Last year, we set up a retail pop-up shop under the name of our first business together, Mother Daughter Collective.
We filled our storefront with a selection of our favorite things — candles, holiday drinks and dip mixes, and so much more. What we thought was simply scratching an itch for a boutique experience turned out to be the beginning of something much sweeter.
Our favorite things aren’t just objects. They’re moments. They’re the small details that make life feel warm, thoughtful, and extraordinary.
So, this holiday season, we’re opening our hearts and sharing our lists of all the things we return to again and again — the cozy, the meaningful, the playful, the beautifully practical. When life feels busy, loud, or overwhelming, we simply remember our favorite things…
1. The Gift of Experience
Some gifts can be wrapped with ribbon. Others unfold slowly, like time itself. We believe the best gifts are the ones we experience together — unrushed dinners, road trips with playlists, hotel robes and terrace coffee, or a day where nothing matters except being present.
Gifting Idea: Give a calendar and circle a date. Include a dinner reservation, road trip plans, or even plane tickets. Time is the one gift no one returns — and everyone remembers.
Scented Candle
2. The Gift of Scent
Scent is the quiet narrator of home. In autumn, we simmer Cinnamon Cider from Aromatique — apples, clove, and golden warmth you feel before you see. In December, we return to Frasier Fir by Thymes — that first inhale of fresh-cut tree when the door opens to winter.
For something handmade, we adore the candle-pouring workshops at Clean Slate Botanicals in Shreveport. Bring your sisters, your best friend, your mother, your daughter — and pour a scent that becomes a memory.
Gifting Idea: A candle and a handwritten note about a shared moment — or schedule a candle-pouring workshop and make a memory. Simple. Human. Felt.
Hot Ruby Cider
3. The Gift of Taste
Our holiday beverage of choice isn’t just a drink — it’s a tradition. Hot Ruby, with its blend of cranberry, pineapple, citrus, and clove, fills the whole house with warmth the moment it begins to simmer. Serve it steaming in mugs by the fire or chilled with sparkling cider or ginger ale. And if the evening leans festive, a splash of bourbon or bubbly turns it into something gently celebratory.
Trust us: buy two bottles — one for the party, and one to hide for later.
Mayhaw and muscadine jellies, along with hot jalapeño salsa, carry the stories of kitchens and hands that came before us — little heirlooms of flavor passed from one holiday to the next. This is the season when taste buds wake up — when something as simple as stirring, pouring, and sharing feels holy.
Gifting Idea: Bundle a jar of homemade jelly, a loaf of fresh bread, and a handwritten recipe card tied with twine.
4. The Gift of Paper and Pen
There is a certain magic in good paper — the kind that makes your handwriting look prettier and your thoughts feel more possible. If Lola has a signature gift, this is it: paper and pen. It’s how she remembers, creates, processes, and dreams. It’s how she lives.
We keep Sugar Paper journals tucked in our tote bags and Rifle Paper Co. notecards ready in our desk drawers. And there is always one special pen — the favorite — the one we’ll loan only if we stand nearby and watch. Lists. Letters. Prayers. Grocery reminders. Someday dreams. All written by hand — because handwriting is a portrait of the heart.
Gifting Idea: A journal and a beautiful pen with one line handwritten inside the front cover: “For the things that matter most.”
Aromatic green rosemary in pots
5. The Gift of Green(ery)
Fresh winter greens have a way of turning any house into a home. We love winter stems tucked into pitchers, rosemary topiaries in the kitchen window, and simple garland trailing across the mantel. A small plant is never just décor — it’s a living bit of hope.
You may find us wandering through local nurseries and flower shops to purchase living gifts for others while gathering magnolia branches and cedar clippings to decorate our homes.
Gifting Idea: A small potted rosemary wrapped in brown kraft paper and tied with jute string makes the perfect hostess gift.
