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Homes & Heritage Sites

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2018

Night Before Christmas HomeNight Before Christmas Home

“Our home is always full with family during the holiday season. On Christmas morning everyone (5 generations) crowds around the tree, including our 96-year-old mom, our children and their families. We cherish this time with our 5 grand-children and 2 great-grandchildren.

This year we're going one step further and inviting you to join us for the Homes for the Holidays tour to celebrate our 25th Christmas in our home.

As you walk up to our house you will be surrounded with lit up trees and you'll enter a favourite Christmas poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Stepping inside you'll find the sugar-plum express, a train delivering tasty treats. Continue to the bedrooms and you'll find the family all settled down for a long winters nap with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads and more.

And on the way out, don't forget to stop at the trading post in the gazebo. Oh and one more surprise awaits you on the patio before continuing on your holiday journey!"
—Wendy Sol


Candy Cane LaneCandy Cane Lane

“We moved into this 1800 square-foot bungalow in 1998 and it has since become a favourite gathering place for our family, with baby showers, birthdays, and anniversaries filling the home to capacity and spilling over into the yard.

We’ve always enjoyed decorating the exterior of our home for the holiday season, prompting many an acquaintance to ask me “when is that husband of yours going to get your lights up?” The display has certainly grown over the years earning our home the nickname “Candy Cane Lane.”

This has led to impromptu, but frequent stops from strangers at the head of the driveway as they stop to take a couple quick photos. We’ve even had cookies and a note or two left in our front door thanking us for the display and wishing us a safe and joyous Christmas.

It is with this sense of enthusiasm that we are looking forward to opening our home to the extended community this holiday season and in support of Home for the Holidays.”
—Sherry Snedden


Poplar Forest LodgePoplar Forest Lodge

“We’ve lived here for 15 years. We built our home with four bedrooms, a living room and a games room for our family. But when our kids moved out it was too beautiful to let go. We turned it into a Bed & Breakfast and campground once we were empty nesters.

We love the entire property but the campground with the lake and trails is our favourite part, no matter the season.

Every year our kids and their families come back for dinner on December 24 and 25. I don’t like seeing people alone for Christmas so any friends who tell me they don’t have somewhere to go for the holidays are invited to join our family for dinner.

This year we’re excited to be welcoming more visitors into our home for the Homes for the Holidays tour.”
—Patti Tomko


St. Andrews RectorySt. Andrews Rectory

St. Andrews Rectory was on our first tour in 2015,
and it’s back this year by popular demand!


"St. Andrews Rectory, or parsonage, was completed a few days after Christmas in 1854 by Rev. William Cockran. This impressive limestone house replaced the condemned log parsonage Cockran built 20 years earlier when he established a new Anglican mission at Grand Rapid (now St. Andrews) so he could minister to the growing flock of Hudson's Bay Company retirees settling in the area. This was not an average home in the Red River settlement; it was meant to reflect the lifestyle and social status of a ‘gentleman' of Red River Settlement. Until the arrival of the railway in the 1870s, the mission was an important centre in community life with its church, schools and farm. Rev. Cockran not only fed souls but literally helped feed new arrivals. He taught them how to grow food, survive punishing winter winds and summer heat as well as grasshopper infestations and relentless mosquitoes. The Rectory at Christmas was a festive time with lots of food and visiting; a place to brighten lives constrained by the long, dark, cold winter. Join us and go back 150 years."
—The Volunteers of St. Andrews Rectory


Country Family Christmas HomeCountry Family Christmas Home

“The most important thing about Christmas is always family, a time to gather with loved ones. We love creating a warm, welcoming and homey feel at all times, especially at the holidays. This year we are planning a family country Christmas theme.

Our home was built in 1997 and we bought it from its original owners just last year. We’ve renovated and modernized the inside to suit our family’s needs and create a “modern farmhouse” style.

We don’t have too many traditions in our new home, but one we brought with us is the “santa detector” that goes on the mantle. It’s a small trinket, but it started when I was little and now continues for our young boys. If it’s spinning it means Santa’s near! And it might be spinning during the tour since Santa may make an appearance!

I’ve been going on Christmas home tours every year with my mom for as long as they have been running and having my own home as part of the tour is truly an honour.”
—Krystal Montgomery


Serenity StablesSerenity Stables

“Our home lies just outside of Selkirk and offers 35 acres of country living while still having access to all the big city amenities.

Our home was built 21 years ago by a couple preparing to retire here. They lived at this location until we bought it from them in November 2009.

As you walk in, there are hundreds of rocks lining the driveways, all of which have been farmed from the fields behind our house. One has come from my parents’ home in southwestern Manitoba and weighs in at almost 20,000 lbs. See if you can guess which one it is!

As you enter our open-concept home you’ll be able to look out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the rock gardens and many evergreens that surround the house.

Our favourite part of the home is the expansive yard that allows our dog, Takoda, a great deal of freedom and provides great walking trails for us. The view of the yard from any direction provides a tranquil feeling. Whether it’s watching the moon rise through the evergreens on a clear night or waking up to the sound of birds chirping on the deck, it reaffirms this is a stable of serenity.

We look forward to having you drop in for a country Christmas tour of Serenity Stables.”
—Sandra & Hugh John Wallace


Original Brown’s HomeOriginal Brown’s Home

“The Home was built by Stan and Eleanore Mae Brown in 1941 and was originally a small 2- bedroom home. In 1954 as their as their family grew, they added a garage, two more bedrooms and a half bath.

We moved into the home October of 1997 in time to welcome our son, at Christmas.

We built another addition that expanded the kitchen in 2005 and remodelled the home from its original exterior facade of cement to what is now an elegant Tyndall stone and stucco exterior.

My husband’s family are of Icelandic descent, so we celebrate Christmas with lots of Vinarterta, Ponnukokur, Rullupylsa and brown bread. We also hang woolen stockings to represent what is traditionally worn when ice fishing.

One of my favourite Christmas treasures is a goose made of reeds that we found in Canmore, Alberta. Since then our decorations have become a collection of feathers and wings. Gledileg Jol”
—Margaret Bell


Knox Presbyterian Church Knox Presbyterian Church

“Knox Presbyterian Church sits on Eveline Street just across from Queen’s Park in Selkirk and celebrates its 142nd anniversary this year. The church was built in 1880 and started as a modest 36 by 38-foot building. In 1903, architect Samuel Hooper drew plans for a new church. Construction began on the new church which incorporated the original building in June 1904 and by the end of that year the church was in use. The older portion of the building sits on a sturdy fieldstone foundation, while the new parts rest on a solid concrete foundation. Inside you’ll find original woodwork and three stained glass windows by world-renowned artist Leo Mol.”
—Knox Presbyterian Church’s congregation


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