Clintsgiving (Sans Clint)

Sore, lethargic and out of it.  All day.

Hi.

So Watson had himself a vet appointment yesterday - I would've mentioned it before, but I didn't take any pictures while I was there (I had Abby with me, so between her and the dog and a sword-shaped umbrella - it's been raining like a motherf***er down here in Florida lately - I had my hands full.)  Anyway, the poor guy had five vaccinations and a laundry list of other tests done for his annual check-up, and today he was incredibly out of sorts.

The rest of us, though, were ridiculously busy.  Kris with cooking, the girls with trashing the house, and me with watching the lions and drinking 'coffee.'

Check out this year's Hough Family Clintsgiving. . .

(sans Clint.)

Dad and Cindy wanted to Skype with us to watch the girls hang up the rest of the Christmas ornaments on the tree.  While doing so, Dad showed off his avocado dip. . . which is honestly the first thing I've seen him cook since 1991.

Much of these cheaper, handmade ornaments mysteriously found their way over to the kids' Christmas tree in their playroom once they were done hanging them.

Laughin' it up with Papa and Nana

Showing off Christmas Ornaments

Detroit played Chicago this Thanksgiving.  After losses to the Cardinals and Patriots in the last two weeks, I was praying the Lions weren't going to ruin my Clintsgiving.

The girls comfort our recovering canine while a dead baby hangs out nearby. . .

Yuletide beverages

While Kris cooked up mashed potatoes, corn, and deviled eggs in the kitchen, I knocked back a couple beers and watched the Lions (with the girls occasionally joining me). . .

. . . and this is what Watson was up to.  All day.

CORN

MASHED POTATOES

DEVILED EGGS. . . feat. Kris' fancy, new Deviled Eggs Carrying Case (yes, they make those.)

Abby and I have an equivalent understanding of football.

Check out the ghetto Rabbit Ears set up we're rockin' here.  Usually we have no problems getting ABC or Fox, but today's game was on CBS. . . and that one's a pain in the ass to get in.

Abby drafts a letter to her congressman.

Deviled Eggs on the Florida Turnpike.  Like in numerous years, we were once again having Thanksgiving over at the Voigts' house.

Scary Bridge

Adam slices up the main course.  

Adam's parents - whom our kids are well-acquainted with and love joking around with - were spending the holiday with us as well.

I had the 50mm lens on the SLR, forgetting to swap it out for the easier-to-use 18 - 55mm one we usually employ.  While these shots are cool and all, the lens takes some getting used to.

Jackson bossing people around

Awaiting the Thanksgiving feast. . . 

They, too, already have their tree up.  See - we're not crazy.

A Classic.

After finishing their dinner, Abby decided it was time to teach Jackson how to read and write. . .

Screwin' around on the back patio with some of Jackson's toys (recognize that play set in the background?  We ended up giving that to the Voigts once our girls outgrew it.)

The Cannonball, in her usual pose.

Chowin' down on pie and ice cream

No idea what this is.

Monkeyin' around

This monkey-in-a-barrel is straight-up crack for little kids.

And that was our Clintsgiving.  Definitely enjoyable - hopefully yours was awesome as well.

See ya later.

- Brian

And So Goeth Up Thy Tree

Welcome back.

We decided to throw up the Christmas Tree the day before Thanksgiving opposed to the day after Thanksgiving this year.  More or less 'cause Kris had the day off, and I wasn't about to tackle that crap by myself.

Here's our Wednesday launch into the Season of Yule. . .

The girls sharpen their Wii skills with a little Lego Pirates of the Caribbean action (I still have the Wii U hooked up in the bedroom from my stint of post-vasectomy bed rest.)

These guys passed out on my bed.  Much like my old roommates used to, only for different reasons entirely.

As I was cleaning out an old tote in the garage, I stumbled across these bad boys in a bag among a bunch of old college relics. . .

The classic - and insanely popular - TMNT franchise of the '80s was really my brother Chris' thing, so I'll be sending these back up to Michigan via UPS.  Cowabunga

Wrapping presents. . .

We have to store these out of reach from prying eyes (and fingers.)  And FYI, that Muppets/John Denver albums is AWESOME.

Testing the lights.  We let the girls 'help us' with this part, as there's little they can break and/or screw up.  We always wait until after they go to sleep to put up the expensive (breakable) ornaments, when we can take our time, have a couple Christmas cocktails, and follow our bizarre tradition of watching the same, random movie while we decorate the tree.

We've officially graduated to two totes full of Christmas ornaments this year.  I guess that earns us another Adulthood merit badge.

Wouldn't truly be decorating the ol' Hough Family Christmas Tree without this classic. . .

The Merry Irishman - one of my favorite Holiday cocktails (Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey, coffee liqueur, peppermint schnapps, and - 'cause it's Christmas - garnished with a candy cane.)

At the bottom there you can see the Muppets collection I've been amassing since Hallmark launched the series in 2009 - only missing Kermit (2013) and Beaker (2010.)

Kris and I buy each other ornaments every year for Christmas, and nine times out of ten those are from Hallmark (and I usually pick up other ornaments from past years during the summer months when they're super cheap.)  Consequently, our tree looks absolutely ridiculous.

See that dog ornament there?  We bought that the year we got Watson, but never got around to putting his face in it.  So we have this random picture of a dog on our tree.  We're those people.

Honestly, if it were a genuine 'Mr. Hough' beer, it'd be an Imperial Stout (my personal favorite.)

The quasi-finished product (like I said before, we only put up the Hallmark and expensive ornaments ourselves now, and let the kids finish it up with the unbreakable, cheaper ornaments when they wake up the following morning.)

- Brian