A Merry Little Christmas

For 2025, only the most melancholic Christmas song would do. And, well, you can never go wrong with Judy Garland. For all who celebrate, have yourself a merry little Christmas. May you find joy and merriment wherever you can today.

My Weekend (Christmas) Crush

Please, like I wasn’t going to post the original this week just to bookend the holiday experience. The melancholy majesty of Judy Garland’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” remains unmatched. She may have sung it 80 years ago in “Meet Me in St. Louis,” but her voice continues to ring through the ages. I hope your heart has been light this week, and well beyond. Happy weekend, all.

America the Beautiful

A somewhat bedraggled, hobo-geared, soot-smeared Judy Garland singing “America the Beautiful” is precisely how I feel at this moment in time. Exuberant. Exhausted. Even more exhausted. The final, final results won’t be truly known for a bit. But America showed up. The America that believes in equality, empathy, generosity and kindness as its governing principals showed the fuck up.

Sure, did not flip the Senate. But flipped that was always really a pipe dream (even though Democrats have close 10 million more votes for senate candidates nationwide, we’ve somehow lost seats because, uh, America…) But the House, the House fucking matters. Now we control all of the investigative committees. Trump’s taxes. Emolument. Russia, Russia, Russia. LGBTQ candidates, candidates of color and women had a hell of a night. The first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate kept her seat (Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin). The first out gay man was elected to a governorship (Jared Polis in Colorado). The first Native American and lesbian woman elected to the House (Sharice “Badass Ex-MMA Fighter Lesbian” Davids in Kansas). The first Muslim women are elected to Congress (Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota's Ilhan Omar in Michigan). A 29-year-old has become the youngest ever elected to the House (Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York). For the first time ever there are projected to be more than 100 women in the U.S. House of Representatives. Massachusetts massed Question 3, protecting trans people in the state. Oh, and that bigoted, bad-haired Kentucky Clerk who refused to marry same-sex couples was soundly defeated (Bye, Kim Davis, bye). Gay karma is the best karma.

And I cannot think of a better song to celebrate that spirit with than “America the Beautiful.” Far from being just another cheesy patriotic anthem, it started as a poem written by Katharine Lee Bates, a late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century writer, social justice activist and lesbian. She advocated for immigrants, labor unions and feminist causes throughout her lifetime. She also lived for 25 years with her companion, Katharine Coman, in what was called a “Boston Marriage” back in the day. Imagine what she would think of us now.

Make the Yuletide Gay

Merry Christmas, kittens. Or happy whatever you celebrate. May your day be merry and bright and oh so gay. And next year may all our troubles be out of sight.

Lady & The Furbaby

How we love our furbabies. Sometimes all a gay gal needs is her cat. Or her dog. Or whatever furbaby makes her happy. Though some vintage shot of legendary lady celebrities with their pups and pusses isn’t bad either. Some celebs, like Elizabeth Taylor above, clearly can’t decide between their canine and feline friends. Others have taken sides. So please snuggle up to your own fury friends and enjoy the puppy/kitty/et al love.

TEAM CAT:

Bette Davis


Judy Garland


Lauren Bacall


Sophia Loren


Cher


TEAM DOG:

Billie Holiday


Brigitte Bardot


Jayne Mansfield


Josephine Baker


Marilyn Monroe


TEAM DEER:

Audrey Hepburn


Frida Kahlo

So, fess up. Are you Team Cat? Team Dog? Team Both? Though, come on, is Team Deer really a thing?

Vacation Vixen: Dorothy Gale

I grew up in the Midwest, where tornado season blew in every year with its warning tickers on the TV and sirens across the city. I remember afternoons spent watching cartoons with my “Go Basket” next to me filled with the essentials – my best flashlight, my most beloved book, my favorite stuffed animal. I remember middle-of-the-night runs to the basement where my PJ-clad parents shepherded us – sleepy kids, barking dogs – into the cold safety of the basement. I remember the calm, sickly grey-green the sky always turned before the winds came. And, as I’m writing this, back in my childhood home, there is a tornado watch for the county until 6 a.m. Luckily, while there were touchdowns around my city, one never hit us. And there was never anything the scope of what happened in Oklahoma yesterday. Explain the convergence of high and low atmospheric pressure systems all you want, but it still feels a lot like fury. My thoughts are with all those who lost more than they can bear. Heal from unspeakable grief, rebuild from unbelievable devastation. May you emerged stronger from the storm and find your rainbow again.

p.s. How to help those in Oklahoma.

My Weekend Crush

Even at her most vibrant, there was always something tragic about Judy Garland lurking just under the surface. Something that allowed her voice, even when still just a teenager, to cut through the ages. It’s what made her so special. It’s what made her so irreplaceable. That it took so long for me to get to Judy, particularly considering the partial namesake of this blog and all, is in itself a tragedy. One which I must promptly atone for. For any woman who came up as an impossibly pretty prodigy, blossomed into a big-time marquee name and then metamorphosed into an unquestionably consummate showwoman. deserves her moment in the spotlight and then some. Because, sister, could that lady belt it out. Despite her problem, despite her troubles, Judy Garland was going to put on a show. And you, you were going to sit mesmerized by all the beauty, sass, power and emotion she poured into every performance, every gesture, every note. She just didn’t take us over the rainbow, she took us out of ourselves, if only for a moment. Happy weekend, all.

The Ingénue


The Showwoman


The Classic

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, kittens, with all the beautifully tear-stained children’s cheeks your little heart can hold.

Make the yuletide gay

The one, the only, the original Dorothy. Merry Christmas, or happy whatever you celebrate. Make the yuletide gay.

p.s. Just don’t go decapitating all the snow people like Tootie did afterward in the movie.