don some gay apparel

[aria]

Yuletide uploaded with time to spare! I did it very backwards this year, by feeling confident enough of the canon to write the fic, and in the course of the writing reminding myself how much I loved the canon, and going back to it after I'd finished the fic. In any event, I pretty much always enjoy writing Yuletide but I extra enjoyed it this year, not least because I did it in a focused and disciplined enough way that I've tricked myself (yet again, as I always do when I successfully finish something) into feeling like I might be a bit good at writing, actually.

Boston winter is staying stubbornly warm, but writing Yuletide is making it feel festive regardless. My little fake tree is up in the living room, slowly accumulating presents for our house gift exchange in early January. I lost track of days at the beginning of the month and accidentally performed the Hanukkah miracle of making Hanukkah last nine nights; thewrongkindofpc and filia_belialis and I made a huge batch of delicious latkes last Sunday, and ate them while starting to catch up on season two of Riverdale. (What! a! bonkers show!!) Holiday retail at the bookstore is v busy but not any worse than a slammed weekend day at the cafe was, except instead of making an endless line of drinks, I'm getting good at quickly wrapping books for presents.

I got a holiday-season catch-up letter from one of my aunts, and it's just bonkers how normal the family is -- like, all their news was about them going retirement golfing, and how my cousin and his wife are fixing up their house (because they can afford one?? the Midwest is WILD), and how my other cousin's boyfriend is so successful at his job. I thought about what I would end up sending in a holiday catch-up letter, and it would be, like ... this year I got top surgery and came out at work! my D&D groups are lovely! my household is fantastic, and me and several of my friends are embarking on new career trajectories now! All of which is, I guess, also normal, but good goddamn am I the queer cousin in the family.

Now I'm going to ... do things that are not working on my Yuletide?? Sounds fake, honestly.

Comments

[the_wanlorn]

Congrats on finishing yuletide!! I am very impressed, because I never could manage it without procrastinating until the very last minute.

Boston winter feels like it is betraying me even though it's like this every year lately. There were flurries in like Wrentham on my way in this morning and I was so excited, but they weren't sticking.

[aria]

Thank you! I'm really surprised I managed it in such a timely manner this year, honestly. :D

I feel like Boston winter is just ... starting later and later? It's January-April instead of November-February and I'm sad about that, I like having snow whilst on a small vacation.

[the_wanlorn]

Ugh right? Like, I was all excited when it snowed in November thinking, ah yes, finally, we will get a normal winter, only no. No we will not. Climate change is laughing at my optimism. :(

[scribe]

Oh my god I hear you on the queer cousin thing. I had an intensely detailed dream a couple nights ago that my hockey cousin ended up being queer and I'm so sad it isn't true, why is everyone around me so normal??

Also, good job on Yuletide! Yay!

[aria]

Aww it would be so nice if hockey cousin were queer, so you could be queer cousins in solidarity! Alas.

[mistresscurvy]

Yay for Yuletide! And yeah, while my extended family (at least on my father's side) is pretty damn queer all things considered, whenever I attempt to imagine what my version of that kind of holiday letter would be it's definitely different than the ones I receive. But I must say that your end of the year celebrations and events sound lovely <3

[aria]

Maybe we should start a movement of aggressively queer holiday letters? But honestly if I did that, I'd probably send them to all my friends and extended found family rather than to my relatives, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

<333!

[lovelythings]

I'd avidly read your holiday letter <3

[aria]

Aw, maybe I will write one next year <3

[sophia_sol]

oh boy do I hear you on being The Queer Cousin. My holiday letter, if I were willing to write an honest one, would include things like....I bought a house with my polycule! I changed my name to better reflect my gender feels! Meanwhile every one of my cousins who is old enough to have done so is heterosexually married.

Your holiday letter updates are lovely though and I'm glad you have such good things in your life.

(and congrats on getting your yuletide done!)

[aria]

Lol yeah <3 And omg I don't think I realized you'd bought a house with your polycule! That's AWESOME, congrats :DDD

[sophia_sol]

thank youuuu! I'm really excited to be doing this thing with my people :D