The holiday season is in full swing and I’m trying to keep myself afloat for all of it. I was adamant about doing my holiday shopping early and this year, I felt pretty accomplished to keeping last minute buying at a minimum.

This year, I decided to host a small DIY holiday card party with some of my dearest friends. To prepare, I gathered paint sets and stickers from my local craft store and picked up some beautiful specialized Japanese paper from Daiso. I wanted a variety of craft mediums for my friends to create with so everyone could feel free to come up with their own designs. A card offers endless possibilities and a handmade card is truly something special.

For my friends to munch on, I decided to create a festive spread of goodies. Everything was from Trader Joe’s (I don’t know what I’d do without Tjs). Here’s the full menu:

Bites:
- Mini Quiches
- Pasty Pups (pigs in a blanket)
- GF Brazilian Cheese Bread
- GF Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Fruit Salad (blueberries and raspberries)
- Chocolate Covered Strawberries
- Focaccia bread (from TJs’ new DIY mix. Personally, I like my focaccia bread made from scratch but for a mix, this bread tastes amazing.)
- Gingerbread Hot Coco Mug Hanger Cookies
- Choclate Covered Lebkuchen Cookies
Drink:
- Sparkling plum juice with frozen cranberries
- Apple cider

Luckily, the weather was perfect all afternoon. It was a crisp yet sunny day and it was such a joy to spend a few hours being creative with friends. I was on a mission to create as many cards as possible with the intention of sending cards to friends and family for the New Year. Everyone made a few cards each to give to their loved ones as well. Since there are other holidays also worth celebrating this time of year, I wanted to make sure that my Jewish friends had many craft options to choose from as well. After all, the holidays are about coming together and celebrating our shared existence.

Though it’s so easy to get caught up in the consumption of the holidays, I really treasured this time that I was able to spend with friends. Everyone is so busy with school, work, and life in general that it’s hard to make time for little gatherings like this. One thing that I’m constantly working on is being more present. I feel like this past couple of weeks have been a blur and though I’m happy with the full swing of the holidays, I have a hard time being present for all of it. I’m always thinking about the next party, questioning if I bought enough gifts, and wondering about what I should bake next. Before I know it, the holidays are over and I hardly even took a moment to sit back and absorb it all.

Now that we’re in the final stretch into the holidays, I still feel like there’s a few loose ends. I haven’t decided what I’m going to bake for Christmas and there a few gifts that I need to mail out (sorry friends, they won’t get there in time). But overall, I couldn’t be happier with how the holiday season has been going. I feel very lucky to have such wonderful friends who are willing to make time to be crafty with me and I can’t wait to share a few final blog posts for the year.