At the End of 2025

Hey gang.

Snow and fog on one of Alayna's commutes to Delta College.

The Holiday Season Month flew by just like it does every year, with every weekend packed with social get-togethers and kid obligations, and the weeks equally busy with the usual mix of school and work, after school crap like pom and orchestra practices, the gym (which I only did like twice a week this month, our schedule was downright brutal), etc.

The first three weeks of the month saw the girls and I still having to run the gauntlet of school (arguably the hardest three weeks of the school year, as kids don't want to learn anything these last few weeks of the year), but we were finally freed of our bonds on December 19th, and kicked off a two-week stint of time off. It was glorious.

There's a crap-load of pics and video to peruse this month, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering how busy we all were this Holiday Season. So I'll leave you now to check out everything The Houghs were up to this first month of winter.

Behold. . .

Courtney taking Abby, Ella, and Juliana to one of Midland High's hockey games, the first week of the month.

In one of Alayna's college classes, her and her group had to give a big, research presentation on the psychological background of serial killers. To add some flair to their presentation, they all dressed up like famous serial killers, and she ended up going as Jeffrey Dahmer. She borrowed a few pieces from Yours Truly, including one of my shirts, the wig I wore for our 2016 Halloween Party, and a pair of fake '70s glasses that I wore for Danielle's 40th Birthday Party (which was a disco-themed Murder Mystery.) She pulled it all off pretty well, and her group crushed their presentation.

Juliana and Abby, sharing a drink at the hockey game.

(Not sure what's happening here.)

Gross teenage selfies.

Amazon Music released their Year in Review stats for their users this month, showcasing everyone's listening habits. Mine was pretty straight-forward, showing my music listening habits in a series of different pics (like this one, which was designed to look like a music festival based on the bands I listened to the most (though the 'headliners' shown here, aside from Rancid, were questionable - Bad Religion and Satanic Surfers weren't anywhere near my top ten bands

This one makes sense for the most part, but I think 'Pop Punk' here is how Amazon Music labels the punk bands of the 90s and 2000s (NOFX, Bouncing Souls, etc.) - it's not like I listen to actual pop punk (Blink-182, Sum 41, etc.), as that stuff is dog shit.

Bob Dylan must have been skewed by my roommates, 'cause while I listen to Bob Dylan regularly, he's nowhere near my Top Five.

No surprises here. Was kinda shocked I was among the 0.5% top listeners of this band (kinda, but not really), which means I listened to Rancid more than 99.5% of all the other people in the world who listened to Rancid. 

Watching TV at the end of the night, after the gym. Not sure why Alayna thought this was picture-worthy.

Abby's profile from her Advanced Journalism class. Those dudes at the bottom must be all the celebrities she thinks are hot or something, I don't know.

My students keep giving me these little, plastic ducks at work, leaving them on my classroom desk lamp when I'm not looking. It's getting out of hand.

Kris and Samson at his annual vet appointment (which he's always a horrible wuss for.)

Abby and one of her varsity Pom teammates at school one day.

The first Friday of the month, the girls had their Winter Orchestra Concert at the Midland Center for the Arts. The girls had to get there earlier than us in order to get ready, which is when this pic of Alayna was taken. 

Sadly no videos to share this time around. As I've said before, now that the girls are in the upper echelons of the Symphonic Orchestra, all their pieces are between five and ten minutes long, and therefore waaaaay too big to upload here.

You get the idea, though.

Alayna can be seen off to the left, at the edge of the stage, in the second row. Abby is in the back of the cellos, farthest from the edge of the stage (harder to spot.)

Alayna on violin.

Abby on cello.

Standing for applause at the end of the concert.

Cristina and Alayna, after the concert (always takes awhile to wrangle the kids up following the end of an orchestra event.)

Mom and John with the girls.

Kris got a few pics of the girls in front of these little Christmas trees (you know, 'cause The Season.)

Alayna and Abby

Sebastian came out for the concert, too, and brought flowers for both girls (as usual.)

