How NewSong’s ‘The Christmas Shoes’ Became a Movie
One of the most famous Christmas songs of the past 30 years is NewSong’s “The Christmas Shoes.” The tune, which has more of a narrative than most Yuletide songs, was adapted into a movie. Here’s how that happened.
NewSong’s ‘The Christmas Shoes’ became a book and hen a movie
“The Christmas Shoes” was co-written by NewSong’s Leonard Ahlstrom and Eddie Carswell alongside radio personality Isaiah “DC” Daniel. While other Christmas songs like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” focus on emotions, “The Christmas Shoes” is more like a short story. It tells of a young boy coping with the fact that his mother might pass away soon. That’s the sort of story that would work well as a 90-minute Christmas television movie. Thus, the film inspired the TV movie The Christmas Shoes starring Rob Lowe and Kimberly Williams.
During a 2020 interview with American Songwriter, Carswell discussed how the movie came about. “When we were working on the song, I mentioned it to my friend Donna VanLiere and asked her what she thought of the idea,” Carswell said. “She thought it sounded like a great idea for a book, which she wrote.
“Then it became a CBS movie of the week,” he added. “Then Donna wrote another book called The Christmas Blessing that continued the story of the little boy, and CBS did another movie, and we wrote a song called ‘The Christmas Blessing’ that we sang with Rachel Lampa … it’s just been amazing for a lot of people. And it all started with that one song.”
‘The Christmas Shoes’ is 1 of many holiday songs that inspired a movie
“The Christmas Blessing” inspired another TV movie, this one starring Neil Patrick Harris. The trilogy of NewSong movies ended with The Christmas Hope starring Madeleine Stowe. Who thought that one little song would lead to a trilogy of films?
Oddly enough, Christmas music has inspired a lot of Christmas movies. Many Rankin/Bass specials were based on popular tunes like “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”
In addition, there are live-action movies based on “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” “Santa Baby,” and “Last Christmas.” Apparently, Christmas songs are such a big part of the holiday that they regularly inspire movies. Let’s hope that a cinematic adaptation of “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” isn’t coming down the pipeline!
What a member of NewSong thinks of the band’s signature song
“The Christmas Shoes” has become NewSong’s signature track. NewSong is a contemporary Christmas band, but there’s a good chance you have heard “The Christmas Shoes” even if you have never listened to the Christian rock channel on the radio. Carswell noted the song had a massive impact.
“A lot of concertgoers come out to see us at Christmas because of the song and the entire Christmas Shoes CD, and because so many of them are familiar with everything that happened from it,” Carswell said. “It’s almost become like ‘Jingle Bells’ or something, almost part of that category.”
“The Christmas Shoes” might not be the new “Jingle Bells” — but it has had quite the influence on television films.
