Tis the season for celebration! Between the holidays, work/school breaks and other milestones, these bloggers from around the Blogads network prove that there’s a lot to be jazzed about right about now:

Curbly features a slew of holiday-themed DIY projects:

Great way to create atmosphere for holiday celebrations! I need to find a crafty friend to get started on these for me ASAP.

Gala Darling turns six years-old:

The site doesn’t look a day over two.

WSWCM exposes the dangers of overly excited holiday shopping:

I want to celebrate this child always and forever.

Possessionista loops us in to all of the Bachelorette‘s Ashely and JP wedding fashion:

Congrats to the happily well-dressed couple! May their union last longer than the franchise’s next season.

RKOI reminds us that rich kids are still being rich:

I’d like to raise a glass of my $5 Trader Joe’s Vinho Verde to them. Cheers!

photo by flickr user susivinh

Word on the street is that it’s final exam week for many students. We’re always happy to provide a study break, so in solidarity, here are some test-related posts from around the Blogads network:

WSWCM accurately illustrates many students’ sentiments towards their teachers:

A+ for being spot on.

DogShaming shames Ranger for scaring wimpy kid:

The kid gets an F for out-shaming the dog.

Tom and Lorenzo judge Katie Holmes’ Tom Ford number:

C for good color but unflattering shape.

The Pintester recreates the book Christmas tree:

The recreation isn’t too bad at all: B!

Regretsy highlights this felt nativity scene:

E for effort? Nah, still an F.

photo by flickr user blah.adam

It’s that time of the week for you to catch up on the updates and news you’ve been missing from around the Blogads network:

IMBOYCRAZY’s Alexi provides entertaining  life musings in her “Blind Leading the Blind” series:

Oh, hi, #3. I think we’ve met before.

Immaculate Infatuation recaps their Turkey Leg Ball extravaganza:

The event’s playlist is definitely worth downloading. It’s been the soundtrack to my week.

Mr. Kate just launched a new site redesign:

Loving all of the watercolor.

WTF, Pinterest? marks the end of the kale trend:

Back to being a brush-off garnish where you belong!

Betches Love This announces the first official Decembetch:

If you’re not wearing pink this month, you can’t sit with us.

photo by flickr user a2gemma

Dave Winer, a trailblazer in blogging software and all around visionary when it comes to the social web, is increasingly pessimistic about the survival of small and niche blogs in the face of Twitter’s “140-character grunts and snorts.” By extension, Winer sees diminishing coverage of important information niches. He sees a possible solution, networking, but thinks its unlikely: “If we could do more networking on a more regular and systematic basis, that would create incentives for more people to do it [blog], and would build flow independent of Twitter. But blogs work like everything else. Installed leaders don’t generally help upstarts.”

Dave was amazingly prescient in foretelling the exponential wave of people-powered publishing that started with blogging and rolled on through Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram et al. This post from early 1995, titled “Billions of websites,” included this passage: “Every writer can participate in the web. Someday, very soon, I believe, every writer will. That’s the next big opportunity in the online world.”

As an avid Instagrammer, I’ve been studying various photo sharing apps closely. I think it’s hilarious that Wedpics, a wedding photo sharing app based in Raleigh, NC, features its CEO prominently in the rocking wedding in the company’s promo video.