After the concert, Kris, Abby and I headed home and Alayna and Sebastian headed up to Taco Bell for a post-show meal (if you wanna call Taco Bell 'food.')

We watched Scrooged that night, one of my and Kris' top three favorite Christmas movies. We make a valiant effort to watch as many of the Holiday classics as possible during The Season.

The 2025 Hough Family Christmas Tree (forgot to post this earlier, my bad.)

Abby and some flowers that she got from her new boyfriend, Logan.

We had an Inner Five hangout session over at our house the next night, with the wives staking claim to the basement, and us dudes hanging out in the Study. Some of the guys brought over some fancy bourbon for us, which we attacked vigorously.

Took the opportunity to catch up on spinning some of my essential Holiday vinyl from my collection.

Kelli, Courtney, Danielle, Kris, and Mees (and Samson) taking some shots in the basement.

The wives had laid claim to the basement this evening but we came down at one point to rummage through my bar, which doesn't get properly utilized nearly as much as it should.

Not sure what's going on here with Courtney's hair.

Back upstairs, where it's quieter.

This group got a bit out of control this evening.

Erik brought a bottle of this stuff over with him, he had acquired it at one of those Ducks Unlimited raffle dinners he's always going to. Kinda weird tasting, like a liqueur of some sort.

Danielle, double-fisting.

Breaking out another Christmas beer from this year's cache. It was decent.

Danielle and Kelli came up to gather up their husbands later on in the night when they were ready to bounce.

After the Larsons and Boses took off, the remaining three wives busted out the karaoke.

The Collier gents, patiently waiting for the family matriarch to wrap up her singing.

Erik, also patiently waiting to leave.

Later in the week, Samson cuddling up to Kris (his all-time favorite person on Earth) while she watches TV.

Ella and Abby at pom practice after school (we get lots of pics like this off Abby's phone.)

Ella must have taken this one of Abby after dropping her off from pom practice one evening (not sure what's up with the bags there.)

Our first Snow Day of the winter came on a Thursday, following an overnight six inches or so. Finally got to try out the snow-blower I got from Mitch, which worked incredibly well - can't believe I've put off getting one for so long.

Putting the Cannonball to work on the back patio, where she cleared off some areas so that Samson could use the bathroom easier.

During one of their school night sleepovers over at the Johnson residence, Abby braided up Ella's hair for school.

Kris and her coworkers at their company Christmas party.

She was absolutely in love with this Sangria she ordered, I heard about it for days.

The second weekend of the month, Kris and I joined the 'liberal' friends in our tribe down in Ann Arbor to see a stand-up from Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper. We left as soon as I got home from work, and drove down to a hotel where everyone had booked rooms. When we checked in, we saw they had Kris' name on the TV, kinda like how Disney does at their resorts.

Some obligatory shots of our hotel room. . . .

After setting our bags down, we headed back down to the lobby and met up with the Larsons, Griffins, and Holty/Christophers. Everyone broke their phones out to order Ubers to drive us the 10 minutes or so down to a restaurant that we had settled on for dinner before the show.

I forget who had stumbled upon this joint, definitely wasn't us.

Danielle and Kris, outside of the restaurant.

Food and prices were decent here, but I was stuck at the wives' end of the table so that wasn't ideal.

There was a strict 'no purses or bags' policy at the show we were going to after dinner, so Danielle offered to hide Kris' purse in her coat (which had enormous pockets, I guess.) Took a big of wrangling but she was able to cram it all in there.

A waitress was nice enough to take a group pic of us as we were ready to leave the restaurant after dinner.

The Michigan Theater, a block or so away from the restaurant.

We had to stand outside in a line until the previous show let out - maybe for twenty minutes, thereabouts -  but fortunately it wasn't too cold out.

The inside of this place was pretty cool-looking, had that 1920s art deco thing going on.

Another group pic, before we went in and took our seats.

Decent seats for this evening.

