One crucial reason Dolly Parton ditched dieting this festive season

Legendary singer Dolly Parton is no stranger to staying in shape for her stage performances, but for her annual Christmas family gathering - there's not a single diet in sight

When it comes to country music legends, they don’t come much bigger than Dolly Parton, whose name is synonymous with big hair, show-stopping vocals and a toned figure. Yet while the music icon has maintained a trim figure ever since she emerged on the scene back in the 1960, one key aspect of her enduring good looks is knowing when to say goodbye to a strict diet regime.

Opening up about her festive traditions in an interview with Closer magazine, Dolly revealed that food is at the very heart of her Southern festivities, which includes the periods between Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.

"We all start eating around Thanksgiving, and we eat until the first of January, and that's when we all go on our diets. You know how that goes?" she told the publication. "Well, I'm not going to even think about dieting now. I'm just going to eat everything I want to."

She continued: "You stretch your clothes out! But you're ready for a diet after the first of the year.”

Making sure that she enjoyed herself was one of the crucial aspects of her celebratory tradition, and that meant indulging in as many delicious foods as she could, without having to say anything was off limits. "We have turkey and ham, black-eyed peas and cornbread dressing, and then we have lots of mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and that sort of thing," Dolly said.

Once the holidays are over however, it’s back to business as usual, but for Dolly that means more of an emphasis on exercise than it does on restricting the foods she loves. The 78-year-old star revealed: "I do a little bit of yoga. I don't do much running, I'm not trying to give myself black eyes!”

She then concluded: ”So I just try to do stretches and little floor exercises. But I'm not big on that."

Aside from her healthy habits to stay in shape, every Christmas Dolly likes to put family at the heart of her celebrations, especially when it comes to interacting with the younger members of her extended family.

"I go all-out for Christmas. My family call me Granny Claus, Dolly Claus, or Gigi Claus, it just depends on the different generations," reports Hello! "I've been doing that since I had my younger brothers and sisters. They've now got children and now their children have children, so I've just been at it for years. Christmas is a big thing for us.”

One of the standout traditions is a special Christmas carol service in which members of the family gather for a musical sing-a-long of songs such as O Holy Night. “We really are big on having lots of great things for all the holidays,” she added.