Dolly Parton’s Mouthwatering Homemade Christmas Puts Her in ‘a Happy Frenzy’
One would expect Dolly Parton‘s Christmas celebrations to be magical. However, the Queen of Country employs a down-home take on the holiday. She surrounds herself with family and friends and prefers to do all the hard work of the day herself. Here’s how she celebrates Christmas.
Dolly Parton believes homemade elements of Christmas make the day special
In an essay published in Guidepost, Dolly Parton revealed that she revels in the homemade aspects of the Christmas holiday season. She loves to cook and prepare delicious dishes for her family and friends.
Parton wrote, “My mouth waters when I just think about my holiday dishes. Tasty (perfect with my pecan chicken salad), savory pimento cheese sandwiches (cubed dill pickle gives it tang), luscious pies (if you’re a pecan lover, wait’ll you taste my butterscotch pie crust), and, of course, my signature chicken and dumplings.”
However, while Parton was thrilled to share some of her famous recipes with her fans, the chicken and dumplings recipe is a family secret. She explained the recipe is “under lock and key.”
“It was Mama’s specialty, and now it’s mine,” Parton admitted. “I remember being at her side, standing on tiptoes, waitin’ for when she’d let me drop the dumpling batter into the steaming-hot chicken pot with a big old spoon.”
She concluded, “Then there’s the ham. There was always a holiday ham ever since I was a bitty thing growing up with my 11 brothers and sisters in our two-room Smoky Mountain cabin. We knew how hard Daddy worked to raise his hogs and how much love Mama put into preparing them for the smokehouse.”
How does Dolly Parton celebrate Christmas today?
Although she can buy any gift she desires today, Dolly Parton remembers a time when she and her siblings enjoyed fruit, candy, and homemade toys under their Christmas tree. She was wistful recalling those early days of her life.
“Back then, we’d wake up on Christmas morning to find our stockings filled with some apples or oranges and hard candy. We loved our hard candy!” Parton said.
“Daddy whittled us new toys. We sang all the Christmas carols, our voices ringing throughout the holler.”
She then shared an even more sentimental memory of spending time with her mother. “It was Mama’s job to read aloud the Christmas story from the Bible. I can hear her even now: “Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream….”
The country music legend has created some new Christmas traditions of her own
In the years since Dolly Parton has created some new Christmas traditions of her own. She now looks forward to those every year as much as she enjoys reflecting on the past.
“I’ve created some new traditions of my own. About a week before Christmas, I host what I call Granny Night. I helped raise some of my younger brothers’ and sisters’ children, and they started calling me Aunt Granny,” Parton explained.
“So on Christmastime, I’m Granny Claus. I get all gussied up in a red velvet Santa suit. (You don’t think I’d miss a chance to wear a costume, do you?) I load up the table with all kinds of homemade goodies: thumbprint cookies, Hello Dolly bars, walnut candy, and kettle corn,” she declared.
“Then I come in carrying a big sack of presents. “Ho ho ho!” I belt out. The kids go crazy. I don’t know who has more fun, them or me.”
Dolly Parton plans on spending Christmas with her extended family and friends. She plans to close out the year in the same manner, surrounded by those she loves.
