In the years since Elvis Presley’s passing, his Memphis estate Graceland has become hallowed ground. 600,000 fans flock to the property annually, with Graceland at Christmas coming second only to Elvis Week in August as the estate’s most-visited time of year. The landmarked home and museum is lined with memorabilia and records, and Elvis devotees have relished in the opportunity to walk the very same halls as the king since the home opened its doors to the public in 1982. The full-time staff at Graceland work year-round to keep the American icon’s spirit alive on the property, but something about the holidays at Graceland has always been particularly special. Namely because Presley was very much a Christmas guy, as Graceland’s vice president of archives and exhibits, Angie Marchese, tells AD.
“Elvis loved Christmas, it was his favorite holiday,” says Marchese, who has worked at Graceland for over 30 years, beginning as a tour guide at 17 years old. She explains that the staff delved back into Presley’s Christmas traditions in the early 1990s. Per the “Santa Claus Is Back in Town” singer’s wishes, Graceland transforms into a winter wonderland right around Thanksgiving.
Graceland kept blue drapes on the main floor throughout the year, but over the holidays, Presley would have them switched out for festive red ones. The team located those original drapes in excellent condition and rehangs them annually. While the crimson curtains do some heavy lifting to set a joyous holiday mood, they aren’t the only Christmas decor that dates back to Presley’s residency.
“The dining room [held] their main Christmas tree, and it was that heavily decorated with lights, tinsel, and various eclectic ornaments,” Marchese says. “The tinsel that we put on that tree every year is the original tinsel from when Elvis decorated it. Priscilla tells the story that when they were decorating the tree, she would tell Elvis, ‘You hang the tinsel like icicles; it’s supposed to hang down.’ Elvis would ball it up and throw it at the tree, like a snowball.” Magically, it survived Presley’s slapdash yearly installation in Graceland’s archives.
Presley’s yuletide jubilee extended from inside the manse out onto the surrounding lawns. Though Graceland was—of course—a home, and not a museum, during Presley’s time there, he was aware of the local interest in his property and kept a number of lawn ornaments with public passersby in mind. “The very first Christmas lawn ornament Elvis displayed is the ‘Merry Christmas to All’ lights with Santa and the reindeer,” Marchese says. “He put it there the Christmas of ’57, which was his first Christmas at Graceland. He paid $300 for it.”
The nativity scene on view today also dates back to Presley’s time at Graceland. He started out with a smaller scale version of the classic setup in the early 1960s, but by 1969, he had decided—in typical rockstar fashion—that bigger was better, switching it out for larger pieces.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a Christmas celebration without a shining display of lights. Unsurprisingly, the “Blue Christmas” singer opted for blue. Marchese said that in the mid-1960s, Presley became taken with a house he saw in California where the driveway was lined with blue lights, moving him to phone back home and get Graceland on board to do the same.
The staff executed Presley’s wishes with his affinity for grandeur in mind: “His father joked he was surprised not to wake up with an airplane landed on Graceland’s front yard, because the driveway looked just like a runway, and the airport’s only five miles from us,” Marchese said.
Every year, the decorations stay up through January 8 (Presley’s birthday). Though there was one year in particular that a Christmas tree at Graceland—which Presley’s father kept in his office on the grounds—went untouched until springtime. The icon’s service in the army made for a few holidays away from home, as he was stationed in Germany from October of 1958 until March of 1960.
“Because he wasn’t at Graceland for Christmas that year, they left the Christmas tree up in his dad’s office until the day Elvis came home from the army in March of 1960,” Marchese said.
Inspired by the king’s well-documented love of all things Christmas, Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough produced Graceland’s very first Christmas special this December (NBC’s Christmas at Graceland, which is now streaming on Peacock) with singers including Kacey Musgraves and Lana Del Rey performing live from the estate. Marchese says the musical special was the first live show of its magnitude on the grounds—“hopefully, the first of many more to come.” Like Presley’s own decades-old decor and cherished Christmas traditions, the holiday spirit he imbued into the property has been lovingly preserved by his family and Graceland’s staff. And while manifold films, books, and shows retell the story of Presley’s life, this more intimate part of his legacy is carefully stored in Graceland’s archives, retold in exactly the manner he chose himself year after year.