A quick selfie with the ball and chain.

Prior to the show starting, Holty takes yet another group pic.

The show was good - maybe not laugh-out-loud funny, but witty in that Daily Show sorta way. The next morning, after folks had indulged in the complimentary breakfast, we drove across the street to check out some World Marketplace store that the wives wanted to check out. Lonnie and I found some chairs and settled in to wait out the shopping spree.

Meanwhile, back home in Midland, Abby was attending a Saturday morning pom practice at Midland High. . .

Abby, quoting a song from her second grade Christmas pageant with Mrs. Larson's class.

Later that day, after Kris and I returned home from downstate, Alayna accompanied Sebastian and his family to Crossroads Village for their annual Christmas setup thing they do down there. On the way down, they stopped off somewhere for dinner (I forget where, I don't recognize it.)

That's how you get diabetes, gang.

Kris and I did this way back in like '98, and it was cold as f*** back then, too.

Going on the train ride (I barely remember that part.)

The next day, Kris and the wives all went over to Alicia's house for their annual Secret Santa gift exchange. Kris didn't bring a dish to pass, but instead made up a little Christmas cocktail bar for folks (taken from our own Seasonal Booze collection.)

The dads, meanwhile, headed over to Collier's for some football and food.

Left to Right: Courtney, Kelli, Stephanie, Amy, Danielle, Mees, Kris, Susan, Lacy and Alicia.

Alayna made a Christmas-ish coffee during one of her six-hour homework sessions (her college coursework is pretty brutal these days.)

Samson, holding down the fort.

Abby and Brooklyn, preparing for their annual Holiday pom routine, which was to take place at halftime during a Midland High basketball game (they were playing Heritage, coincidentally, which is the high school my middle school feeds into in Saginaw.)

Sophie got Alayna this bracelet for Christmas, which was super sweet of her.

The pom team, posed with the male upperclassmen that they invite to perform alongside them every year.

Their routine was to that God-awful Mariah Carey holiday song, which was pretty hilarious.

Those boys need to work on their kick line form.

The routine.

Abby invited this Logan kid (a junior), who she knows from. . . somewhere.

Ella invited Alayna's friend, Kyle (they find it nerve-wracking to pick out older boys as their 'guests,' but I guess it's an old school tradition that's been around for awhile.)

Samson, keeping Alayna company while she trudges through more college homework.

They did a Secret Santa gift exchange in Orchestra, I guess, and some kid got Abby this Lego set, which she was super excited about.

Building Legos on the Orchestra room floor. . . .

The Christmas Card Kris' work came up with this year.

Knocked out another classic (and one of my Top Five favorite Christmas movies) shortly before Winter Break kicked off.

Nothing to see here, move along.

Kris' niece, Victoria, was in a bind the second day of Winter Break, and asked us to watch Julian for her while she was at work. It's easier than you would think.

Keeping the kid entertained with some blocks. As a four-year-old, the kid doesn't stop moving, so we had to constantly keep him distracted with crap like this.

Coloring with Alayna.

I once again purchased Rochester Mills' Twelve Days of Milkshake variety pack for the Season - each day is a different 'milkshake stout,' some better than others. I was not a fan of this one.

Alayna and Sebastian, out doing some last-minute Christmas shopping around town.

Getting the Holiday sugar all set out.

Kris and the girls, putting together a photo puzzle in the kitchen.

(I forget where this came from.)

The day before Christmas Eve, Sebastian came over to build gingerbread houses with the girls.

Abby was not very good at this - this pic was taken during the 1-2 second window where her house was able to stand on its own.

This is what it usually looked like.

A much better stout compared to the day before (I do one for each of the twelve days of Christmas.)

Sebastian and Alayna were much better at this.

Posing with the finished products.

Sebastian and Alayna, opening up a combo gift that we got them (went in on it with Sebastian's parents.)

Our Christmas tree in the basement lost its middle section lights one night. I'm super excited about having to replace two trees next Christmas (our main tree in the living room is at the end of its life as well, its lights are starting to dim.)

