Happy Birthday, Santa!

Happy Holidays, Internet!

Kicking things off with the opening of Samson's stocking.

Christmas Day, at long last. I don't think anyone in our family got into this year's Holiday Season nearly as much compared to previous years, considering we lost a family member a month ago just as it was kicking off. I, for one, barely listened to Christmas music at all this, which used to be something I did exclusively for the last two decades (foregoing all my usual jams until Christmas was over and done with.) No, this year, even though we had a fun time during the Holidays, and Griswold-ly decked out our house like we do every year, our hearts just weren't into as much. Maybe next year we'll bounce back a bit.

The day itself passed the same as it has in previous years. The girls, being teenagers now who thoroughly enjoy sleeping in, slept in until 8am, when Abby woke everyone in the house up coming out of her room. We settled in and started opening up gifts (starting with stockings, obviously) around 8:30am, and were all finished by, like, 10am. Then Kris started making a hearty breakfast while I poured out mimosas and we all finally got around to answering the barrage of text messages we had received over the course of the previous few hours.

Olly Focus Pops, for our resident ADHD neurodivergent kid.

As usual, the kids spent the majority of the late morning and early afternoon in their rooms, sorting through their plunder, organizing their rooms in order to make space for their new stuff, getting ready (which, with teenage girls, is a process), and talking on the phone with their friends. Our only other obligation for the day was a quick visit over at Mom's house with the parents, Grandpa Chinery, and my brother Chris and his fam (Jeff and his lot are still battling a nasty virus, and they had quarantined themselves for much of the Holidays.)

So yeah. All in all, another routine Christmas for us Houghs. I didn't take as many pictures this year as I have in previous years, mainly 'cause the girls didn't open as much - like I said before, they got fewer presents, despite our budget growing substantially in size, 'cause all of their gifts are more expensive these days. As a result, this will be a somewhat shorter post for you to peruse this year.

Behold, dear readers - The Houghs' 2025 Christmas. Enjoy. . .

Checking out a history book Kris put in my stocking this year (I forgot to grab my readers when I first sat down - I'm getting that age now.)

Kris found these miniature hands at Marshall's or Five Below or something and thought they were hilarious, so she stuck them in both girls' stockings.

Kind of a novelty thing, I don't see them using these a lot in their daily lives.

The girls continued going through their stockings for awhile, which is 90% tackled by Kris (who likes picking things up as she sees them in stores, opposed to Yours Truly, who likes hunting for deals online months in advance.)

Going through my stocking (which usually contains a decent amount of booze in it, like this ale that's stored in a Four Roses bourbon barrel, one of the distilleries I got to tour while on a Brocation a couple years ago.) I've actually had this one before, it's pretty good.

Both girls got a few pieces of jewelry - gold for Abby, silver for Alayna - including this specialized earring that the Cannonball had wanted (she has multiple piercings in each ear, and this ring fits one of the inner pieces of the ear. . . I guess.)

More booze for Dad.

My wife gets crap like saw blades in her stocking. 'Cause she's a weirdo.

A limited edition stout that only comes out on Black Friday - looking forward to trying this one.

Abby takes a selfie with my SLR while getting pics of her parents going through their stockings.

We kept Samson busy by giving him various treats, bones, etc. from his stocking while we were opening ours, but after he had devoured a few Alayna tried offering him one of his new Bark Box toys instead.

Kris threw a car cymbal in my stocking this year, which I had been wanting since seeing a reel of it online a couple months ago. You basically clip it onto the vents in your car and it works like a crash cymbal, so now when I'm drumming along on my steering wheel to my music in the car, I don't have to use my parking tag hanging from my rearview mirror as a cymbal. I'm excited to try it out on my morning commutes next month.

(Not sure what's happening here.)

I included a few artisan items off Etsy in Kris' stocking this year that were not only handmade by Palestinian vendors, but also donated all their proceeds to humanitarian causes that benefit Gaza and the Palestinian people. We're both adamant supporters of the Palestinian cause, and despise Israel and their genocidal war crimes with a passion.

Transitioning into gift-opening (Samson will appear in most of these pictures, because he just sat around being all pathetic-like, shamelessly waiting for someone to open him up some more treats.)

Alayna picked out some gold necklaces for her sister while we were walking around Downtown Detroit a month ago, during Abby's All-Star Pom event (if you'll recall.)

"Where the f*** are my treats?"

Sisterly hugs.

Abby whipped up a drawing of Watson and Alayna the day before, and it wasn't completely done yet, but she wrapped it anyway.

Some fancy, cooling, memory foam pillow Abby had on her list. Who knows.

I bought Alayna a JBL Clip 5 (and a case, of course - gotta have the matching case) so she can use it in the bathroom during her hours-long process of getting ready for the day. That way she could stop borrowing mine and running the battery down.

We got Abby a pair of licensed socks that had the face of her favorite hockey player, Matt Rempe, on them. She's been super into hockey the last year or so, and was definitely stoked to get a gag gift like this.

Samson, still trying to be patient.

Some tote bag that she's been wanting.

This LuluLemon stuff is stupidly over-priced, and a wristlet like this is far from practical, but whatever - give the masses what they want.

Opening up a combo gift - this giant nail kit that allows one to do professional-grade nails at home (came with a bunch of different polishes and finishes, some fancy curing machine, and a bunch of accessories (of which I understood very, very little.) The whole process of doing one's nails like this at home takes hours (yes, hours), but the end result is you get professional nails at home without having to drop $100 at a salon. I guess that's. . . cool?

