2024 was a BIG year for me. I started a new job, moved into my first solo apartment, lost about 20 pounds, started dating my boyfriend, replaced two totaled cars…the list goes on. Amidst all that chaos, I really wanted to assert myself as an adult with the new money and freedom I accumulated thought the year. Part of that assertation in my mind was continuing on my journey to becoming the girl I’ve always wanted to be – the one who I save on Pinterest and relate to in old movies and hear about in songs. I wanted to show up anywhere and everywhere with a big fat smile on my face and an amazing outfit on my body. I wanted to walk into the gym looking like I owned the machines. I wanted to walk into work feeling confident and capable and steady. And I wanted to attend the birthday parties and holiday gatherings with the people I love, bringing a perfectly wrapped gift that they would cherish forever.
In this journey of becoming the me I’ve always wanted to be, I searched for opportunities for self-discoveries in the past several months. Throughout my “research” I did in fact learn a lot about myself, but naturally there are many questions left unanswered. I’m not sure that I really have one singular love language (I really tend to prefer a combination of them all) but if one thing is for certain it is that I love gifts. I love brainstorming about what to get someone and scrambling to type it in my notes app so I can remember it later. I like thinking about what someone’s reaction will be when they open a perfectly wrapped gift box or fish out the item amid tissue paper in an overpriced decorative paper bag. I like thinking about where the gift might sit in their space and how long it will last and if they will think of me every time they see it.
When Christmas rolled around, I had lists in my notes app and scribbled on post-its in my planner about what I wanted to bring to friends and family this year. Referencing back to the new apartment and totaled cars I mentioed earlier – money was a bit tight, and I knew that if I wanted to be the girl who showed up with amazing gifts and an excited disposition, I needed to get creative.
I finally got around to hanging up pictures in my apartment a few months ago and came across a caricature picture that my friend Lauren painted for me when I graduated college.
Lauren was a year younger than me and spent some time making cute little caricature pictures for friends in our sorority over the Winter term. I remember when she brought it over to my college house, and it was such a cool and meaningful gift that it has traveled to every house and apartment I’ve lived in since I got it. I decided that for my Christmas gifts this year, I would take a page out of Lauren’s book and make some personalized artwork for my friends and family.
The process of making these little caricature paintings was fun – I set up newspaper over the floor of my apartment and watched old episodes of my favorite shows and lots and lots of Christmas movies. I found it was actually helpful to have more than one painting in progress at a time to allow the layers of paint to dry. Accidentally, I made a sort of assembly line of paintings where once one part of the canvas was done, I’d just move down the line to the next. I tried to incorporate the personalities of each person into their painting by making the backgrounds their favorite color, incorporating patterns on their shirts or jewelry on their caricature if I knew they were often worn in real life. I wanted the images to be verging on the edge of chic and comedic and some of them turned out better than others.
So, while these gifts might not be the most glamourous and certainly will not show up on an influencer’s gift-guide, they were incredibly fun for me to make and watch my friends and family open them. I’m continuing on my journey of self-discovery and will surely have more handmade gifts to come!