Dolly Parton Shared Why Her Childhood Christmases Always Ended in Violence
Dolly Parton was one of 12 children, so Christmas was often chaotic during her childhood. She said that while her family was poor, her parents always did everything they could to give the kids a good Christmas. Unfortunately, the siblings often derailed their plans for a peaceful holiday. Parton said that almost every Christmas ended with a brawl.
Dolly Parton said she and her siblings always fought on Christmas
Every Christmas, Parton said her parents gave the children candy. They all had different ways of eating it.
“I never think about Christmas and candy without remembering how Denver would instantly take whatever candy he had and lick every piece,” she wrote in her book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “This was to ensure that no one else ate it. He apparently didn’t mind his own spit, but to the rest of us, it might as well have been cyanide.”
Parton said that one of her siblings always tried to make their candy last. Those who didn’t have as much self-control found this infuriating.
“It seemed like there was always one person, usually Stella, who would hoard a piece of candy or two until everybody else had crunched theirs into oblivion,” she wrote. “Then the held-back candy would be slowly and painfully licked in front of the candyless green-eyed horde with a gleeful kind of one-upmanship that is peculiar to brothers and sisters.”
This almost always caused a violent fight.
“This would always lead to blows and bring on some form of justice from Mama or Daddy always involving some kind of speech about the ‘true spirit of Christmas,’” she wrote.
Dolly Parton shared her favorite memory of Christmas
While her memories of fighting over candy stand out to Parton, she said her most “memorable” Christmas was the one where she “received the least.” Her parents got married young and had little money, and her father finally pulled together the funds to get her mother a ring.
“One Christmas he gathered us all together and explained to those of us that were old enough to understand that there wouldn’t be the usual store-bought gifts we had come to expect,” she wrote. “This year all of the money had gone to buy Mama a ring. There was instead one gift for the person who could find the ring where Daddy had hidden it. This set off a frenzy of searching. Every place that could accommodate a ring.”
The siblings rushed to find the ring. When someone did, and their mother received it, her father revealed that the present was a box of chocolates. All of the children shared it.
“That is Daddy’s way,” Parton wrote. “Those chocolates were so sweet they could make your teeth hurt, and so are the memories of that Christmas.”
She said her family always managed to get them presents
Parton said she and her siblings eagerly anticipated Christmas every year. They got treats and candy in their stockings, and everyone got one store-bought gift. She said these were the presents they all cherished the most.
“Somehow Mama and Daddy always managed for each of us to get one store-bought gift,” she wrote. “Regardless of what it was, it was a thing of wonder to be revered, looked at with slow eyes, felt with tender hands, and relished for its newness. Best of all was that ‘it’s really mine’ feeling that could carry you around on a cloud for days, or until it was replaced by that ‘it’s really broken’ feeling.”
She said her brothers often received fireworks, and she and her sisters got baby dolls.
