It’s no secret that Dolly Parton loves the yuletide season.
The country music legend, 78, has released three Christmas albums and starred in several Christmas movies throughout her decades-long career. And much like the title of her 1990 album, Home for Christmas, that’s exactly what she has managed to do for years: always be home for the big holiday.
While promoting Dolly Parton’s Billy the Kid Comes Home for Christmas, her first-ever holiday-themed children’s book, the “Jolene” singer spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about why being home for the holiday is a never-missed tradition for her, and how it ties into her new book.
Parton says being home for Christmas is so important to her that she wouldn’t even accept a high-paying gig if it meant missing the festive holiday. That sentiment inspired the book’s heartwarming story.
“In this book, performers have the dilemma of whether we go on the road or whether we take shows for money, because so many artists get so much money offered to actually perform at certain things during the holiday season,” she explains. “But to love your family, and for that to be a family tradition. You always want to be home for Christmas, and that’s kind of what this little book is about.”
Parton’s new book features Billy the Kid, a character based on her beloved, real-life French bulldog who also appeared in her New York Times bestseller Dolly Parton’s Billy the Kid Makes It Big. Billy must decide between performing a paid gig or making it home for Christmas. But much like his owner, he opts for the holiday tradition.
“Billy gets a big offer to work at the Barcafella Center, and so he’s already promised that he’d be home for Christmas, and so eventually he gets there,” she says of the book’s plot. “But then there’s a lot of fun, story and everything in between.”
She adds, “I love being home for Christmas, and so far I’ve missed all kinds of holidays, but to my knowledge I have never not been home for Christmas.”
Considering Parton’s very busy career, it’s quite a feat. She tells PEOPLE it’s not just about tradition and gathering with family, but about the décor and good food as well.
“[I love] the tradition of being home for Christmas, and being with family, and having all the good food and all the different dishes that different family members make, and just the music, and just all the festivities of the lights and the sounds, and everything to do with Christmas,” the singer-songwriter tells PEOPLE.
Now, Parton’s fans can get a taste of her family holiday feasts, thanks to a new cookbook she released on Sept. 24 together with her sister Rachel Parton George. Good Lookin’ Cookin’: A Year of Meals features Parton family recipes and classic American dishes. It also, of course, includes some of the “9 to 5” singer’s favorite holiday meals, some that will likely be on her dinner table come Christmas Day.
“I always love everything we have to do at Christmas. So many of the things we have at Thanksgiving, you know, like the sage dressing and the giblet gravy and the mashed potatoes and the sweet potato bars,” Parton tells PEOPLE when asked about her most-cherished holiday dishes. “I’m big on making a big old pot of chicken and dumplings, and everybody looks forward to that as well.”
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Dolly Parton’s Billy the Kid Comes Home for Christmas — which is written by Parton and Erica S. Perl and illustrated by MacKenzie Haley — is available now wherever books are sold.
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