As much as I absolutely love the holidays, it’s also the busiest, most stressful time of year. The month of December is always a blur and by the end of each year, I find myself regretting not taking enough pauses, to truly relish in the festivities for myself. This year, however, I’m doing things a little differently. For starters, I’ve been wanting to host a small gathering of girlfriends for months – something we, as working moms struggle to make time for – but not surprisingly, months have passed and that gathering has yet to happen. That was, until last week, when UberEats inspired me to throw together an impromptu wreath workshop, for my friends, in my own backyard, on a . . .  get this, MONDAY.

I’ve always wanted to make a wreath, so what better excuse for friends to gather than to host a little workshop where we could DIY, drink mulled wine and have lunch together? Honestly, my dream day. So I reached out to floral designer Aubriana MacNiven, someone whose work I’ve so greatly admired on Instagram, to lead the workshop. Then, I texted 5 friends, all of whom so awesomely accepted my invitation to play hooky on a Monday, in mid December, to come craft with me. All of this came together over the weekend, which essentially gave me no time to plan all the minute details that every gathering revolves around: food. And frankly, I was too exhausted and overwhelmed to obsess over it. Before everyone arrived the next morning, I whipped up a batch of mulled wine because, again, it’s Monday and we’re breaking all the rules. I ordered some cheeses, olives, fruit spread and crackers from a local cheese and wine shop using the UberEats app. Aubriana brought the supplies and just like that, we were ready.

We started out with bunches of of willow branches that were unraveled, reformed into circular wreaths and then loosely bound by floral wire. This was our foundation for our wreaths. Then we attached large, hearty greenery, like magnolia leaves, blue spruce pine, and olive branches as the base of our asymmetrical designs, using that same wire.

After our leafy greens laid out our shapes, we added berries, dried flower pods and dried pomegranates, oranges and quince. I loved seeing how everyone’s wreath was taking form – each one was so different and unique! At this point, we were all so focused and involved, we couldn’t stop. We just kept adding and adding and adding . . . more is more is more! Halfway through the workshop, I booted up the UberEats app on my phone once again and ordered the most delicious salads from one of my favorite local lunch spots.  They were delivered in less than 20 minutes (by a jolly Uber driver guy wearing a Santa hat, might I add!) and we all managed to scarf down some much needed lunch before diving back into our wreaths.

Aubriana brought the most beautiful cotton branches and long feathers and they were the perfect finishing touches to our masterpieces. As much as I love entertaining, rarely do I get the opportunity to participate entirely, without being interrupted to sustain my guests. So thank you, UberEats, for allowing me to play hostess without the pressure compounded by the holidays! It was truly the best day.

(photography by Andrea Posadas; flowers by Aubriana MacNiven; this post was created in partnership with UberEats, all opinions are my own)