Goodbye 2025!
Our final newsletter of the year! Taking a look back, month by month, at the year that was
Happy New Year’s Eve, loves! How is it already the last day of the year?
And more importantly, how was your Christmas? We spent ours hosting family and friends at our house, which is my favorite kind of holiday. We had our family of five, plus my younger sister and her wife Elana and their two dogs, plus my brother and his wife Mariah and their dog, plus Mariah’s sister and younger brother, plus our co-worker Ethan, plus Mariah’s parents stopped by for dinner Christmas Eve. It was a full house. Which brought me so much joy.
Can I tell you something? Neither PJ nor myself want the holidays to end. We’re not ready for it. We put our Christmas decorations up on November 1st, giving us a full two months to celebrate our family season, and it still didn’t feel long enough. We were making coffee in the middle of the afternoon the other day when he stopped and looked over at me and asked, “Did it feel like the holidays went by way too fast?” He took my thoughts and put them into words.
Yes, it did feel exactly like that. Is it just because we’re getting older and everything is going by too fast? Is it because it almost didn’t really feel like Christmas because it was 70 degrees on Christmas Day here in Tennessee? What gives? We’ve been playing Christmas music on repeat since early November, watching Christmas movies nonstop since then too, and every hall has been decked in our house for months, yet we still feel like we could have another month of all of it and be happy.
Basically, we’re just really not ready to say goodbye to this season and start a new one on January 1st.
We’ve been staying at the cottage Holiday House out at our farm the last few days, and as the temperatures have drastically started dropping, we’ve found comfort in hunkering down here with warm dinners, movies, books, and extra glasses of wine in the evenings. New lambs are being born what seems like every day, which feels poetic in a way: As the year is ending, new life is just beginning all around us.
This is the last newsletter we’ll be sending out in 2025, and as we look ahead to 2026, if there are any topics you would like us to explore more of, or even ones we haven’t written about yet, please leave them in the comments below. Next year will be three years of Okay McKay, and we’re excited to see where this little publication will go and what we’ll all be discussing along the way!
And of course, thank you, as always, for being here with us. Your comments and messages and insights and conversations mean more to us than you’ll ever know, and with every new issue that’s published, we learn more and more from you, all because you’re kind enough to share what’s on your mind. That is the kind of energy and peace and curiosity we would love to carry into 2026. More of that, please!
So, goodbye 2025! You were weird and messy and difficult and exciting and sad and a whole lot of other things, but we’re excited to see you behind us. Below, we’re sharing the top issues we sent out from every months, and then doing a month by month recap (with over 100 photos, so you may want to click through to Substack.com to see the whole thing, because it’s to long for email!) of the highs and lows of the year.
Okay! Let’s go 2026. We’re ready for you.
If you’re up for it, please give this issue a little heart, because it would make our day and it also helps other people discover Okay McKay. Thanks, y’all!
JANUARY
The Pros (and Cons) of Being With Someone Since You Were 19
This year marks 15 years of being together.
FEBRUARY
Who Made the First Move
Since we’re celebrating 15 years of being together, I thought it would be fun to take a little trip down memory lane today and go back to where it all began.
MARCH
How Long We Were Together Before We Had Sex For the First Time
On this bright and beautiful (almost) spring day, let’s talk about something fun: how long we waited before having sex with each other.
APRIL
MAY
On Being Dads and Still Feeling Sexy
We posted a shirtless photo and a few people got upset. Here’s what it made us realize.
JUNE
How We Explore Each Other's Kinks and 20 Other Questions on Life, Sex, and Love
Including how we feel about open relationships, how we make gay friends & navigate imposter syndrome, and how many times a week we have sex
JULY
Our Favorite Toys
The things we actually use and love in the bedroom, along with a few extras we can't wait to try
AUGUST
Things Gay Couples Do That Straight People Just Don’t Understand
From shared sweaters to political resistance, the quirks and courage of queer love in 2025
SEPTEMBER
How I Knew He Was the One
5 (surprising) reasons I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with my husband
OCTOBER
Who's Kinkier in Bed, and 20 Other Questions on Life, Sex, and Love
Including if we’re religious, whether we prefer morning or night sex, what annoys us about each other, and how we keep it spicy
NOVEMBER
The Myth of the Perfect Couple: What Gay Instagram Doesn’t Show
We don’t always agree. In fact, we disagree on quite a lot. Here’s what that really looks like behind the highlight reel
DECEMBER
The Secret Reason Why Heated Rivalry Is Resonating With So Many People
Yes, it's the gay sex, but it's also way more than just the gay sex. Let's discuss.
I truly had no plans of linking these blackhead remover nose strips again, but I saw they were on sale, and I’ve heard from so many of you how much you love them, too, so I had to share! They’re only $9 right now!
PERSONAL
Goodbye 2025
