'Tis the season for... splinters?

I was invited to be a part of an ornament-making event one of my dearest friends does every year with her mom & all the women in her family + their friends. I'm not going to lie, I was freaking out. I saw that she made these adorable snowmen out of bath towels. But, I had to keep authentic to myself. I found these wood slices at Michael's for $5 and some snowflake stamps that would fit perfectly. I wanted to give them a rustic "branded" look, so I bought brown ink to make them look like I took hot iron to it. I hot glued some brown twine atop and, alas, a faux-woodsy ornament. 

Holidays. It's a love/hate situation for me. On one hand, I love all the foods, spirit, and (slight) chill in the air! On the other hand, I dislike the food (because I have to work out more), (grouchy) spirits, and the lack of chill in the Southern California air. But, hey, that's just my mind sitting on a see-saw of being optimistic and pessimistic. These past couple of years have been quite difficult for me because I haven't had my nana around, however, this one feels different. I think I am always going to miss my nana, especially around Christmas time because she was the queen of our tamale night. But, family is good, and family strengthens one another.

Moving past that little holiday rant (which I seem like I HAVE to do every post)... Above all, the holidays are about giving. It seems like the older I am getting the more detail-oriented I am becoming with gifts... and well packaging, card-making, decorating... basically everything. It's really fun... not really, but I digress, again. This year has become the year of the little things. My gifts for everyone is going to be a lot of little things compiled into something bigger! If I am being real, it's because giving someone one BIG gift gives me a lot of anxiety... there is a lot more space for them to dislike it than say 10 mini things of stuff you know they love. It may be a cop-out, but if done correctly I think one can create the perfect ambiance for the holiday. Anyway, I'm going to be posting little gift guides about what I am talking about! I've been YouTubing a lot of gift guides and let me tell you, it's been a life-saver. Hopefully my following posts will be somewhat helpful to someone out there (especially the procrastinators!)