A light-up hairdo, festive curtains and gaudy gifts – it could only be Christmas at Dolly Parton’s house! The icon is gracing the cover of Good Housekeeping's legendary Christmas issue - and she gave us a peek inside her rhinestone-studded celebrations.
In an exclusive interview, she told us that Christmas is all about going 'over the top' - and that means with everything from her dress code to her decor. Would you expect anything less?
"These days, my Christmas starts in November. 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," she says.
"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! I have Christmas trees in all the rooms, 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.
"Oh, and I have Christmas lights in my hair – I have them everywhere. I wear earrings that light up, a reindeer necklace that lights up, I wear sweaters with Christmas lights on – you push a button and I light up!"
While Dolly, 78, doesn’t have children of her own, she revealed that they play a big part in her festivities.
"I have all the nieces and nephews and all the grand-nieces and nephews, and all the little kids of the people who work for me, so I’ve kind of adopted a bunch of people. And I’ll do whatever I can to put a smile on their faces," she says.
"Every year, I play Granny Claus – I get in my Santa Claus suit and I come down the chimney with my sack full of presents, Even though a lot of the children are grown-up now, they still expect me to do it. One day, I’ll be hobbling in that elevator!"
The country singer has given us our fair share of Christmas gifts over the year - festive albums (three, no less), movies (only Dolly could pull off playing an angel not once but twice), even a stage show (Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol) - but what's on her wishlist?
"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 jewellery and tote bags and purses," she says.
With all the jollity, it’s hard to imagine how Dolly, who has just released a new cookbook, Good Lookin' Cookin' with her younger sister Rachel, has time to do any cooking on the big.
"Rachel is a serious cook, and that’s where the title of our book, Good Lookin’ Cookin’, came from, because she makes things look pretty and people say, 'How did she do that?' She’s the better, classier host, whereas I’m more like the welcoming committee," Dolly says.
"It’s better to get somebody else to do the rest, because you can’t depend on me to have something left in the oven when I’m going to be off playing with the kids and going down in that elevator!"
Good Lookin’ Cookin’: A Year Of Meals (Ebury Press) by Dolly Parton and Rachel Parton George is out now. Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping’s December issue on sale from 24th October.
Pick up your copy of the December issue from your local magazine retailer. Copies available at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, WHSmith, M&S, Waitrose, Co-op, Morrisons, Asda, Lidl, Independent and Convenience retailers.
Or, subscribe by 31st October and get the legendary Christmas issue as part of your subscription, from just £6 for 6 months.
Or, to buy a single copy of the December issue online, shipping to over 125 countries click here.
