A Couple Christmases

Happy Holidays, America!

Well, it could probably go without saying, but our Christmas this year was a hell of a lot better than last years.  No one was sick, there was no drama, and we even got to see some extended family for awhile.  Granted, it was absolutely exhausting, but that should go without saying;  no one in the Hough family gets a lot of sleep the night before Christmas.

Except maybe Kris.  She'll sleep through anything.

Check it out, America:  Christmas at the Hough's. . .

Watson patiently awaits his stocking.  He's been sniffing around the designated tote in the basement where we had been keeping the stocking stuff for weeks.

Abby's bear got its f***ing bowtie.  That's how Santa rolls.

These cat ears were part of a three-pack of face wash towelettes. . . I would assume to keep one's hair out of their face while washing it with girly stuff (I don't know, I'm not a girl.)  Alayna at first assumed it was a headband.

Hair color.  Right up the tween's alley.

Stockings buy us some time in the morning to get a cup of coffee and (slightly) wake up.  Thank God.

Watson got a 'candy cane'-shaped rawhide in his stocking this year.  It's just about as big as him.

Analyzing the remains of the girls' offering to Santa.

'Santa' fortunately knows the right kind of crap to put in Kris' stockings.

Less candy and toys, and more self-care products in the stockings this year - a telling sign of our girls beginning the slow transition from little kid to adolescents.

Compacts.

Reading Rosie's farewell note in the Study. . .

Tearing into the first of the presents from 'Santa.'

They're both into their Our Generation dolls, and these horses were something they've mentioned a few times before when seeing them in the store.

Alcohol-flavored gummies?  Sure, why not.

Abby shows off Bearie's 'new' bow tie.

A new Lions fleece blanket from Abby (we generally give the kids $10 apiece to spend on the other parent, so Kris had taken them shopping for me and this is what Abby had picked out.)

FYI - I'm wearing my hat like this because 98% of the time I'm the one taking pictures with the SLR, and when doing so the bill of my cap knocks against the camera flash.  I'm not in a gang or anything.  In case you were wondering.

Opening the gifts the girls got for Kris (I had taken them out to Marshall's for Kris' shopping - I know what's up.)

A big, frickin' glittery ball of body wash.  That will most likely never be used.

I think it's a ring holder, but Alayna saw an elephant on it and pounced on it.

This dog gets a bit spoiled on Christmas morning.

Alayna asked for a lot of out-of-the-question stuff this year for Christmas.  First there was an Electric Hoverboard, which was definitely doable cost-wise, but we knew she'd never play with it if we got it for her - it'd sit in a corner of her bedroom, growing dust.  Then there was an iPhone, and an Apple Watch - both of which are too old for her (we're not jumping on that train until middle school.)  Finally, there was a bedroom makeover:  she wanted to go from her pink, animal-themed, 'little kids' room, to a white, Paris-themed, 'tween' room.  Kris and I went with this route, purchasing several decor items for the overall - among them being this deluxe Paris-themed bedding set.

Came with a reversible sequin throw pillow, too.

Abby's big item this year was a Nintendo 2DS (contemplated the 3DS, but I didn't feel the extra $30 and lack of power cord was worth the lackluster '3D' effect.)  Of the two kids, Abby's the gamer - her sister definitely wouldn't be thrilled with something like this.

This came with MarioKart 7 (or 8, I forget) pre-installed, and so we threw in a few additional games and a case to round it out.

Finally pulled the trigger on this as a combo gift for the girls, too.  Considering how big they are into these movies, it's insane we hadn't purchased it earlier.

It took me about five minutes to remove the base of Alayna's new Eiffel Tower-shaped lamp out of this stupid box.

Kris shows Alayna different shades of teal we picked out for her bedroom's 'accent wall,' to match Alayna's new lampshade.

Couple craft gifts from Aunt Mickey.

More Our Generation crap.

Alayna is devouring Riordan's Percy Jackson series right now, and has consequently developed a keen interest in Greek Mythology.  I found this hardcover book on Amazon, and so far she seems pretty into it.

I don't get the obsession with Roblox at all.  It's beyond stupid.

Moooooore Our Generation stuff.

The newest generation of Houghs prepares to set out on a quest to save the kingdom of Hyrule.  Like her father before her.

The kids kept on slugging away at gift opening, but Yours Truly - who slept from about 12:30 to 3:30am, then had that bizarro half-awake/half-asleep-but-still-think-you're-awake thing going on from 3:30am to 5:45am when I just said 'screw it' and got up - was fading fast.

Out.

A dog and his bone.

Abby was envious of her sister's mini-backpack that Alayna had gotten during her birthday party, and had been asking for one for herself for awhile.

I couldn't resist.  'Cause it's true.

Abigail. In the zone.

Alayna got a new wallet (hers was in pretty rough shape), and we threw in a MasterCard gift card 'cause she's getting to that age where she enjoys shopping for herself.

Taking a break from gift-opening to cook up a traditional Hough family breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes. . . and mimosas.

A kinda-but-not-really White Christmas.

We more or less do this for Alayna.  She would eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day, if we let her.  She'd also look like Jabba the Hutt.

(Abby's mimosa was champagne-free, CPS - quit freakin' out.)

Kris snapped this pic of the girls in front of the tree while I was back in the bedroom, taking a much-needed mid-morning/post-mimosa nap.  I was able to grab a solid hour and a half, which was enough to keep me running strong the rest of the day.

Shortly after noon, when I awoke from my beauty sleep, we started to rally the girls together in order to head over to Mom and John's for Christmas with their side of the family.  Chris, Nicole, Louis, and Sam (shown here) were also on hand.

. . . as was Grandpa Chinery.

Chris and Nicole

Louis and John

As usual, Mom had just 'thrown a couple things together,' which basically meant she had cooked enough food to feed forty people, so we all grazed like a bunch of fat asses between gifts throughout the afternoon.

The girls got new canopies for their bedrooms, which went over well with Alayna since she's in the process of re-doing her bedroom and everything.

Leon strikes again.

Around 6pm, we came home to this carnage.  Kris and I had ourselves a couple Christmas cocktails and the whole fam ran a marathon of Christmas movies until the kids fell asleep on the couch.  Hands down, a much better Christmas than last year's curse-ridden shit show.

- Brian