Blake Shelton's Tips for a Happy Thanksgiving

By Wendy Newcomer, GACTV.com

Nov. 23, 2005—The life of a country star is often spent rolling down the highway on a tour bus, headed to the next show. But when it comes to the holidays, even your favorite stars want to park that bus and spend time with their loved ones. Blake Shelton is no exception. This Thanksgiving, you’ll find the Ada, Okla., native relaxing at his farm just outside Nashville. Along with his wife, Kaynette, Blake will welcome his dad and stepmom for a Shelton holiday tradition—hunting before dawn, napping in the morning, and eating all day long.

"My favorite Thanksgiving ever would be three years ago, when my dad came here to Nashville," says Blake, whose current single, "Nobody But Me," is on the way to becoming one of his signature songs. "It was right after I bought our farm in Tennessee. My dad came here for Thanksgiving and we went deer hunting. It was the first time he’d been deer hunting in 25 years—he just never had a place to go.

"He and I hunted together every day," recalls Blake fondly. "We’d sit side by side and just watch the hills. We hunted for three days, and on the last day, a buck stepped out and he got it. It was a really cool deal, the way it all went down, because we got to spend a lot of time together. It wasn’t about shooting a deer as much as he and I hanging out. We really hadn’t had that in a long time, because once I moved to Nashville in ’94, we hadn’t had a lot of one-on-one time around each other. And now we’ve done it every year since then."

Blake starts his Thanksgiving day early. "I get up about an hour before daylight and have me about two cups of coffee," he says. "I’ll go to wherever I’m hunting deer that day and get there before it even starts to get light. I’ll hunt, sitting in that spot until about 9:30 in the morning. Then I’ll come back and probably take about an hour nap," he says with a grin. "So that puts me at about 10:30—or 11 o’clock, more like it. By then, the cooking has usually started."

The cooking—the majority of which Blake admits is done by his stepmom—includes most of the traditional Thanksgiving foods. There’s turkey, stuffing, and Blake’s favorite, pumpkin pie. And how about a little holiday cheer?

"Oh God, yeah," he laughs. "Vodka is my drink. I’ll mix it with Diet Sprite or orange juice. My dad, he’s an old-time whiskey drinker, so he likes Crown Royal. Which reminds me, I better go get him a bottle. And Kat, she’s a beer drinker. It’ll be a total, ‘get to the house, lock the gate and not leave again’ week.

"My dad and I will definitely be mixing some drinks and talking," continues Blake. "And he and I both have big pocket knife collections, so we normally spend about two nights just looking at each other’s pocket knives, and trading. It’s really just about as redneck of an event as you can have. Because the other thing that happens is, we go outside and build a fire, stand around it and turn on the CB radio and listen to people talk on the CB.

"It’s really and truly about the most dull things you can imagine," he says proudly. "And to me, that’s the best thing about it, because my whole year is just absolute chaos—in a good way, but you get to a point where you can just go, ‘I don’t want to do anything. I just want to listen to some trucker ask for directions on the CB, and then get mad when nobody answers.’ Those are the things that make me happy."

Catch Blake on GAC!
Tune in Monday, November 28 at 9 p.m. Eastern as Blake Shelton gets a turn at programming the network with some of his favorite videos. You'll see the likes of Toby Keith, Craig Morgan, Tracy Byrd, Andy Griggs and more!

For more information, visit Blake's website, blakeshelton.com.

Here are a few tongue-in-cheek tips from Blake on how to have a Happy Thanksgiving:

1. Don’t be afraid to snack throughout the day. Because if you starve yourself waiting on the big dinner, you end up eating so much that you just get sick. So as stuff is getting made, I always start eating it right then. Which ticks everybody off, but I don’t care because it’s my house! So I’m always picking throughout the day. To me, that’s more fun than sitting down and having the one meal. That way I can eat all day long.
   
2. Be prepared to take a nap sometime during the day, probably on a recliner or couch. It’s not truly Thanksgiving if you’re not just ‘slobbing out’ a little bit.
   
3. You’ve gotta mix a drink, just because it helps you relax a little bit.
   
4. Go hunting that day. Get it done early. You need to get up probably at 4:30 in the morning to be ready in time for daylight. It gives you an hour and a half to watch the weather and drink some coffee before you go.
   
5. Remember the dogs. The dogs have to have Thanksgiving, too, so make them a plate of whatever. Because you’ve probably cooked too much. It’s always fun to go out in the yard and feel little pieces of turkey to my chickens, because that’s just kind of sick and I think it’s funny.