December 6, 1988: home for the holidays. (From the Archives of The Advocate).

For years, The Advocate has featured an annual holiday-related issue full of gift suggestions and strategies for enjoying--or just surviving--the season. The holiday features in the December 6, 1988, issue provide a great snapshot of the concerns of and cultural options available to gay people 13 years ago.

Writer Matthew Daniels penned "A Guide to a Guilt-Free Season," which addressed how many gay people "consider themselves homeless during the holidays." Clinical therapist Hans Gernot offered some suggestions for combating holiday blues: "When [people] ... recognized a loving, supportive group of friends and then based their holiday plans on these people, not only did they have a better time, a truer time, but their blood relatives begin taking them less for granted."

Daniels described one household of five gay male roommates who had lived together for years in a familial relationship. "At Christmas, they did things right.... People clamored to come to their holiday parties and dinners," he wrote. "In fact, so close and spirited was the feeling in this home that even geographically removed blood relatives would come to town to celebrate the holidays with the guys."