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Featured Homes
Each if these families has been kind enough to donate their home and time to this event.
Jennifer & Geoff Lamb, 2717 NE Seneca Drive, Ankeny
Every year we make a special Christmas treat called Christmas Tree Bread. It was created by grandmother Francis McKibben with her family in 1956 when she found this recipe from McCall's magazine in December 1956. My grandmother would make these breads for her family, their neighbors (there were not too many as they farmed in a rural area) and for the church pastors. My grandmother has since passed but the tradition continues and this year will mark 67 years! We make these breads with grandma, aunts and cousins. The breads are such a delicious sweet breakfast treat and we look forward to these every year. They are made from a Pillsbury Hot Roll or sweet bread mix with a gooey and rich jam filled center, then formed into a Christmas Tree shape. We then decorate with a confectioners' sugar glaze and trimmed with a thicker glaze and sprinkled with red and green candied cherries that resemble ornaments and colored sugars.
Heather & Jared Schmidt, 5129 NE Seneca Drive, Ankeny
Jennifer & Joe Ruddy, 5223 NW 13th Street, Ankeny
Our traditions revolve around our family and include spending quality time with our extended families, driving around to look at Christmas lights, and attending the Christmas Eve service at church. Our favorite tradition occurs right after Thanksgiving with cutting a fresh Christmas tree. We find great enjoyment out of going to the tree farm and searching for the perfect tree. Sometimes this takes less than 20 minutes, and other times we spend over an hour walking the tree farm on the hunt for the perfect tree shape, height, and fullness. As the kids have grown, they’ve each taken pride in being able to help use the saw and cut down the tree. Our tree farm visit then ends with apple cider and cookies. When we get the tree home, Joe takes a photo of the kids, Jenny, and any pets in front of the tree before the netting even comes off. This is a tradition he started when our son was an infant. It has been so fun to see how our family has changed over the past 10 years including seeing how much the kids grow, addition of pets, moving and other changes in the annual photos. The photos are a chronicle of our lives at Christmas time each year, and this tradition is something we all look forward to doing and reminiscing on each year’s photo.
Donna & Paul Selindh, 3312 NE 8th Street, Ankeny
For our family Christmas tradition we get together on Christmas Eve and spend the day/evening together. We have too much food, exchange gifts, and play games. We like to read the Christmas story from the Bible and we attend our church service. To us it’s about being together and celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Heidi & Jared Vincent, 2213 SW White Birch Drive, Ankeny
We don’t have standard traditions that hold true every year, but some of our favorites have been: opening up one present (always matching pj pants), putting on said matching pj pants, making hot chocolate, and driving around town to look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. Then coming home, we would turn on Home Alone or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and make homemade cinnamon rolls to let them rise overnight, baking them on Christmas morning.
One of my favorite Christmas traditions started when I was young and my father would have me and my siblings take turns reading the Christmas story out of the Bible before opening gifts. Now, when we get together with my parents and my siblings and family for Christmas, my father has all of the grandchildren take turns reading the same story.
One of my favorite Christmas traditions started when I was young and my father would have me and my siblings take turns reading the Christmas story out of the Bible before opening gifts. Now, when we get together with my parents and my siblings and family for Christmas, my father has all of the grandchildren take turns reading the same story.
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