This poor dog, still being ignored by his whole, damn family.

After awhile of opening fits, it was time for Samson to get some new stuff. . .

A pineapple squeak toy (hopefully we don't find it upside down any time soon.)

Alayna gives Samson a Christmas cookie dog treat that was in his Bark Box. . .

Samson was super excited about this treat, and he refused to eat it, which is something we've observed in the past. He'll covet something so much that he'll refuse to eat it, and will begin obsessing over it.

Update Note: okay, so he held onto this cookie for like three or four days, and spent an entire day hidden under/behind our sectional in the living room guarding it. He barely left his hiding spot, he didn't eat, he wouldn't come out when called, it was a complete, neurotic episode that only stopped once we broke the cookie into pieces and fed it to him. Now he's back to normal again, but damn - that dog lost his Goddamn mind over a frickin' dog treat. He's an idiot.

Abby had an Apple Watch on her list, but apparently wasn't expecting to get it, so she was shocked upon opening it up on Christmas morning. . .

Alayna's equivalent was a pair of noise-canceling, Bose Headphones to help her lock in during school work. She has AirPods, sure, but with all her new piercings (including piercings on the inside of her ears) these over-the-ear headphones are far more comfortable.

One of my big gifts for Kris this year were tickets to a Broadway play next month (well, 'Off-Broadway' seeing how the play rans its course there and is now playing elsewhere, like here in Michigan.) We're going to see Back to the Future: The Musical, in like three weeks downstate. She enjoys these musicals, so again, Happy Wife Happy Life.

Kris only got me one thing this year (aside from my stocking), which makes sense when you consider how expensive it was. . .

Again, where the hell are my readers?

There will be an annual ComicCon in downtown Chicago in August, which is pretty nerdy and not something I have ever had any desire to attend in the past. However, during this particular convention there will be a panel with the actors who played the four, main hobbits in The Lord of the Rings movies. Kris teamed up with BP's wife, Sam, to get us not only entry into the convention, but also tickets to the VIP question-and-answer panel afterwards with the hobbit actors, as well as a group picture of me, BP, and Kimmel (who was also included, seeing how he lives in Chicago and it'd be weird if we went to Chicago and didn't hang out with him) and the four hobbits. So we'll get to not only meet the actors, but also get a f***ing picture with them (a digital picture at that, so we can print it out as many times as we want, and post them wherever we want - you'll all see it eventually.)

Opening up the smaller part of the gift. . .

Kris and Sam got BP and I matching wood-scorched frames for our eventual pictures with said hobbits, which is pretty awesome and will make a fine addition to my Captain's Quarters.

Finally bought Kris the new set of knives she had been wanting for the kitchen. These have a built-in sharpener in the block, and will be a definite upgrade from the dull knives we've been living with (originally off our wedding registry nearly twenty years ago.)

The Cannonball got a few new CD albums that she had been wanting. Not punk rock or anything cool, but whatever floats her boat, I guess.

Some Birkenstock clogs for the trendy second child. Whatever's cool these days, she's into.

A comfy, furry blanket for her room that she had been wanting.

Alayna knew what this was (a full-size mirror off her Amazon list that she had been wanting) because a couple weeks ago it was delivered to the house when she was home, and we weren't, and it was delivered in just the product packaging. So it was pretty obvious was it was. We told her she had to wait until Christmas morning for it, which she found obnoxious, but whatever.

With all the presents opened, and Kris starting to work on our Christmas morning breakfast (bacon as always), Yours Truly got to work whipping up mimosas. . . a Hough family staple.

Alayna, spreading some of her stuff out in the living room to take a 'haul' pic for her socials.

A close-up of the invitations that Sam hand-wrote for BP and I, wrapped in special paper meant to resemble Elven lembas leaves (from the movies.)

Kris' Palestinian ankle bracelet. Free f***ing Palestine.

This kid (kinda resembling Aunt Jemima in her new, silk hair bonnet) was very proud of how she had neatly folded up everyone's stockings once we were done with them.

Breakfast of Champions (. . . or fat people.)

These things get devoured by the kids during the Holidays.

Alayna took this pic of Samson napping on her bed while she set about cleaning, organizing, and decorating her room later on in the morning.

A collage of the mirror-decorating process. After I hung up the mirror in the spot that she wanted, she broke out some vines and some other elements (lights, butterflies, etc.) and added them little by little, documenting the process in true Hough fashion.

Around 3:30pm, we headed over to Mom's. We would have been there sooner, but it takes my kids an insane amount of time to get around for the day and consequently we rolled in an hour or so late. When we did so, Mom proceeded to give the kids their Christmas presents.

After presents and food, and visiting for an hour or two, we came home and found the dog lying on our bed, guarding his precious, precious cookie.

Continuing on with my 12 Milkshake Stouts of Christmas journey, here we have an imperial stout. Not as tasty as some of the others I've had, but much stronger ('imperial' denote a stronger ABV in beers), so totally fine in my book.

Imperial Stout in hand, I settled in to finish Muppet Family Christmas, which I had started the day before but never got to finish. This last scene of the movie featuring Muppet creator Jim Henson is a tear-jerker.

Alayna worked on reorganizing and cleaning out her and Abby's bathroom for hours, completely laser-focused on the task at hand. She wanted to make room for all the new plunder her and Abby scored throughout the morning, and with her noise-cancelling headphones helping her concentrate, she had a lot of fun doing it. Thus concludes this year's Christmas with the Houghs. Hope you guys had a good one on your end, we'll see you next time.

- Brian