A New Year's Message from Melissa
Dearest Community,
By now, you’ve likely seen the usual New Year messages — invitations to reset, set goals, make resolutions, reinvent ourselves...
And while I love a fresh start as much as anyone, today I'm inviting you to hit pause on the resolutions, and take a moment for reflection — not on what needs to change, but on everything you're already doing right.
The care you give. The patience you've found. The quiet strength you've offered. The traditions you've carried. The meals you've prepared for others — all the simple, beautiful ways you already show up for the people you love (and for yourself, too).
There’s so much talk about what to do better next year. But today, I hope you’ll thank yourself for the woman you've already become.
I’m so grateful to be walking alongside this community of strong, thoughtful women. You remind me—over and over again—that showing up with heart matters.
And, I'd love it if you would share with me in the comments below, some of the things — great and small — that you've done beautifully in this past year.
Here’s to carrying that into whatever comes next.
With love,
Melissa
P.S. Click below to find all the recipes from our New Year's Eve grazing table, and be sure to watch our very special year-in-review video!
59 comments
Firstly, as a child, I grew up on LHOTP. Laura was a heroine! Melissa is inspirational. I turned 50 this year. It’s the first year I don’t feel pulled to make a resolution. I agree with making a quiet, earnest reflection. I am going to be intentionally mindful as I have already begun so doing. I’m so amazed by the growth of MP. I wish I could partake and sew a quilt. I’m not able to give my time to that endeavor as of yet. I wish you all well and look forward to hearing more good things about Girls Can Too! My teacher sorority, DKG, might be interested in learning more about it as well.
Firstly, as a child, I grew up on LHOTP. Laura was a heroine! Melissa is inspirational. I turned 50 this year. It’s the first year I don’t feel pulled to make a resolution. I agree with making a quiet, earnest reflection. I am going to be intentionally mindful as I have already begun so doing. I’m so amazed by the growth of MP. I wish I could partake and sew a quilt. I’m not able to give my time to that endeavor as of yet. I wish you all well and look forward to hearing more good things about Girls Can Too! My teacher sorority, DKG, might be interested in learning more it as well.
I am so grateful to share that I gifted myself Modern Prairie this year. It started out with a purchase of a few apparel items that were intentionally chosen to wear at the Little House on the Prairie Holiday cast reunion event. Overall between the expense of the weekend and apparel was the largest investment monetarily that I have ever made in myself, which includes my wedding dress! It was worth every penny. As I dove into the website and the App, I was quickly overcome with the feeling of connection to this community and what it stands for. It was also my way of honoring you, NanaPint, Melissa Gilbert, who was so influential for me in my formative years as Laura and now in this season of life as just you, Melissa. You continue to genuinely uplift and inspire. The event for me was not only an opportunity to be in the presence of the Cast, it was a time of complete reflection for myself. Reconnecting with the little girl who grew up watching Laura and reflecting on who I have become as a woman, a mother, a wife and a grandmother. Healing wounds that had not been opened for years, celebrating accomplishments, and simply being alone with myself and immersing myself in a community of simply kind human beings. The latter part of this year for me has been about finding me and really learning who I am, reluctantly realizing that the all of my roles of what I am to everyone else do not define “me”. I’m not quite sure what that means, but it is a very real and hard truth that I now need to figure out. My children are my heart, they’re young adults, all in very different stages of their lives, they are a reflection of me. I’m constantly questioning. Did I do enough, was I enough, how badly have I damaged them? I am finding it very difficult to let go, but I am getting there and finding a way to just be their support. My husband and I found time for each other earlier this year after 13 years since being married, our first weekend away together and not worrying about what everyone around us needed. This experience between MP & the LHOP holiday event was serendipitous in the most unexpected and amazing way. I do not really put myself out there, in a lot of ways, I have been a silent warrior in life. At 51, I am finding myself in one of the most exciting and vulnerable stages of life just yet and looking forward to 2026 being the beginning of putting myself out there and seeing what that may bring. Love to the Modern Prairie community and wishing for whatever your heart may need this year.
Hello. Even though 2025 was a very rough year for me, I am so thankful for my friends and family who have supported me, listened to me, let me cry on their shoulders (or phones) and get angry with me due to this never ending divorce and all the issues going on with my mother going through dementia. I am so glad I have my sons to lean on as well. I am concentrating on being independent and positive this year. I am going to try and take comfort in the little things and I’m going to try and “pay it forward” to those who need comforting as much as I have needed it.
I am thankful for getting A’s and B’s and my mothers house burning down and my moms best friend passing then my Mom passed in April and more friends who passed so I’m thankful 2025 is over