I haven’t blogged in a while, so forgive me for a bit of a holiday throwback! Now that we’re in an unforgivingly cold January, I am desperately hanging on to memories of twinkle lights and holiday cheer.

Maisy in her new favorite spot.

One pre-Christmas and -Hanukkah activity my girlfriend, Brena, and I made happen was hosting an ornament-making craft night at our house. Though I’m technically half-Jewish and half-Catholic, I was raised Jewish and never really had a Christmas tree growing up or did much to celebrate the holiday beyond seeing my mom’s side of the family. Brena was raised Catholic, and this was our first holiday season living together, so we got to share and blend our traditions and create some new ones of our own. Both our cat, Maisy, and I were introduced to the joys of a Christmas tree, and to make the tree even more our own, we wanted to make some ornaments to hang on it.

We invited a group of our friends over to join us in ornament-making, providing acrylic paints, Model Magic, Christmas-themed cookie cutters, clear plastic ornaments and lots of other miscellaneous supplies. A few of the truly crafty among us brought their own supplies.

It was extra-exciting because my best friend, Sarah, who moved to Europe when we graduated high school and now lives in Manchester, United Kingdom, was home for the holidays. The last time she was in the United States was last holiday season, and I missed her so much. I got to introduce her to Brena’s friend group who have become my friends, too. Sarah is very creative, so ornament-making was a perfect low-pressure activity for everyone to get to know each other.

Sarah’s ornament creations and her current knitting project.

One of the ornament-making methodologies some of us used was rolling out air-dry clay, stamping out shapes with cookie cutters, and then painting those shapes. My gingerbread man looked a little wonky because there wasn’t time for the clay to dry before painting (as this was a one-night event), but I still placed him on the tree.

Two of our friends brought felt and stuffing to make small plush ornaments, which was really impressive, and they turned out so cute! I wasn’t daring enough to attempt to make something like that, but Brena made a ravioli mother and child with faces.

Brena’s creation.

I had the brilliant idea to paint a portrait of my cat on a clear plastic ornament before filling it with snow-like glitter. I am honestly really proud of this one; I think I captured Maisy so well.

My Maisy ornament.

I used my newfound skill to make my gift for Brena’s family: an ornament with a portrait of their family dog on it. The gift ended up being a huge hit, so I’m glad I scored some points there because I have no clue what I would have gotten them otherwise.

The ornament I made of Brena’s family dog, Elvis.

It was such a fun night filled with laughter and good vibes, and I definitely want to host another craft night soon. Between seeing all our friends reveal their artsy sides and listening to Christmas music while being creative, it was a perfect mid-week respite before the craziness of seeing family set in.

— Hannah Gruen, advertising & events coordinator