for turning that one country song into something so special.
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