The perfect Christmas special.
Dolly Parton has done quite a few holiday specials over the years, and you can’t go wrong with watching any of them on any given holiday.
And in 1990, she released one for the Christmas season titled Dolly Parton’s Christmas at Home, which finds her back home in Sevierville at her childhood home, surrounded by friends and family as they celebrate the holidays.
She also goes around Pigeon Forge, and of course Dollywood, and the special accompanied her Christmas CD Home for the Holidays.
She shared some of her most special memories growing up:
“At Christmastime when I was a kid, I always loved the story about the three wise men. I used to always picture them as being like Dr. Thomas. He was the only Dr. we had up here in these hills, he used to ride the ridges on horseback taking care of the sick.
He was a well educated man, and he could’ve made a fine living somewhere else, but he loved these people and he loved the mountains. Most of the folks up here just paid him with a live chicken or a sack of cornmeal. He delivered me, he was our preacher too so years later he tried to deliver me from sin.
Of course, that was a much harder job for him. He’s gone now, but what he brought to these mountains was a much greater gift than gold or frankincense.”
Dolly also featured her parents, Avie and Robert Lee, who had a special Christmas tradition of their own:
“Well, we were very young and didn’t have much money when we married 51 years ago, so I had $1 on Christmas, I bought him a box of cherry candy and handkerchief. Wrapped it, gave it to Lee, and every year since, I’ve given him that… long as I live, it will always be there.”
Avie said Lee gave him:
“12 beautiful children, six boys and six girls.”
Dolly’s sisters also joked that she would always ask for makeup for Christmas, though she never got it, because her daddy said it was “evil,” though of course Dolly would find a way to make it herself. She would use matches for eyeliner and wild berries for lipstick, which she argued wasn’t actually makeup because she got so creative.
Technically, she’s kind of right…
Of course, they sang plenty of Christmas classics like “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” and Dolly closed the special by saying quite beautifully:
“Well, times have changed, but not my memories. No matter where I am at Christmas, my heart is always home. Merry Christmas everybody, and may God always bless you.”
There are so many Christmas specials out there these days, and plenty of artists have put them out as is pretty common now, but there’s something so nostalgic and heartfelt about this one that really feels special and authentic.
Leave it to Dolly, right? Maybe it’s because it reminds me so much of my most cherished Christmas memories from growing up, but I just love this one so much.
If you’re looking for something family-friendly and touching to watch this Christmas, Dolly’s special should be at the top of your list. You can watch the full program below.
