A Very Midland Christmas Party

Mitch threw this slab of cow on the grill at 4am (this is at noon.)

Season's Greetings, homies.

So in case you guys weren't aware of this, every year during the Holiday Season, we Houghs attend a Christmas party hosted by a family from our social circle's collection of Chestnut Hill neighborhood families that get together on a regular basis.  Like every other get-together we have, the wives seem to gravitate to one room, the husbands to another, and the kids all end up in a basement or backyard or something.  

Erik's bacon-wrapped beef things.

Kinda like segregation, only not so racist.

Anyway, this year, on account of Covid, our group functions with our friends have decreased in frequency and size (obviously.)  We've circled the wagons a bit and allowed continual contact with a smaller number of families from this group, all of which work from home (like myself) or are otherwise more or less quarantined at work (like Kris.)  In addition, over the last six months, all of the families in this 'inner circle' group have already contracted Covid except for we Houghs, so we deem this smaller group relatively safe to hang out with.  

And so, as such, we decided to green-light this year's Christmas party, which was hosted by the Bos family this time around.

Check it out. . .

Kris, in the afternoon, making. . . something.

We five dads all threw in on a 1/6 barrel keg of Copper Harbor from Midland Brewing Company, as they were half-off, only $50 (the brewery was trying to move them because they had a lot of beer to burn through, on account of the brewery being forced to temporary close indoor dining.)  So for a mere $10 you got ten pints of Copper Harbor, which is an insane deal.  I was smart and brought along a growler in order to take four of mine for the road, I was surprised no one else bothered thinking of that.

Mitch, playing with his meat

Grazing in the kitchen.

It's a Holiday party, your damn straight I'm wearing my crushed, red velvet Christmas blazer. . .

Dads seem to always stake out the kitchen at the Bos residence. . .

Our kids always participate in a $10 candy gift exchange every year. . .

It's one of those 'pass to the left three times, pass to the right two times, steal from one another, etc.' games.  You've all played this shit before, you know how it works.

Alayna was adamant about keeping her candy gift this year.  The kids pick out and wrap the candy they contribute to the game every year, so she picked out stuff she liked and then made it her mission to win back her own gift.  Mission accomplished.

Mitch's son, Drew, won Abby's candy, which was by far the most sought-after candy in the game - Abby had insisted wrapping the candy in a large, Amazon box, which made is seem way more impressive than what it was.

Abby's haul

Some dapper-looking gentleman. . .

We dads moved outside after dinner, since the weather was in the low 40s and it was fairly decent out.  Mitch and Erik hooked up a space heater to help improve things further.

Erik and I, showing off our new, engraved Masonic Yeti's that I designed (I took the classic Jack Daniels logo and modified it for our Lodge.)

Five dads and a keg:  Ryan, Mitch, Yours Truly, Erik and Morgan.

Meanwhile, inside in the dining room, the moms hung out and played cards and enjoyed pudding shots.

The meat, finally off the grill at long last.

Smoked beef, over twelve hours in the making. . .

We attempted to get a fire going at one point, but the wood was too wet to light.  Even with the help of gasoline.

The Mom Squad.  Danielle, Kelli, Courtney, Mees, and Kris

Towards the end of the night, warming up indoors.

Playing some husband vs. wife games. . .

A definitely more chill affair this year, but safety first I guess.

- Brian