People (Nov. 2nd 2012)

Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton: How They'll Celebrate Their Big CMA Wins

They had a big, emotional night in front of millions at the Country Music Association Awards. Now, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton are ready to savor their success with something even more rare – a little quiet time together.

“We’re going home for Thanksgiving,” Lambert said after Thursday’s awards. “We’ll have four days there, and again for Christmas. We never see each other, so we cherish every moment together.”

She added: “We’re in L.A. right now, and Blake is still doing [The Voice]. He has just been working his butt off right now, and his schedule is so crazy but it’s worth it because he’s representing country music.”

It was a special kind of togetherness – an artistic one, channeling family grief – that led to the couple’s biggest success Thursday, as their powerful duet “Over You,” about Shelton’s brother’s death more than 20 years ago, was named song of the year. (The pair also won male and female vocalist of the year, and Shelton was named entertainer of the year.)

No wonder Lambert, 28, was crying afterward.

“To write a song with your husband about his brother passing away, and then his dad passed away in January, and I got to put it on my record and it went No. 1,” she said. “It’s been my goal since I started writing songs to write the song of the year, and I just won it with my husband. Who could ever dream that up?”

She added with a laugh: “We’re on a cloud right now, I can’t even think, this night is all so unreal … I’ve cried all night. … My tough exterior is now disheveled.”

For his part, Shelton, 36, reflected on the song that means so much to him.

“I wanted her to record it,” he said. “I didn’t want to go there every night of my show. I wanted to be proud of it. I didn’t want to be in it again every night. So she cut it, and it was meant to be. Everything that was meant to happen with that song happened as it should.”