How Blake Shelton, His Mom Turned One Christmas Song into an Iconic Hallmark Movie Franchise
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When Blake Shelton was writing “Time for Me to Come Home,” he knew it would be a track for his album. Yet, thanks to his mom, it has fantastically become something more.
Blake Shelton’s Mom Helped Him Write His Holiday Song “Time for Me to Come Home”
Back in 2012, Shelton was trying to finish writing the song for his holiday album Cheers, It’s Christmas. Amid the process, however, the country singer was finding it a bit hard to compose some of its lyrics. Luckily, his mom Dorothy Shackleford came to the rescue.
“Blake was writing the song for his Christmas album and said he needed help with the second verse,” she said in an interview. “So I came up with the second verse and that’s how the song was born.”
“Time for Me to Come Home” became a mother-son collaboration even during the recording. After Shelton finished the song, he asked his mom to sing the track along with him. Shackleford, who wasn’t really used recording a song and performing live, managed to do both successfully.
“That thrilled me but at the same time it made me very nervous because I’m not a great singer,” Dorothy shared honestly. “I just about passed out but somehow I got through it.”
Then, Shelton’s mom saw the potential of “Time for Me to Come Home” to be a fictional holiday book. Reminiscing her sentimental memories with her son, Shackleford wrote a story based on the track, following the life of fictional country music artist Heath Sawyer who makes sure to return home to Oklahoma for the holidays despite his jam-packed schedule.
“Filled with touching anecdotes inspired by the real holiday memories of Blake Shelton and Dorothy Shackelford, Time for Me to Come Home is a sweet and funny story that celebrates the spirit of Christmas and the true meaning of finding your way back home,” the description of the book read.
The Track Evolved into Six Hallmark Movies
Five years after the book was released, the Hallmark Channel was determined to transform the book into a motion picture. The network then asked Shelton to executive produce a film titled Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas.
Since then, Hallmark Channel has released a total of six films based on Shelton and his mom’s song. In all of those movies, the country crooner served as executive producer. Other films include Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas in 2020, Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas in 2021, and Time for Him To Come Home For Christmas in 2022.
The latest installment of the popular movie franchise, Time for Her to Come Home for Christmas, premiered last November. In this film, Shenae Grimes-Beech played the role of Carly, a women faced with incredible grief as she approaches the first holiday season without her late mother. She tries to combat her feelings of loneliness by taking a temporary job as the leader of a small-town church choir’s Christmas program. Then, she meets Matthew, played by Chris Carmack, who comes back home after serving in the Army. There, they begin to develop something that might be Carly’s redemption from the dark.
