Merry Christmas from Lipstick & Dipstick

Merry Christmas from Us

My Mom sent this to me this morning. Her local paper asked for people to send in their favorite Christmas memories and she sent this in. It was published today in the Syracuse Post Standard. I wanted to share it with you, because I thought it was sweet. This is my oldest brother.

Whenever I look at this photo that my husband took 53 years ago, I can still hear our son Matt’s “oh, no!”

We are of Austrian and German tradition, which means you may bring the Christmas tree into the house before Christmas, but it waits until Santa comes to decorate it.
The photo shows Matt’s first look at the tree, all lit up and decorated. He ran out of the room, ran back, shouted “oh, no!” again and once more ran into the kitchen. The third time he did quiet down and let us show him what Santa brought him. His reaction made all those late hours fussing with lights and putting garages and trikes and wagons together well worth the lost sleep.
Betty K. Belge
Syracuse

Christmas with the Obamas

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I volunteered for the Obama campaign and was very excited when he got elected. But since January, I've been pretty disappointed.


I know what you're thinking. Not enough healthcare reform. He could have ended the ban on gays in the military. He could have done a lot more for gay and lesbian immigration reform. Well, yes, I'm disappointed in all those things, but really, I just can't believe after the 10 hours of work I put into his campaign, that Barack and Michelle haven't invited me to the White House.

Somehow, when he held the reception for gay and lesbian activist leaders, my name wasn't on the invite list. Trust me, I thought of crashing the party long before the Salahi's ever did.

But finally, today, some redemption. No, not an invite, but at least a Holiday card. Signed by Barack and Michelle themselves. Personally, I don't like their choice of card. I would have picked a nice snow scene. But I feel special now, finally. I'll try not to pay too much attention to the fine print on the back that says, _{"Paid for by the Democratic National Committee. This communcation is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."}

Christmas with the Dipsticks

Well, I didn't make a fancy video, but the Dipstick clan had an amazing Christmas too. My twin sister Mary and her girlfriend Meg came into town on Christmas Eve in what Tiger calls "The Christmas Miracle" because the weather was so bad and the airport was closed for days.We had a great dinner with Tiger's brother and sister-in-law and then opened presents from her Mom, which was the Tiger family tradition.

Christmas day we relaxed, spent hours on the phone with family and far away friends and then had 17 lesbians, two gay men and one bisexual for the annual Dipstick & Tiger Christmas dinner/white elephant gift exchange.  

We had to borrow tables, chairs and plates from neighbors to fit everyone around the table. The ham was good,  and we also had Christmas crackers, but the highlight was the yankee swap gift exchange. 

If you don't know what a yankee swap is, it's where people go through their closets and find the craziest, crappiest stuff that they can't stand to look at, wrap it all nice and then you and your friends fight over it.

The hit of yankee swap this year was the "Rejuvenique" mask, which is supposed to make you look 20 again. I tried to win it, but of course the fags won out. To console myself, I found this video on youtube.

Vancouver Christmas

So, it's Boxing Day here in Canada and it's still snowing. A lot. They expect rain tonight, so we'll see if the "Arctic Blast" for the Pacific Northwest is indeed over.

Since we couldn't get the car out of the garage, I made this little video, recapping our Christmas fun. I'm trying to teach myself a few new tricks in Movie Maker.

Ellen and Britney go Caroling

If you missed the Ellen show this week, you'll get a huge Christmas kick out of this. She and Britney head to the streets of Hollywood and knock on doors Christmas caroling. Can you imagine opening the door and having it be Britney Spears and Ellen Degeneres? Classic!

Hanging Christmas Lights

The sun was out on Saturday, so Tiger and I decided to hang up our Christmas lights. After pulling all the lights out of the basement I discovered that almost every string was bad. So, it was off to Fred Meyer to buy new lights. 

We borrowed the tall ladder from the neighbor and Tiger climbed up on the roof...

What's that? Tiger on the roof? Shouldn't that be your job, Dipstick? Isn't the butch supposed to be the one climbing up on things and wielding the staple gun? 

How sexist of you to think such a thing! Besides, the one year Tiger let me up on the roof to hang the lights, well, let's just say, they didn't turn out exactly straight. Or even. White strings didn't end at exactly the end of the rafters. Blue strings didn't quite make it all the way around the window. Extension cords dangled in the wind. 

Quite frankly it looked shabby. And the neighbors still remind us of the year Dipstick hung the Christmas lights. Or as they like to say, "It looked like a drunken, color-blind five-year-old climbed up there, and then got lost."

So, now, every December, I lovingly hold the bottom of the ladder while Tiger climbs on the roof and painstakingly lines our home with white and blue lights. 

Because, as you can see, I can't even take a straight photo.

Gay Pride Christmas

While Lipstick was having a Christmas in a place where there are no queers at all, Dipstick was hosting a raucous lesbian holiday. Tiger and I invited 14 lesbians and one baby to Christmas dinner at our house. Even though we clearly informed the guests that dinner was taken care of, apparently lesbians can't not potluck. Everyone brought at least one or two dishes and our table was over flowing with shrimp, bulgar salad, potatoes, Christmas pudding, matzo ball soup, brie, bread and pies, cookies and cake.

My friend Carla here models the rainbow mittens Tiger and I received as a gift from my Mom. Although you've gotta love my mom for celebrating my being gay, apparently she hasn't read the chapter yet on lesbian fashion in our book. Not only is the rainbow out of style, but never, ever, ever should a couple be seen in public wearing matching anything, including mittens. Unless of course, it's Halloween. But I can forgive her. The lady's almost 80, after all.

Hope you all had a Christmas that was equally as gay.

Merry Christmas from Bush Country

Well, I'm in Texas with Texas for Christmas again this year and you'll never believe what I found on her parent's mantle: A Christmas card from the Bush family, wishing them a very conservative Christmas -- Jesus' birthday -- full of gay bashing, torture in Iraq and a bag of coal for stem cell research.


Laura really needs a trim, don't ya think?

An Early Christmas Present

Texas and I have been in Santa Cruz this week spending time with my family (we're leaving this morning, waaa waaa). Calvin, who is the biggest butterball in the world, is getting so big so fast. Our nephew/goddess-son is almost three! Oh how they grow. Not only has it been phenomenal spending time with him, which involves rolling around on the ground, hunting for rocks outside and sliding down the stairs in our pajamas (thank GOD there is a jacuzzi or I wouldn't be able to walk right now), we've also been enjoying the beach and all the dread-locked glory that is Santa Cruz. Yesterday, when we were shopping downtown, I came across our book. Very fun. I've seen it in other stores, but it never gets old.

Just two days left before Santa comes!

Box in a Box

Well, I've been scratching my head trying to figure out what to get my wife for Christmas. Snooping around on the internet, I think I found the perfect idea. Why didn't I think of this earlier?

glumbert - My Box in a Box