Yummy Dog Treats
6. The Gift for Furry Friends
Our pets are family, too — and they know when the good treats come out. This year, we’re spoiling the whiskered and wiggly ones with homemade dog treats, a fresh collar or bandana, or a ridiculously soft pet bed. After all, why should humans have all the cozy?
We’ve learned that when the days are short and the world is busy, a dog curled at your feet or a kitten purring in your lap can soothe things you didn’t know were tired.
Gifting Idea: Make a little “Pet Joy Bag” for your dog-loving friends — treats, a toy, and a note that says, “Give them extra cuddles from us.”
7. The Gift of Cozy Textures
Some things just feel like comfort — cable-knit throws, soft mittens, wool scarves, slippers that make you slower in the best way. These aren’t just objects; they are permission: to rest, to slow down, to stay in and light the candles early.
We believe in the art of coziness — especially in winter.
Gifting Idea: Wrap a throw blanket with velvet ribbon and tuck a tea bag or cocoa packet under the knot. It says: Sit. Sip. Exhale.
Elegant Pearl Earrings
8. The Gift of Sparkle
Not all sparkle is loud. Some shimmer is subtle — a gold bracelet layered with meaning, a pair of earrings saved for special evenings, a piece of jewelry gently restored instead of replaced. Jewelry holds stories — the ones we wear close, always.
Gifting Idea: Have an heirloom cleaned, polished, or reset for someone you love. Sometimes the most meaningful gift is one they already have.
9. The Gift of Seasonal Sounds
Every holiday has a soundtrack — and it begins long before the first ornament is hung. For us, it’s the gentle crackle of vinyl spinning in the corner and voices that feel like family filling the room. Some nights it’s Michael Bublé or Kelly Clarkson — bright, festive, and full of sparkle. Other nights, we lean into that deep Southern Christmas memory — Alabama singing “Thistlehair the Christmas Bear” — and suddenly we’re young again, riding in the car with our favorite people, noses pressed to cold windows, looking for Christmas lights.
And then there are the sounds that don’t come from speakers at all — the hush before the first choral note in a church Christmas musical, the triumphant swell of brass, the soft harmony of people who’ve rehearsed with heart, the tenderness of candlelight and silent reverence.
Gifting Idea: Create a holiday playlist mixing childhood favorites and new discoveries. Share it with those you love, near and far.
10. The Gift of a Photograph
There are seasons of life we wish we could hold in our hands — the gap-toothed smiles, the sleepy toddlers, the just-engaged glow, the “everyone made it home” holidays, the three generations gathered around one table. A photograph lets us keep a moment long after it passes.
Whether it’s a family session in the golden light, a tripod set up in the backyard, or a quick candid taken in the kitchen — the magic is the same. It says: We were here. We loved each other like this.
We believe in booking the shoot, printing the picture, and hanging it on the wall — because our lives deserve to be documented, not just remembered.
Gifting Idea: Schedule a family photo session for someone you love. Wrap the appointment card in an envelope with a note: “Let’s remember this season — on purpose.”
Lola’s Favorite Places to Shop, Eat & Stay
Shreveport / Bossier
Balentine Jewelry Co.
Birdwell’s
JAC Clothing
Jolie Blonde
Merle Norman Uptown
Remington Suite Hotel & Spa
Simply Chic
We Rock the Spectrum
Pennington Facial Plastics
Akin’s Nursery
Homer
Michael’s Men’s Store
Port-Au-Prince Restaurant
Natchitoches
Church Street Inn
Merci Beaucoup
Lasyone’s Meat Pie Restaurant
Ruston
Lauren Roebuck Designs
Lula Perl Café
Lowder’s
Simply Chic
Monroe /
West Monroe
Butter
Delta Biscuit Company
Hemline
Hotel Monroe & Heirloom Restaurant
Muffin Tin
Lola’s Photography Team – Regional
Britt Elizabeth Photography
Sandi Davis Photography
Hannah Finley Photography
Micahla Vaughn Photography