This year’s “People of the Year” honors trailblazers in their fields who have tried to help make the world a little bit better. Naturally, Dolly Parton is among those honored.

Parton created her “Imagination Library” years ago, which has provided over 160 million books to kids in need since inception.

Her giving didn’t stop during the pandemic. Early on during COVID-19, she donated $1 million to support the research happening at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. That research resulted in the Moderna vaccine, which we know has become very widely available.

Parton just has this to say — “It makes my heart feel good to know that I can do something for somebody else.” It makes ours feel good, too!

Source: PEOPLE

This will be Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani’s first Christmas as a married couple! But in the several years they spent dating prior to getting married, they established some holiday traditions that they will for sure be continuing.

“We go out of our way to find a recipe. And it’s always got to be the most difficult thing you can imagine, whether it’s, like, a Beef Wellington — which, I didn’t even know what that was until I met you,” Shelton shares, speaking to Stefani, who then replies, “The fact that you wanted to make a tradition out of … it’s almost like an anti-tradition, because a tradition is something that you’ve done your whole life, and that you keep repeating. But you keep trying to not repeat and make something new again and again and again. And that’s your tradition.”

Stefani also shared that growing up her parents were very traditional, so trying new things, even foods, around Christmas time makes her “feel like I’m going to get in trouble.”

Shelton then reveals that one of the “craziest” traditions he’s seen was in Stefani’s family.

“One of the craziest things that I learned about you and your family, as far as holiday traditions go, is the wrapping paper wall the kids run through,” he tells her. “And I’m not kidding when I talk about how serious this is to the Stefanis. Is that something you just started with Kingston first? Or is that something that you guys did as kids, that your parents did? Because I’ve never known you to take anything more serious when it comes to a party type thing than this wrapping paper wall that they run through.”

Think you’re the biggest football fan out there? Tim McGraw may have you beat!

He admits that he’s a football junkie and will watch any game. “Whoever’s playing, I’ll watch,” McGraw said. “I’ll watch every game I can. And the great thing now, I think, about football season is you can find a game just about every night of the week. Some college somewhere is playing. Somebody’s playing somewhere.”

It doesn’t even have to be NFL — he’ll watch high school and college too. He admits, “It’s almost a depression when football season is over because I miss it so much. There’s just something special about Sundays watching football and … well, every day watching football.”

Source: Tim McGraw 

If you’re in Atoka, Oklahoma be sure to stop by “Reba’s Place.” That’s right, Reba McEntire is creating her own restaurant, bar, and live entertainment venue!

She shared the news during her show on Friday at the Choctaw Grand Theater in Durant, Oklahoma as she welcomed Chief Gary Batton from Choctaw Nation to announce the opening, set for 2022. Reba’s Place is in partnership with both the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the City of Atoka.

During the show, McEntire said, “We’re thrilled to pieces because it’s going to be right downtown Atoka. It’s going to be called Reba’s Place and it’s going to be in the old Masonic building. Y’all know where that is if you’ve been to Atoka… We’re really tickled, we’re very excited about it. It’s going to have great food, family atmosphere, a bandstand in there where we can do a little pickin’ and grinnin’ and singin,’ and we’re hoping by the end of next year, around September 2022, around that sometime that we’ll be ready for serving you guys to come up and see us.”

Chief Batton said, “We are partnering with the greatest female country singer of all time to bring Reba’s restaurant to Atoka, Oklahoma.”

Reba’s Place will have two stories of dining space that open up to a large stage and will also have a restaurant. Planned dishes include the “Fancy” steak dinner (yes, a nod to her hit song!) as well as chicken fried steak, pinto beans and cornbread, and street tacos, which are described on the website as “Reba’s personal favorite.” There is also a restored 100+ year old antique bar which will serve beer, wine, and cocktails as well as a retail space were you can buy exclusive items and “established Reba favorites.”

Even if she’s not there, you will be able to feel McEntire’s presence everywhere as “The aesthetics of the venue are heavily influenced by Reba’s western heritage and include a curated collection of memorabilia from Reba’s personal archives that will regularly change,” according to the website.

Source: People 

Brett Young is headlining his own CMT holiday special, “CMT Crossroads: Christmas: Brett Young & Friends” and now we are getting our first look at it.

The network just shared a clip of Brett and Boyz II Men performing the classic holiday tune “This Christmas.”

And that’s just one of many collaborations on the special. Other guests include Chris Tomlin, Colbie Caillat, Dann Huff, Darius Rucker, Gavin DeGraw and Maddie & Tae.

Brett’s special airs December 8^th at 8 pm.

Source: People