Robert K. Elder - Christmas with Elvis: The Official Guide to the Holidays from the King of Rock ’n’ Roll

TO MY PARENTS,
from whom I inherited a love
of both Christmas and Elvis

K ids love Christmas, and Elvis was always a big kid at heart.

To Elvis, Christmas at Graceland was a time for family and friends, a respite from the road and the recording studio. It was a time to sing gospel songs around the piano and give out extravagant gifts.

All of this was in contrast to Elvis poor roots in Tupelo, Mississippi, where money was tight and his family was forced out of the two-room house where he was born, when his father couldnt continue the payments.

My Mama and I used to plan Christmas for days, even when we had no money at all, Elvis remembered. We werent the only family who was thankful to have a Christmas basket of groceries.

Christmas remained his favorite holiday, and some of his first performances were in Christmas plays in fifth and sixth grade. It was the holiday closest to Elvis heart.

I believed in Santa Claus until I was eight years old. Some of the kids at school told me there was no such thing. Mama explained it to me in such a way that Christmas didnt lose its magic, Elvis said in 1961.

When Elvis finally became Elvis and started dyeing those dirty-blond locks jet black, he gave out more than Cadillacs. When he had money, his friends had money. And Christmas was specialan opportunity to give out hand-picked gifts and be himself with friends and family. It was like being in fairyland and Santa Claus was my first cousin, remembered Billy Smith, Presleys cousin, about Christmas celebrations at Graceland.

But lavish decorations and gifts were beside the point, he told Jim Kingsley of the Memphis Commercial Appeal Mid-South Magazine in 1966.

There is a lot of difference in Christmases today and when we were growing up in East Tupelo, Elvis said. [But] honestly, I cant say these are any better. We are just in a better position to spend. But thats not the important thing. Its the friendships and the devotion that really count. Everything is so dreamy when you are young. After you grow up it kind of becomesjust real.

On the following pages we look at the holiday music Elvis recorded and its roots. We also dig into the archives and tell some of the Elvis favorite holiday stories and memories. And just like at a Christmas party the King of Rock n Roll himself would have loved, weve even brought out a few Yuletide desserts and cocktails and left a few cookies on the plate for Santa.

Whether your Christmas is blue or white, we hope youll enjoy this very Elvis Christmas.

Robert K. Elder

Chicagoland, 2021

Id like to tell everybody that theyve made this the best Christmas that Ive ever had. Wed like to thank everybody for all the presents and Christmas cards and birthday cards that came in. I got exactly 282 teddy bears during the Christmas holidays. We have the walls lined with them. Id like to tell you that we deeply appreciate itthat were sorry we couldnt give everyone a new Lincoln, but they wouldnt sell us that many!

(ELVIS ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, JANUARY 6, 1957)

E lvis first holiday record proved to be a tough recording sessioneven though he was only recording eight tracks for the full LP. The rest of the album would be rounded out by songs from his gospel EP, the four-song