Visions of sugarplums danced in their heads

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, all of its conventions — the family gatherings, the desperate shopping, the tacky decorations — are still awfully fun to mock and no one did it better than John Waters! “Female Trouble” ranks with “It’s a Wonderful Life” as a holiday classic:

My own Christmas celebrations haven’t been quite so catastrophic. They tend to go more like this:

When family dinner gets extra passive-aggressive, I tend to start imagining this:

And, after staying with my parents for days, I start to thank the underwear people who give us Christmas-themed soft-porn cheese:

Guest-blogging for Boing Boing, sexpert Susie Bright reminds us why children can be a trial this time of year (or any, really):

 

But maybe, if you’re lucky, your holiday just might end up as adorable as Luke and Noah under the mistletoe:

Whoever posted that video, by the way, helpfully labelled it “Luke and Noah Kiss 18” — number one being a full year-and-a-half ago. Still no sign of any sex yet. Is there an Amnesty International for fictional soap opera characters?

But hey, maybe I’ll keep watching, since I’m taking the rest of the week off to eat turkey and defensively explain to relatives that yes, writing is a job and no, I am not done with “that gay thing” yet. Have a merry week and I’ll see you Monday!

A former editor of the late, lamented fab magazine, Scott has been writing for Xtra since 2007 on a variety of topics in news pieces, interviews, blogs, reviews and humour pieces. He lives on the Danforth with his boyfriend of 12 years, a manic Jack Russell Terrier, a well-stocked mini-bar and a shelf of toy Daleks.

Keep Reading

Samantha Josephs in front of the cover of 'Carrying'

Samantha Josephs gets dirty

The author of “Carrying” talks writing erotica, trans pregnancy—and her novel’s upcoming movie adaptation
A cartoon of two people standing close together; one is holding a puppy, the other is holding a book

How a Canadian kids’ book became the centre of a U.S. Supreme Court case

“Pride Puppy” was written to highlight the joy of Pride. It became a political flashpoint
A cartoon of people raising their fists with police officers facing them. There are flowers in the background

Queer censorship isn’t new in Canada, but we’ve won the fight before

Key figures from censorship fights in the 20th century reflect on what we can learn from them today
A cartoon of a nondescript personified animal riding a horse

Trans Albertans are strong. We aren’t going anywhere

Trans Albertans reflect on what makes their home province special, even in the wake of Premier Danielle Smith’s legislative attacks and book restrictions
Advertisement