Reba McEntire Revealed the ‘Fun’ Christmas Tradition She Shares With Son Shelby Blackstock: ‘We Laugh a Lot’
Country music icon Reba McEntire revealed the Christmas Eve tradition she shares with her son, Shelby Blackstock. Their holiday ritual has changed through the years, and it might not be what some people call traditional now, but according to her, “it’s a lot of fun.”
Reba McEntire recalled Christmas mornings when Shelby Blackstock was a child
McEntire talked to The Boot about holidays when Blackstock was a child, recalling how he would open gifts, and she would ask who they were from. “He would say, ‘Uh, I don’t know,'” she shared, noting, “He was, like, three years old.”
“I’d say, ‘Shelby, that’s from Santa Claus,'” she added. “And he’d say, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot! He’s a really good guy.'”
The famous “Fancy” singer said that “watching the excitement of a child opening gifts [is] the best thing about Christmas.”
“Opening presents and watching them,” she offered. “It’s so much fun.”
On another Christmas morning she’ll “never forget,” she woke up because her excited young son was “three inches away from her face” (Southern Living).
“He said, ‘Mom, you’re not gonna beweive what Santy Claus weft for me,'” she remembered. He asked her to come with him, which she did. “I got up out of bed and went in there, and there was this little tractor-trailer set that he had just fallen in love with at the store. He’s seen it, and he said, ‘I can’t beweive he bought this for me.'”
McEntire added, “He was so cute.”
Reba McEntire and Shelby Blackstock watch ‘Nacho Libre’ on Christmas Eve
McEntire also revealed some of her recent Christmas traditions to The Boot, sharing that she and Blackstock watch movies together. She shared, “Shelby and I, we used to always watch Christmas Vacation on Christmas Eve night. Now, we watch Elf and Nacho Libre.”
“If you’ve never seen Nacho Libre, you’re probably thinking, ‘What on Earth?! That’s not a Christmas movie,'” the “Does He Love You” singer added. “But it’s a lot of fun! We laugh a lot.”
Shelby Blackstock is Reba McEntire’s only child
Though McEntire married twice and had stepchildren in both marriages, Blackstock is her only biological child. His father is McEntire’s second husband and former manager, Narvel Blackstock.
In her autobiography, Reba: My Story, McEntire revealed that she had thought children wouldn’t be an option in her first marriage. When she married the second time, something changed, and she wanted to have a baby. She called having her son in 1990 the “most profound spiritual experience.”
In 2022, McEntire told Today that she’s “very proud” of Blackstock because he doesn’t act like some children of celebrities. She said she tried to raise him without that kind of entitlement.
“When we would play games or cards, I’d never let Shelby win,” she shared. “He wouldn’t have learned anything that way. I always told Shelby, ‘I’ll always love you, but I want other people to like you. So don’t be a little jerk. Don’t be a spoiled brat.’”
