Season's Greetings from Grace

holiday card #8

Hello! Welcome to Season’s Greetings from Somewhere, Softly – a series in which for December, I’ve invited Substack writers to send virtual holiday cards. I’ve written a reply to each one, and please feel free to send your own response in the comments.

I wanted to thank you all for the lovely comments on this series, and say thank you again to all my wonderful guests. It’s been such a gift to exchange cards with you all. Be sure to check out the whole series!

I’m beyond delighted that our final card, comes from ⋆⭒˚.⋆ grace ⋆⭒˚.⋆.

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dear reader,

no matter how your year went, you freaking MADE IT!!!!!!!!! TO ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!!! which is… impressive. and scary. and awesome! and scary. but exciting! and also scary.

i adore the new year. i think january and february might be some of the most delightful months of the year, and you are not allowed to ask me if this is in part because the vince guaraldi trio charlie brown’s holiday hits album delivers classic peanuts tunes all the way through valentine’s day! i should not say more without a lawyer present. yet because i am me and i can’t keep my trap shut to save my life (or yours – my apologies), i am going to say more!

i know that the concept of beginning a new year can feel kind of like when you really have to go to the bathroom – translation for those outside the united states: the toilet – you’re desperate, and you start to think this might be the worst anyone in the history of the world has ever physically felt, and then you finally make it to one!

and there’s a LINE… it’s like, i just got through all that, and now there’s MORE? oh, dear. but oh, yes! and how wonderful is it that there is always more! (this is me re-routing your neurological pathways to make you believe in yourself.)

in seriousness, my wish for you is that you will remember a truth that has gotten me through countless times of strife, whether from a relationship, an eating disorder, ocd, or whatever you might be going through, it doesn’t matter.

that truth is this: the way things have been does not have to be the way things will be.

there is always, always a chance for things to go differently. there is always, always a chance that things will get better. and there is always, always a reason to keep having hope and trust that there is a light at the end of every tunnel, whether you can see it or not. and if you can see it, maybe you will pass this on to someone who isn’t quite there yet. at the very least, offer a little extra kindness to others and to yourself this season; lord knows there’s no such thing as too much of that. or of the martinelli’s sparkling soda we all used to drink as kids and pretend was champagne. or of apple pie. or of potatoes, in any form.

so enjoy it all! if that’s asking too much of yourself, which is completely fair given the state of… everything, trust that a new year can be about so much more than resolutions, new diets (BOO!), commitments to become the best version of yourself possible (is the winter arc trend happening this year? please say no) – it can be about simply giving yourself the chance to try again, and reminding yourself that the way things have been does not have to be the way things will be.

love,

grace

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Dear Grace,

Ending this season – this year – with unmistakable Grace-written humour, is more of an honour than you know. And you are right – of course you are. “The way things have been does not have to be the way things will be”.

I generally consider January and February to be the worst months. Why do we in the UK take down beautiful Christmas lights when the days are still getting darker and shorter? Why are ads pressuring me to change my life when it’s cold? I don't want to diet! I don’t want a gym membership! However, it is wrong of me to put this negativity upon January and February, before even greeting them. Because maybe, like me, they’ve changed. I re-read your words: the way things have been does not have to be the way things will be. Maybe January and February will end up glowing in pink highlighter – I currently have very few concrete plans for 2026 but there’s lots of possibilities… so a glittery, covered-in-stickers start to the year is possible. And less colourful months can still be favourites in my calendar – loved for their simplicity, steadiness, education, or power. Every month deserves my open-mindedness, I know. Maybe this January will change my mind.

One thing I will have in these coming months, that I didn’t have in previous years, is my Substack, and all the wonderful people (like you) I know because of it. I have community, and I have words – so many of them! Because I have more words in my life, I have more hope. I have a higher self-esteem, and I have more chances to do things differently; see things differently; feel things differently; hold kindness differently. I can show up for myself and use my hands to make things – not because I’m aiming for a polished product, but because being creative is good for the soul. There’s so many things I let myself forget in the midst of difficult times, and I’m now remembering them. Rather than grieving the forgetting part, I’m trying to focus on treasuring remembering. What a joy it is to go into Hobbycraft and buy rainbow card; what a delight it is to read instead of scroll on the train; what a wonder it is to see shades of sea and sky and moon, and know that no matter how the month or year goes, those things will never disappear.

Thank you for the hope, dear Grace, and for being a friend to every reader through language. When the clock strikes midnight, I’ll greet January with my mind’s doors unlocked, and dream big for all of us.

From,

Em 💜

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i owe it all to the women who dance.