Elvis’s father, Vernon Presley, took one look at his son’s new holiday lights and came up with a joke that Graceland is still telling all these years later.
It helps to know how much the season meant in that house. At Graceland, no time of year mattered more to Elvis than the holidays.
Graceland’s own blog puts it simply: “Elvis loved Christmas. It was his favorite time of year.”
The family got the decorations up early. And then Elvis added a touch that made the whole place stand out.
“Elvis also lined the Graceland driveway with blue lights,” Graceland wrote.
Before you hear what Vernon made of it, take a look at the lights themselves. Graceland’s own video shows the mansion lit up for the season, and it’s the closest most of us will get to rolling up that driveway after dark.
Graceland glowing in its holiday lights
So where did Elvis get the idea for a blue driveway in the first place?
California, as it turns out. Angie Marchese is Graceland’s archivist, the person who looks after Elvis’s belongings and the history of the house. She told WMC Action News 5 in 2021, “So, Elvis actually saw a home in California decorated with blue lights on their driveway.” He liked it enough to bring it home.
Now, a long line of glowing blue lights stretching down a driveway is a beautiful thing. It’s also, if you squint, a little like something else.
Vernon noticed.
Here’s how Graceland tells it: “Elvis’ father Vernon joked that with the lights lining the driveway, and the airport nearby, that pilots may get confused and would try to land at Graceland.”
It was only a joke, of course. But you can almost hear the dry way a dad would say it, the same way fathers everywhere tease about the Christmas lights going up on the house.
Getting the house ready is still a big job every year. Graceland sped up the whole thing in a time-lapse video, so you can watch the mansion get dressed for the season in a few minutes flat.
Graceland getting decorated, sped up
The blue lights never went away. Because Elvis loved the season so much, the decorations stayed up through his birthday on Jan. 8, and Graceland still keeps that tradition. In recent years the blue-light stakes have gone in around mid-October, and the inside decorating happens the week before Thanksgiving. Staff still use his tinsel, too.
This year, Graceland’s Holiday Lighting Weekend runs Nov. 19 to 21, two weeks from now. It includes the Holiday Lighting Ceremony, a Jingle Jam party, a holiday show and a new after-dark Christmas tour called “Graceland Unwrapped.”
So if you’re ever near Memphis in December and see that driveway glowing blue, give a little nod to Vernon and his joke.