How Dolly Parton will be celebrating Christmas this year
Though the world might still be fraught with fear and turmoil, there’s a shining star illuminating the darkness. A star with a big voice, big hair and big dreams to make this Christmas as special as it can possibly be. And she goes by the name of Dolly Parton.
As the biggest-selling female country artist of all time, Parton has essentially written the soundtrack to our lives; she immortalised the bittersweet ending in I Will Always Love You (later sent stratospheric by Whitney Houston), the monotony of working life in 9 To 5, and she gifted the world with Jolene, which is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time. She has sold around 160m albums worldwide, won 153 awards, donated around 145m books to children through her charity The Imagination Library, helped create TV shows and films including Dumplin’ and Heartstrings, and, if that weren’t enough joy to fill a lifetime, she even runs her own theme park in Tennessee, called Dollywood.
Clearly, nothing – not even a global pandemic – can stop Dolly Parton from sprinkling her fairy dust. In fact, 2020 has arguably been one of her most productive years yet, with a slew of new offerings just in time for Christmas. Aged 74, she has released her first Christmas album in 30 years, A Holly Dolly Christmas, featuring five new songs (including a delicious duet with Michael Bublé, and another with her goddaughter Miley Cyrus). She's also released a joyful Netflix Christmas musical, which shares its name with one of the album’s songs, Christmas On The Square. And if that weren't enough, she has released Songteller – an illustrated book and audiobook – sharing the stories behind 150 of her most famous songs.
‘People won’t have their full-blown Christmas like normal, so I thought I’ll do as much as I can to make people happy, make myself happy, and make it a more joyful Christmas,’ Parton tells me over the phone from the Nashville home she shares with her husband of 54 years, Carl Dean. Her Tennessee accent is as warm and cosy as a roaring fireplace. ‘I can’t wait to leave 2020 behind and look forward to a better, brighter future for all of us.’
Here, she shares why despite a challenging year, she’ll be savouring the festive season...
‘Christmas means everything to me. It means fun, food, family, joyful times – and presents, of course. I just love everything about it, I always have. I’m a big believer in playing all the Christmas songs and covering the house in decorations. I try to make the most of every occasion – I’m the kind of person who dresses up for everything, so I love dressing up as Santa Claus, and I wear red, white and green throughout the whole season.
I grew up in a very poor mountain place in Tennessee, with 11 brothers and sisters, and we didn’t have a lot of store-bought things. We had relatives who were lucky enough to have a walking, talking doll – the kind that comes with a bottle you can put water in, and they pee and cry and all that. My sisters and I wanted one of these for Christmas so badly! One of my sweetest memories is when my little brother Randy was born. Mama called us in to see our new baby and said, “This is your Christmas present this year. You have your own walking, talking doll that really pees and really cries. You have the ultimate baby!” On my new album, I wrote a song called You Are My Christmas, which is about him. Randy is a great singer, so he’s singing with me along with his daughter – my niece – Heidi. That was really fun.
One of my favourite traditions now is Cookie Night. I don’t have kids of my own, but I invite all the children in the family around to my house in the run-up to Christmas, and they come at noon and stay the night, until noon the next day. I get a few of my friends to come and help with the littler kids, and we eat pizza and make cookies. I have an elevator in my house, and every Cookie Night, I dress it up like a chimney, with fake fire on it, and they all sit at the bottom waiting for Santa Claus. I dress up as Santa and come out of the elevator with their gifts! I’ve been doing that for years, and they all look forward to it.
On Christmas Eve, I normally have a great supper with my siblings and nieces and nephews, at one of our houses. It isn’t necessarily traditional – we might have a lasagne or Chinese food, and everyone will contribute dishes. We always open our presents on Christmas Eve, too!
My husband, Carl, and I are pretty easygoing when it comes to gifts. He’s a carpenter and a mechanic, so I keep an eye on what he’s missing or what he’s worn out and I’ll buy him tools or flashlights. He knows I love to cook, so he’ll buy me things like aprons or oven mitts. People laugh when they ask, “What did your husband buy for you?” thinking I’ll say, “A diamond ring!” He just buys me what he knows I really want. I also write him songs and he writes me sweet poems. A poem inside a card is my favourite kind of gift.
As soon as I wake up on Christmas morning, I start cooking. My sisters and I are all great cooks, so we decide beforehand who’s cooking what dish, and then we all get together and bring our dishes. I cook while playing music – songs like Winter Wonderland and A Holly Jolly Christmas. I’ll also make breakfast for Carl; I always do something fun like red and green pancakes, covered in decorations with strawberries.
We usually have a very big Christmas. If we go back home to East Tennessee and host Christmas at one of our big houses there, my sisters and I will load up our cars and take food and presents round to different houses for our older relatives who don’t get out much. When we’re here in Nashville, we sometimes have Carl’s family and there might be 30 or 40 of them. And with my family, it’s about the same, so there’s anywhere between 30 and 50 people.
My family are very open people, and we love to have fun. We sing songs and watch all the Christmas specials on TV, and the classic movies. We all laugh together and drink apple cider – some with alcohol, some without. If somebody gets too tipsy, we just sit them down and make them some coffee!
I will still try to make Christmas special this year. I have a couple of sisters and several nieces and nephews who live nearby in Nashville, and we’ve all been very protective and closed-in. So I’m certainly hoping that I’ll be able to spend Christmas with some family. Of course, we’ll be calling a lot of our friends and family who live in East Tennessee, Zoomin’ and FaceTimein’ and all that. I’m sure we’ll find a way to be together smartly and safely.
All I want this year is joy and peace. I always pray for peace and goodwill at Christmas but, this year, I’m also praying for peace of mind. We’re going through such extremes at the moment – there’s so much craziness, and so many emotions – so I hope we can all mellow out a little bit. My wish is that we all take stock and try to make next year so much better.’
Do it like Dolly
Famous for her brilliant one-liners and whip-smart wisdom, here are some of our favourite ‘Dollyisms’.
ON BEING YOURSELF: ‘Find out who you are, and do it on purpose’
ON HER LONG-TERM MARRIAGE: ‘I know every line in his face, and he knows every hair in my wig’
ON HER STYLE: ‘I’d never stoop so low as to be fashionable’
ON NEVER TAKING LIFE TOO SERIOUSLY: ‘I know some of the best Dolly Parton jokes. I made ‘em up myself’
ON FINDING BALANCE: ‘Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life’
ON KINDNESS: ‘If you see somebody without a smile, give them one of yours’
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