We are huge fans of Hallmark Christmas movies around here, and it's always exciting when we find out that some of our favorite celebrities are, too. When Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani first started dating in 2015, it was right around the time that the Hallmark Channel started airing their annual Countdown to Christmas films. And according to Stefani in a Q&A on Hallmark's Facebook Page from 2020, the festive holiday films are one of the first things they watched together as a couple. It seems like we aren't the only people getting sucked into the feel-good film marathons year after year.
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"This is something that people don't know about me and Blake," she said, responding to a fan who asked whether she watches any of the network's Christmas films. "Ok, Let's get real. Yes, we do, It's actually one of the first things that we bonded on, is watching Hallmark Christmas movies, There's just something about these movies that gets you so so sucked into these stories and we started watching them last week actually. We were doing our holiday Thanksgiving turkey and watching the movies and they roll one after another and just when you think oh I get a break, you're sucked into the next one."
The Come Home For Christmas Series
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Stefani also made sure to point out that not only is Shelton a fan of the films during the holiday season, the country music star has also been involved in making them as an executive producer. In fact, he's worked on several with his own mom, Dorothy Shackleford.
"Also, Blake's mom, she has some movies that she did, some Hallmark movies," Stefani explained. "They're Christmas movies and Blake actually produced them. Let me see, I can't remember all the names but "Time For Me To Come Home For Christmas," that is her Christmas movie, Blake's mom has a Christmas movie on Hallmark, she has three of them, so check those out, very proud of that to be apart of that, my new mother-in-law to be."
Blake and his mom's Hallmark journey first started together when she adapted his Christmas song "Time for Me to Come Home" from Cheers, It's Christmas into a novel. Initially, Shelton asked his mom for help when he was working on writing the song. You probably recognize Shelton's mom from sweet pics he posts with her on social media.
"Blake was writing the song for his Christmas album and said he needed help with the second verse," Schackleford told Country Living. "So I came up with the second verse and that's how the song was born."
"When I was making my Christmas album, I said, 'Mom, let's me and you write a song together, and you can sing it with me on my album," Shelton said on From Apple Music With Love (as quoted by CMT). "And there's your Lucille Ball moment. You can finally have your moment to be famous. We had no idea it was going to end up turning into a book deal for my mom. "
The song was then adapted into a Hallmark film in 2019 starring Megan Park and Josh Henderson -- "Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas." The film did so well that they have now started a "Come Home For Christmas" series. The sequel of the original film, "Time for You to Come Home for Christmas" starred Alison Sweeney and Lucas Bryant in a whole new holiday story.
"Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas"stars the one and only Lacey Chabert opposite Stephen Huszar. The new film debuted on the Hallmark Channel in 2020 and mixes Hallmark's signature romance during the holiday season with a little bit of mystery. Five guests are invited to an inn for Christmas and need to uncover what they all have in common. Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas debuted in 2021, followed by Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas in 2022.
In 2020, Gwen was also able to work with the Hallmark network as her holiday song "Here This Christmas" was the theme song for the Countdown to Christmas campaign. So that means you were hearing Gwen's voice every time you watched those sneak peeks of holiday movies. There are so many things to love about this musical couple but their mutual appreciation of Hallmark definitely sets them apart from the pack.
