Thankful for Christmas with the Family!

 

So how were your holidays? I hope they are great. Mine? Mine have been wonderfully simply and nice and more.

 

First, it’s only like the second Christmas I haven’t had to work in nine years…and believe me, I’m very grateful. We spent it in our second home in the very small town where R, my husband, grew up.

 

I got up and walked the dogs—it’s interesting walking two with very different ideas on where they want to go, and when they want to go, and when the other one doesn’t…. But I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

 

Then I made coffee and cinnamon rolls and the neighbor gave us some Irish cream liqueur for Christmas! Just in time to go into the coffee. And how nice to have neighbors, three different ones, who totally accept the gay couple.

 

We exchanged a few pressies, simple, fun. We’re getting to the point after fifteen years that sometimes the real present can come weeks or even few months later when one of us says, “That. That’s what I want! Is that okay?”

 

And of course it is.

 

It might not seem magickal, but I think it is. To have been together long enough that we can be that way and love each other so deeply, even if it’s not always demonstrative or like something out of a romance novel. I think that’s because romance novels about a couple fifteen years together don’s sell. Too bad. It’s something I would read.

 

I sure do like it when someone asks how long we’ve been together and their eyes go wide and they say, “Wow! That’s great.” And I don’t think it’s really truly because we’re gay. Not anymore anyway. It used to be that way at only five years because people didn’t think gay couples stayed together even that long (wrong) and then we started hearing, “You’ve been together longer than most of my straight friends,” and their honest smile showed me that they really do believe it’s love.

 

And it is. Why else would we put up with the worst if not for the best? There is sure some best, I can say that.

 

We snacked on leftovers and we made a big crock pot of tortilla soup to go with the Christmas lasagna we knew was to come with, packed the car and were on our way. Lasagna? I know, right?

 

Dinner was a feast though and it was nice. Really nice. It’s great to be an accepted (and loved by some) part of this small town American family that used to tell fag jokes and think they were pretty funny until their family member—my husband—brought homosexuality into their lives. R’s niece tell jokes and seems very happy when I compliment her (she really is pretty) and R’s uncle has mostly gotten over his uncomfortableness (is that a word?) and R’s nephew (old enough to have a eight or ten year old daughter) accepted us long ago and loves that he can talk to me about Star Wars and Marvel superhero movies and the like. He always reaches out to me. And to his daughter, we’re just Uncle R and Uncle Ben.

 

Nice. Really nice.

 

Called my mom and she asked for forgiveness that she couldn’t host us this year. Really, Mom? Your new husband had a massive stroke and hasn’t been home in at least two months and his is recovering very very very slowly and you spend your every day in the various facilities where he has been and you are apologizing because we couldn’t come to stay with you?

 

Let me say now that the reason I have the moral foundation that I have, the loving heart, the sure geniality is because of my mother.

 

Then we went home and watched a Christmas movie, something with a dog that we found at Walmart in the $3.95 bend. We could hardly go wrong with a dog.

 

And I ask R earlier if he was okay with Christmas—if I did okay with the Dr. Who DVDs—and he said he was very happy. And after all, what he really wanted to do was spend a Christmas back in his hometown and he was glad I wanted to be here in this house in this house with him. Even if it’s not a much more exciting place like Kansas Cityy. That’s about as romantic as R usually gets.

 

I’ll take it any day.

 

So this year I am grateful for a very nice Christmas shared with my husband (husband!) and our two wonderful dogs in our second home, in small town America.

 

And love. Plenty of love.

 

Hope yours was wonderful as well!

 

Happy Holidays to all,

and to all a good night.

B.G. Thomas

 

~~~~~~

 

B.G. is a novelist and blogger. For the past year he has made and entry every day in his blog “365 Days of Silver,” where he finds something every day to be grateful for. You can find it right here: https://365daysofsilver.wordpress.com/ It’s almost done!

 

B.G. loves romance, comedies, fantasy, science fiction and even horror—as far as he is concerned, as long as the stories are character driven and entertaining, it doesn’t matter the genre. He has gone to conventions since he was fourteen years old and has been lucky enough to meet many of his favorite writers. He has made up stories since he was child; it is where he finds his joy.

 

In the nineties, he wrote for gay magazines but stopped because the editors wanted all sex without plot. “The sex is never as important as the characters,” he says. “Who cares what they are doing if we don’t care about them?” Excited about the growing male/male romance market, he began writing again. Gay men are what he knows best, after all. He submitted his first story in years and was thrilled when it was accepted in four days.

 

“Leap, and the net will appear” is his personal philosophy and his message to all. “It is never too late,” he states. “Pursue your dreams. They will come true!”

 

Visit his website and his author blog at http://bthomaswriter.wordpress.com/ where you can contact him. He loves to hear from readers and is always quick to respond.