The day after Christmas is usually reserved for Christmas at my folks' house in Clare, but we were hit with a treacherous ice storm that shut down the whole state and consequently my family cancelled our decades-old tradition in order to err on the side of caution. So, stuck at home with nothing to do, we just hung out and watched movies all day (this one frickin' slaps, folks.

Playing around with some AI nonsense in Google Photos. You can tell it's fake 'cause his front paws aren't all jacked up.

Alayna spent the day cleaning out and reorganizing her bedroom. The pile of clutter in the hallway continued to grow throughout the day (and of course it remained out in the hallway like this for days, with us constantly telling Alayna to take care of it.)

That Logan kid Abby paired up with for the Holiday pom routine stopped by our house one evening with flowers and a sign, 'cause everything requires a frickin' big spectacle these days. . .

This one was okay, but I'm not huge on pecans.

Freezing rain is awesome.

I had broken this out on Christmas Eve, but there was still a lot left in it - I chipped away at it during that weird period between Christmas and New Years. 

Alayna's newly-cleaned bedroom.

Our vehicles were coated in ice for a couple days, but since we didn't leave the house we didn't mind. The Johnsons had invited us out to Frankenmuth the Saturday after Christmas, so it was finally time to thaw them out. 

Took my new dashboard cymbal out on its maiden voyage. It works well but rattles a lot, so I ordered some cymbal felts to help muffle it a bit.

Frankenmuth was frickin' slammed with people, so none of our usual parking go-to's were available. We ended up parking across the wooden bridge in the Bavarian Inn parking lot, close to Riverwalk.

The Johnsons were entertaining some of Courtney's extended family this weekend, and they had never done Frankenmuth before. When we got there they were over at Zehnders, so we crossed back over the bridge and headed their way.

We'd be eating this chicken dinner later, but no one was hungry quite yet.

We didn't really have an itinerary today, so we just kinda walked around and hit up shops.

Abby and this dude she always gets a picture with.

While all the women and kids were busy hitting up boutiques, Erik and I, along with his nephew and father in law, went up the hill and got a beer from the Frankenmuth Brewery. The jalapeno blonde I got was really, really good - wish they'd bottle it one of these days.

Always has to pose with this sign.

Just like Midland does with its Commons during the summer, Frankenmuth has several bars and restaurants that participate in an open-booze area downtown. You can walk into participating places and order a to-go beer that you can then walk around with, it's pretty bad-ass.

We ended up getting our mandatory chicken dinners around 4pm, and while we waited for a table I spotted a barrel of pickles, kinda like what you see in that Pee Wee Herman movie with the traveling circus.

Alayna bought Sebastian a lightsaber from SabersPro (the same company Chris and I bought ours from.) She got him Luke's lightsaber from Episode VI, which usually costs like $400 but she got it for $250 and they threw in a free one to boot. I might have to take advantage of this sale next year. . . .

What the hell is a cannoli?

Abby, posing with the flowers she got from Logan.

This one was super good.

Alayna had pillows with this face printed on them made up for her friends this year. I'm sure they were excited about that Christmas present . . .

This one was decent.

Kris, taking Samson for a walk around the neighborhood one afternoon.

The girls have been purging a lot of their old stuff this last week of December, and Abby was finally ready to part with her Harry Potter (Hermione) wand she got seven years ago (for use at Universal Studios, if you'll remember.) Jeff said his kids would take it - they still like those movies - so I gotta run this and bunch of other crap we're giving his kids over to his house at some point.

Having an 'OG' sleepover in the basement with Ella, Jackson and Sophie. They hooked up the Nintendo Switch to the projector and entertained themselves for hours playing various video games.

This one was really, really good.

So that was our insane December, gang - congrats on making it through all of the pics and videos this month. Next month will definitely be a lot more chill, as Januarys usually are. We'll see you guys in 2026. . .

- Brian