"You'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out..."

– half the characters in A Christmas Story, telling Ralphie why he shouldn't ask for a gun

Justin and I have been together almost a year now. I met his mom, dad, and brother this past August. He met my mom and one of my sisters, who came for a visit, on November 11th. Now, on Thanksgiving, it's time to meet the rest of his family (the local ones, anyway). I'm not really nervous about it; they're people, just like my family. But it's going to be different.

In years past, I've known everyone (or at least almost everyone) at the Thanksgiving table, as I've usually been at home in Indiana. Two years ago, I spent Thanksgiving in London with Wabash College professors and classmates (my first-ever Thanksgiving not spent with family) because I was on an Immersion Trip for my senior seminar on Dickens and Hardy. We ate at a really good Italian place; it was a great time. And even last year, when I spent Thanksgiving at a (French) friend's place in Pennsylvania, where we had a raclette dinner (which was amazing, by the way), I knew 50-75% of the people beforehand.

This year, for the first time ever, I'll only know a few of the people I'm dining with on Thanksgiving. It's not a bad thing...just different. I guess it's time to start new traditions. I hate the word "partner," in a gay context, but I suppose that's what's going on here. I'm a partner in this relationship, and that means spending holidays with family – his and mine. It feels kind of nice, actually; I haven't had anything like this for a few years now, not since I was "straight."

I really do love this time of year. Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, and I've already got Christmas on the brain (sorry Kari; I know you don't care for it). I've been listening to the Glee Christmas album, and I'm this close to grabbing my DVD of A Christmas Story and putting it on repeat. If nothing else, it would remind me of Christmas in small-town Indiana, where I'm from, since that's where the movie takes place – but, weirdly, it was shot in Lori's neck of the woods (Cleveland).

In any case, "the holidays" are here, and that means finals are just around the corner. Good luck, everyone!

"Let's go all the way tonight / No regrets / Just love / We can dance until we die / You and I / Will be young forever"

– "Teenage Dream," here performed by recurring members of the Glee cast (originally by Katy Perry)

So, Glee was awesome this week. (Read this ONLY if you're caught up on Glee, or if you don't watch it in the first place; otherwise, you'll be "spoiled").

I don't want to write a whole lot about this, but I just want to say that I think what they are doing on the show is really important and timely. With so many (gay) kids/teenagers committing suicide recently because they couldn't stand being bullied, now more than ever is the time to say something about it.

But more importantly, it's time to do something. I'd like to see the show reach out in other ways, behind the scenes. I'm sure there are dozens of ways they can help the cause, and with approximately 12 million regular (live) viewers, there's sure to be a significant audience for this.

As for the storyline itself, I must admit that I was a little taken aback. I wasn't expecting what happened to happen – with Kurt, Blaine, and the bully – but I think it opens the door for an interesting new coming out story that will be even more painful and important than Kurt's was/is. Well, maybe not necessarily more important, but it just goes to show that we never really know people, not even when we "know" them well. People hide things really well, sometimes, and that can be self-destructive.

I should, kind of, know. While I wasn't very aware that I was gay until my senior year of college, I think part of me knew way before that, and that part of me lived in fear for most of my life. It affected how I acted, my communication skills, my self-image. It affected who I was. Today, I'm a very different person than I was even just last year, or the year before! I have time and an ever-growing maturity to thank for that, as most people do, but more importantly, I have coming out to thank, as well as several people in my life (and a couple that are no longer in my life, regrettably). You know who you are. You've helped me be me, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Back to Kurt and Blaine real quick: I can't wait to see how this turns out, especially with the bully in the mix. Blaine is already poised to be a series regular, probably starting with season three, so he's definitely going to be sticking around. It'll be nice for Kurt to have someone he can relate to. Someone like Blaine, who can turn Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" into a great a capella glee club number (well, it should have been a cappella; they shouldn't have had background music, darn it!). I love that it was an all-male choir performing the song and that they weren't all gay.

If there's one overall message in Glee, it's that we shouldn't always expect the expected. There's always some notion to deconstruct.

This was one of my favorite episodes, so far.

P.S. The Coach Beist/Mr. Shue kiss was sweet too. Great scene!