The Christmas Shoes

2000

Newsong

Another comparatively new Christmas tune this morning...and this one has made it's way to the Christmas playlists in a big way

It's a real tear-jerker, too, and I bet everyone's heard it. It's about a young boy desperate to buy a pair of expensive shoes for his terminally ill mom on Christmas Eve, so when she passes away and goes to Heaven, she'll be beautiful when she meets Jesus.

He doesn't have enough money to pay for the shoes, and the narrator of the story is behind him in line, doing last-minute Christmas shopping, and ends up paying for the shoes for the boy...and is forever changed for the better by the experience.

The song's actually based on a chain-letter that was passed around back in the 90's called The Golden Slippers,. It was written by Eddie Carswell and Leonard Ahlstrom, and recorded by Christian vocal Group Newsong. It performed a Christmas Hat Trick when it was released in 2000 by charting on the Billboard Hot Country, Adult Contemporary, and Hot 100 charts (#31, 1, and 42 respectively. It stayed on both the Adult Contemporary And Hot 100 for a week).

It got mixed...and polar opposite...reviews, and no one had a neutral opinion about it. It was either one of the best...if saddest...Christmas songs ever written, or complete drek, depending on the person you talked to. Gotta admit, I'm in the first group. We need to be reminded what the real meaning of Christmas is once in a while.

Newsong scored themselves a New Classic here...it made it to the Christmas playlists the first year it was released, and has been a staple on them for thirteen years. Lite 98 (WTVR-FM in Richmond) plays Christmas music for half of November, and all of December every year, and I guarantee you you'll hear it at least twice on any given day, sometimes more often.

It'll probably be around still at the turn of the next century, too. It has that kind of staying power...and a message that we (As well as our as of yet unborn ancestors) need to be reminded of every once in a while.

So enjoy...The Christmas Shoes by Newsong. I was going to post a Lyrics video until I ran up on this Video...it's a film school project that was posted on YouTube by the class that made it. Really hope the kids who made it got an 'A'.\

And, the Lyrics video I was originally going to post s the main vid.

A book was written by Best-selling author Donna Vanliere based on the song shortly after its release and success. Then, two years later a TV Movie, starring Rob Lowe and directed by Andy Wolk, was made based on the book...it aired on CBS in December 2002, and was well received. So, despite what some critics say...Newsong must've done something  right!