It's that time of year again, all festive and wonderful. Some holidays are over, some are still coming, everyone is relieved to be through or gearing up. I've had my annual holiday nervous breakdown (now with 100% more therapists!) and foolishly invited my family over for the day. I am woefully unprepared, though, since I haven't wrapped a single present and, yet, gifts have to go winging through the Midwest. Because we are procrastinating fools here at here at Lovefool, Inc., I don't exactly have a card for you or anything but, as one does, I'm going to go ahead and point you to the most perfect one in the universe.

 

Emmy Cicerega worked on Potter Puppet Pals and does comics and adorbs jewelry at Hey Chickadee. (She also reblogs Steven Universe art so, clearly, I love her.) More importantly for our purposes, she made this stunning comic about a girl stuck between seasons, struggling through winter and waiting for spring. She loses her scarf to an errant gust of wind one grey day, only to have it returned by the Winter Spirit, all light and snowflakes and fun here, later that night. The Winter Spirit, not just content to do good deeds with winterwear, takes the girl and someone who seems to be her boyfriend on a jaunt and it's so beautiful that it kind of makes me want to cry a little. The couple dances on ice and has snowball fights across rooftops and flies over a sleeping city. And, at the end, the girl who longed for spring but embraced winter gets to pay a visit to the napping Spring Spirit, who gives her a preview of times to come. The girl doesn't end up taking her scarf home but you'll have to go see where it ends up.

 

Nerdlings, we are heading into the very darkest days of the year. But you and I, we can make them brighter. Be nice to each other. Be nice to strangers. Be nice, so very nice, to yourself. And remember: spring is coming, it's waiting, it'll be here in a blink. In the meantime, remember to embrace winter.

 

Happy holidays, nerdlings. See you in January. | Erin Jameson