Around the holidays I like to sit around and reminisce about the old days. (I also like to drink heavily and cry at bus stations, but that's for another time.) So allow me to wax nostalgic about a show that I used to adore called As the World Turns, which once featured an adorable gay couple named Luke and Noah.

Wait, what? That's show's still on, and Nuke is still around? And Luke is still in that wheelchair? Goodness me. Well, you can't blame me for forgetting, because Luke and Noah have been barely featured at all lately. I guess when it comes to soaps I'm kind of like a goldfish, and if you don't feature a story more than once a week I pretty much forget it entirely by the time it circles around again. (Ooh look, a sea diver! ... Ooh look, a sea diver!)

The last time we saw them, Luke was getting all squirmy over the fact that Noah couldn't say "I love you" and the two ran into Luke's mom being a total ho at a honkeytonk. ("Maaaaaaaaaa ... PLEASE don't ride the bucking bronco again. You're no Debra Winger!") 

Today it looks like Luke and Noah come up against some serious resistance when Luke asks his grandma Emma if his boyfriend can stay at the farm for Christmas. As we saw in the teaser clips that hit the Net yesterday, Emma shoots down the idea (I believe the term popular with the young people these days rhymes with "clock block") and explains to Luke's papa that it's not because Luke is gay, but because she doesn't want any of her teenaged spawn having any kind of sexes under her roof on baby Jesus' birthday. Fair enough.

So will Noah wind up sleeping in a boxcar for Christmas and reverting to his hobo ways (I understand drinking eggnog out of a paper bag can get a bit sticky)? Will Luke and Noah get to knock stockings after all? Click on through the jump and refresh often to find out, as it happens!

Here we go!

2:55PM EDT: Noah is lost in thought and Luke asks him what's up. Noah says he's thinking about Emma, and how honest and open she is. He's never met anyone like her and he thinks this is going to be the best Christmas ever. Luke takes his hand and they look at each other lovingly, safely separated by an Elmer Fudd blanket and several feet of recycled soundstage air. 

Doctor Dashing #2 calls Meg about her "CVS test". What, did she apply to work in the photo department?

Preview Time!  No Nuke, but The Blonde Obstacle is trying to use Austin from Days to stud a child. Hands off, Fertile Myrtle!

2:50PM EDT: The more I think about it, the more I'm wondering about Luke's room. Have we ever seen it? It just seems odd that Noah's not allowed in his room at all over Christmas. Does that mean he's never been in there at all? Why are they so protective of it ... does Luke sleep curled up on the family fortune or something?

2:44PM EDT: I love Christmas as much as the next heathen, I really do. But I would happily jump to December 26 if it would mean that I could remove the incessant, stomach-turning presence of Rachael Ray and her frigging deviled ham salad from my life forever.

OH SNAP! Grandma Emma did a turnaround! She comes out to bring Luke a blanket and when she's there invites Noah to stay for Christmas. Luke jokes that she's going to make Noah stay in the barn and she says that no, she's putting him in the barn. I think she half means it, what with him not fixing that door. She invites Noah to stay but says he'll have to sleep on the couch in the parlor and that Luke's room will be off-limits at all times. She stresses that it's not because they're gay but because he's a young suitor and handsome. Wait, is she trying to split them up so she can seduce Noah herself? Insert Noah/Emma slashfic HERE.

Noah thanks her and accepts, and Luke looks very happy. Actually, they all do. It's a nice scene. Alright, call off the reindeer hit we ordered on Grandma.

2:37PM EDT: "What's with the face?" Noah asks Luke out on the porch (this is the scene from the preview yesterday). Luke tells Noah that he doesn't think Nana is really on board with the idea of he and Noah "being together". Noah asks if he means dating (he's a quick one!) and Luke says no, "BEING together". Draw him a picture, Luke. He clearly needs some help understanding the concept.

Inside, Emma explains to Holden what her issue is: she's not homophobic and she loves Luke and thinks Noah is great, but she doesn't want any of her grandkids balling under her roof. Holden says he gets where she's coming from and that she's not treating Luke any differently than she's treat any of her non-Temporarylized, non-gay grandkids. 

Is anyone else besides me kind of shocked that Emma really cares in the first place for permission? I mean really, where the hell has she been for the past few months anyway? All of a sudden she's counting guest towels and strapping chastity belts on the kids? 

2:25PM EDT: RoseAnn HecheKowski and the Ice Truck Killer have an argument about how he should forgive his mother, which he refuses to do, "Because she's insane". We then pull back to see that she's been in the room the whole time. Ha!

Emma and Holden come back in from fixing the barn door and Emma FLIPS when she sees all her cookies are gone. She invites Noah for dinner and Noah make a quick exit to give Luke time to ask her about his staying for Christmas.

Luke asks her and she immediately starts hemming and hawing about there not being room with all the other people they already have staying at the house. Luke innocently suggests, "That's okay, he can stay in ONE OF THE SPARE SLINGS IN MY DEN OF SINFUL, CRISCO-COVERED BAREBACK GAY SEX." Okay, he says "my room", but you know that's exactly what Emma is picturing at the very idea of the two boys having an actual physical relationship.

2:17PM EDT: How sad are these Burlington Coat Factory ads that try to make the store seem young and hip and wind up looking like fake commercials from SNL? Somehow The Devil Wears Burlington Coat Factory doesn't have much of a ring to it. 

Loads of babymama drama with the guys that I can't tell apart.

Noah asks Luke when he's going to tell his folks that he can walk again and Luke says he might save it for a Christmas surprise (Suggestion: Do it at Midnight Mass, with a lot of speaking in tongues.) Luke sweetly invites Noah to spend Christmas with him. Awwww... Because, you know, one holiday with his insane family is never enough. 

A few minutes later Luke tells Noah that if they spend Christmas together it means something special. Noah says that if he stays at the farm he has one condition: "You better not hog all the covers." Well if that isn't a little bit of how's-your-father! Wait, why all the flirting? Aren't Luke's guardians outside? Why aren't they fighting over the covers right now? Is Oakdale in some alternate dimension where people can't have sex when the sun is out?

2:05PM EDT: RIght off the bat, we find Luke and Noah at the kitchen table doing homework. Is this one hot couple or what? They cant keep their hands off each other's algebra notes! Grandma Emma comes through and lays a guilt trip on Luke because she has to fix the barn door that he was supposed to fix before he had to go and get Temporarylized and everything like the selfish teen he is. She foists some cookies on Noah and Luke and heads outside, and when they're alone Noah looks at Luke and says, very seriously, "You ready?" The look on Luke's face tells us that he's not. Oh no, Noah's not going to make him watch the Star Wars Holiday Special, is he?! 

When we come back, Noah is just helping Luke to walk, "Just like you did last night". Luke hobbles across the kitchen to Noah, and, grabbing his strong hands for support, gives Noah the best "ravish me now or lose me forever" look I've ever seen.