Momma's Homemade Panettone

My holidays were filled to the brim with food—feast of the seven fishes, antipasto, egg noodles with white truffle oil, two kinds of homemade ice cream, trays of cookies, breakfast casserole, lasagna, the most amazing stuffed pork, and this homemade panettone. My mom seriously outdid herself.
Every other year of my life we've had panettone from a box, which is totally normal. I've never heard of anyone making it at home. I mean why would you when if you're Italian and you're preparing for holiday food, you've got about a 100% chance of being in a store that sells it. It seems to never go bad and you can eat it as it, toasted or made into heavenly (and rich) French toast. This year, however, my mom decided to make it herself.

I helped her find a recipe—we used the one from King Arthur Flour because we trust them and there were a ton of step-by-step instructions and photos—and she got her schedule straightened out since you can't really make it ahead of time, but it take a while to make. On Christmas morning we were so giddy about it and it was so good that my mom made two more batches before I left NJ. She even made some small loaves that are carefully wrapped and tucked into my freezer to ration out through the next month or so. I love that this has surely become a new family tradition and that I have a family so committed to an overabundance of yummy food.