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For Susan and George Ford III, celebrating Christmas with family is one of the most important times of the year. Both grew up in families that always made the holiday a season to remember. “There’s nothing I enjoy more than getting everyone together at Christmas,” says Susan, who was born and raised in Vermont. Now, the parents of three grown children cherish special moments together during vacations at the couple’s Jupiter-area waterfront home, which they share with two of their three daughters, twins which are Christina and Danielle Ford, 34, and the Chaucer twins’ service dogs and London. The Fords’ eldest daughter, Meghan Ford Taylor, 39, lives with her husband, Carter, in West Palm Beach and also enjoys family time with her parents and siblings at Christmas.
Memories of Susan’s holiday time in Vermont include snowmobiling up and down the mountains, enjoying a roaring fire, and feeding turkey, homegrown turnips, squash, beets, and her mother’s delicious pies . “I love all my memories of winter in Vermont, but it wasn’t Christmas to me until I saw Good life on TV,” said the Ford family matriarch, shifting her loyalties to the tropical holidays since moving to Palm Beach County
in 1980. “I now enjoy our Christmas celebrations off the coast.”
Susan’s husband, George Ford III, was the son of Dr. George Ford, the latter prominent place
orthopedic surgeon who is part of a consortium that owns a retirement community that became the basis for Jupiter Medical Center. When the community closed in 1971, the consortium bought it, then sold the 600 acres east of the railroad tracks to Alcoa for Jonathan’s Landing and donated the remaining 30-acre parcel for a medical center. The parcel includes the original Jupiter Medical Center Home Health and Pavilion buildings. Eventually, with financial help from some Jupiter Island residents, the Jupiter Medical Center was created and opened in 1979.
Not interested in pursuing a career in medicine, George founded Leeds Custom Design in 1999 to create cabinets for clients of his house painting business on a Palm Beach estate. He also founded a construction business, Seabreeze Building, and was active in statewide public issues such as advocating for workers’ compensation benefits.
Like his wife, George fondly remembers his childhood Christmas celebrations. “Since Dad was always on call at work when I was growing up in North Palm Beach, our parents would take the six of us kids to Petite Marmite or Testa’s (both now closed) in Palm Beach for Christmas Eve,” he says. “On Christmas Day, Mom made turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy for the family. Then, after we open presents, I rush out to swim and surf.”
Those memories motivated George to carry on the traditions during vacation with his own family. “Christmas Eve is Christmas for us,” he said. “We usually have our kids with us that night, and we open presents and serve stone crab, turkey, rack of lamb, cookies, key lime pie…. We put all our energy into it. I even drove to Miami Beach to buy stone crabs at Joe’s. We have a tight family and are always happy.”
When Susan and George recently invited family and a few close friends into their Bermuda-style home decorated for the holidays for lively conversation, laughter, and a festive pre-Christmas dinner, the spirit was light and happy. . “I want to get together to celebrate with family,” said daughter Meghan, an architect who founded the West Palm Beach firm Tralongo & Taylor. He also handles projects for his father’s companies, including a
renovation of the historic Duck’s Nest in Palm Beach, and designed the architectural interior of his parents’ waterfront home.
Stylishly dressed in a Charlotte Kellogg pink and white striped blouse, white pants, and Chanel shoes, Susan greets guests at the door and shows them to the open living room/family room and covered breezeway/loggia overlooking the pool, spa, firepit, dock, and Intracoastal.
George, smartly dressed in a green Maus & Hoffman shirt, blazer, and white slacks, served guests two signature drinks of the evening: frothy cranberry martinis with sugared cranberries and rosemary and eggnog cocktails with a cinnamon sugar rim and cinnamon stick decoration. Appetizers include a colorful charcuterie board of imported artisan cheeses, olives, sliced fruit, red grape clusters, and Italian meats with crackers.
Guests naturally gather around the beautiful indoor Christmas tree (from Christmas Etc. in West Palm Beach), cut by renowned designer Bruce Sutka, a longtime family friend and a guest at tonight’s soiree . “My inspiration for the tree was aquatic, reflecting the open water view of the house,” says Sutka. “I used ornaments and trinkets in different shades of blue, green, and turquoise with gold and silver accents and added palm fronds all over.” Sutka is also the designer behind the Ford family’s annual Party with Pack charity event, which raises money for the Leeds Endowment, an organization founded of Fords to help people with disabilities by providing them with the resources they need to live healthy, productive, and independent lives.
George and Susan, whose twins were born with cerebral palsy, are advocates for giving back to the community. The Leeds Endowment has raised more than $2 million since its inception in 2010, with all money going to local charities, including training service dogs. With the help of daughter Danielle, who works at NextEra Energy, Susan leads the Leeds fundraiser held every November in West Palm Beach.
“The Fords are truly good people,” Sutka said. “They have a strong work ethic and truly care about others, which is evident in their charity work. Making Christmas decor for them gives me serious joy.”
For dinner tonight, Sutka transformed the covered breezeway/loggia area into a casually elegant Christmas scene. The second Christmas tree, which he made using Ford family ornaments in red, gold, and green, stands next to a vignette of orchids in white and deep pink from Exotic Plantscaping & Nursery in Lake Worth. “Pink adds a pop of color to the tropical holiday setting,” says the designer.
Sutka set a weathered driftwood dining table with rustic elegance, repeating the use of blues, greens, and golds to stay with the water theme. Each place setting is anchored by a gold charger beneath white dinner and butter plates by Villeroy & Boch. Classic, clean-lined crystal goblets, Parisian-inspired flatware with gold-banded handles, and white napkins brought together by a smart pair of gold napkin rings in hammered metal and cord complete the table. settings. As a centerpiece, Sutka combined starfish, seahorse, colored balls, and garland that seem to grow underwater and move with the tide. “I brought in beachy colors and themes that work beautifully for the dining room and also played with the same Christmas trees,” she says of the table.
For food, Susan turned to another friend, James Bartle, owner of SandyJames Fine Food & Productions in West Palm Beach, who served dinner and appetizers. “I have been friends with Susan for 40 years and I have great respect for the Ford family’s work with the Leeds Endowment,” said Bartle. Dinner was prepared by Chef Julio Taveras and his assistant,
Israel Reyes.
On the menu is a Sconset salad (Bibb lettuce, dried cranberries, Maytag blue cheese, candied walnuts, and cranberry vinaigrette), whole roasted turkey, jumbo stone crab, roasted New Zealand crown roast rack of lamb, candied rainbow carrots, potatoes au gratin, green beans almondine, sweet potato soufflé, dinner rolls with whipped herb butter, and cranberry bread with cranberry butter. “Susan wanted a casual but upscale traditional Christmas dinner,” says Bartle. For dessert, guests try rose apple tarts, Chantilly cream coconut cake from The Kitchen in West Palm Beach, and decorated Christmas cookies.
As the Fords and their friends wind down the night, Wilhelmina Stanton, a longtime friend of daughter Christina, perfectly sums up the atmosphere. “The food is always wonderful, and it’s so much fun to be at the Fords’ home at Christmas time,” said Stanton, 39, who is Christina’s partner in Thresher Aquatics, a nonprofit they founded to help people with disabilities. learn to scuba dive. dive in He continued: “The Fords are great, and being with them at Christmas is like being with family where everyone gets along.”
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