Dolly Parton goes big or goes home, whether it be her music, hair, or country music dreams. The holidays are no different in her household, and just like at your local grocery store, celebrations start real early.
She revealed to Good Housekeeping the festivities start in November — Thanksgiving, to be specific. Preparation includes dressing up as “Granny Claus,” installing so many decorations that tourists come to look at them, and having a sack of gifts ready to give away.
She admitted, “It’s hard for me to dress down.” And Granny Claus isn’t just a one-time thing for 2024, it’s every year. “I get in my Santa Claus suit and I come down the chimney with my sack full of presents.”
Celebrations bring Parton closer to her sister Rachel, who keeps things slightly more low-key. “Rachel is a natural beauty, whereas I need a bit of sparkle and shine. I like to go over the top. You should see inside my house at Christmas!”
Speaking of family, Parton’s delightful Christmas commitment is to put a smile on their faces. It doesn’t matter that most of the extended family’s kids are grown up; Parton says it’s still expected she gets into character, “One day, I’ll be hobbling in that elevator!” Considering how much decorating the iconic singer-songwriter has to pack in, it makes sense she has to get a head start a month ahead of schedule. “I have my house and my yard decorated, I put a cross on top of the chapel, and on the night of Thanksgiving, I flick the switch and it all goes on.
“Tourists come round and look at the outside of my house, so for their sake, it’s a bit less tacky out there, but inside I can tacky it up any way I please!” Ain’t nothing wrong with tacky, and if there’s one person who does it right, it’s her.
She also has Christmas trees in every room, “everything has lights on – and then we add more lights, and then more lights. I change all the decor up – the dishcloths and the curtains.” Christmas curtains do sound like they’d be at the more extreme end of the tacky scale, allowances for being a music legend aside.
As for the lights, well, what use is a voluminous head of hair if not to string them up in there? Fairy lights peek out from her blonde locks, but it doesn’t stop there. She also has light-up earrings, a reindeer necklace that glows, and partakes in the joyous ugly Christmas sweater tradition. The latter requires a button to be pressed for the lights to turn on, likely to conserve magical energy.
It’s a good thing we’re not invited to Christmas dinner because we’d be stuck on what to get her. This is something her friends and family also struggle with, “Everybody says to me, ‘Oh, I don’t know what to get you – what do you buy somebody who has everything?’ And I say, ‘Well, you get ’em something to put it in!’ I’m the easiest person on earth to buy for because I love costume jewelry and tote bags and purses.”
As for her sisters, Parton usually sends somebody who has “better taste” than her out to make sure they get the top-tier gifts. Oh to be on that buying list.