The Houghs' 1,000th Episode: a Yuletide Midland Gathering

Here we are, folks - our 1,000th Blog Post on this old site of ours.  

Crazy to think we've kept this thing going for so long, but over 15 years of running this site I guess the number of crap you throw up on here adds up.  If society still exists in 15 years, maybe we'll hit 2,000 posts - by then I'll be retired and the girls will be married with their own kids, so we probably won't have as much shit to talk about.  I'll be a grumpy old man by then, so I'm sure I can find something to complain about.

Anyway, today's adventure documents our friend group's annual Christmas party, for the fourth year in a row being held at the Bos residence.  They've kind of unofficially taken the reins for our friend group's annual Christmas party - like we do for Halloween and St. Patrick's Day, and like how the Colliers host big parties to open and close the Summer season.  They always do an awesome job with food and booze, and this year was no exception - I've said it countless times before, but if it's anything this group does well, it's eat.

So here's some pics and video of how this year's annual Bos Family Christmas Party went down.

Enjoy. . .

Folks started showing up to the Bos residence around 6:00pm for some pre-dinner drinks while Mitch and Kelli finished cooking up various, homemade ravioli dishes in their kitchen.

While the wives sat around the dining room table and clucked away - their usual go-to while hanging out at the Bos' place - we dads lurked around the spread of food and booze in the kitchen, like we always do. Here's Omkar, Steve, Erik and Collier.

Mees, Deanna, Alicia, Kris, Amy and Courtney

Not sure what the hell Erik's explaining here. . .

Mitch had a spread of whiskeys/whiskys on hand - I didn't really dig too much into this, that gets pretty dicey.

Once the food was up, everyone crowded around in the kitchen and jostled to make plates.

Following dinner, I cracked this bad boy that I had picked up from Cork n' Ale a month earlier - I've been saving it for a special, Holiday occasion.  Pretty damn good stout, though I've had better.

There were a couple 'important' football games on this evening, so the guys all wanted to watch that.  I, personally, have no interest in any of this, but it sure as hell beats hanging out with the wives.

Mitch, Tom, and the Puzzle from Hell.

Erik brought this one out for everyone to try - wasn't too bad, kinda generic.

Within every 40-something male is the mind of a 13-year-old boy.

After the game was over, we joined the womenfolk in the dining room for a series of trivia games - guys vs. girls, as usual.

Mind the Gap - one of our favorites to play against each other.  The wives squeaked out a rare win the last time we had played this, so tonight was all about balancing the scales and regaining our spot as trivia champions.

We curb-stomped the wives this time - we were back to our normal level of kick-assery this evening.

After a few different trivia games with the wives, it was back to the den to watch more football.

Yours Truly tried his damnedest with this God-forsaken puzzle, but it was slow-going.  One could blame the beers I had drank, one could blame the ridiculous complexity of this particular puzzle.  Who knows, really.

So yeah, another friend hang out in the books - another Christmas get-together for this year's Holiday Season.  Until next time, folks.

- Brian

A Hitching in Scenic... Romulus

Keepin' it classy.

Hi, America.

We had the opportunity to drive half-way across the state this weekend.  All the way down to that beautiful epicenter of culture that is. . . Romulus, Michigan.  The sort of place where you can order a salisbury steak and an omelet at a strip club.

Anyway, we had a wedding to go to, and fortunately for us the reception wasn't being held at the Landing Strip.  Kris' little cousin Alicia was getting married to some guy at a local, hate-spewing, fundi-Christian church, with a reception to follow at the local VFW hall.  We ended up setting up headquarters at Kris' Aunt Margie's house, where we had previously spent Thanksgiving, and Kris' sister, Jessica, was able to fly into town from Texas.

So the Hough girls were able to hang out with their long-lost cousins, Isis and Ben, and get their annual allotment of Minions and sugar.

Check it out. . .

She's a weird kid.  Margie had a lot of baby stuff set up in the spare bedroom for her one-year-old grandson, so of course our kids felt it necessary to dig it all out and play with it.

The girls had been looking forward to checking in on the world's largest yellow lab, Captain, next door at Kris' uncle Wayne's house.  Dude's the size of a frickin' horse.  And it's 100% yellow lab, too.

Margie, Isis and Ben playing Just Dance on the Wii.  Those kids love videogames.

Abby and Isis playing with some Disney Princess thing Abby got at Christmas from a relative.  Kids are easily entertained.

On to Mario. . .

This is where Ben camped out for the majority of the day.  Pretty sure he wore knee spots into the floor rug.

Margie and Pat's

Suiting up for the wedding (I had very little to do with any of this.)

Isis, getting her hair did.

A little granulated, but here's the Hough family.  A little cleaned up.

Margie's place (and Wayne's in the background.)

Packed in and ready for nuptials. . .

Happy, happy Kris.

Ted Cruz country.

Following the wedding ceremony (in which Abby threw a tantrum for not being able to sit next to her cousin, and just about every single person in the audience - aside from us - seemed to have a speaking part in the service), we drove five minutes down the road to the VFW hall.  We were some of the first few people there.

Table center pieces.

(LED candles, people.)

Cousins

These things were pure sugar.  So of course we let our kids chow down on them.

'Merica.

A cousin pic for Grandma Jordan. 

More of the usual (you can tell which ones are Houghs.)

Selfies

(I have weird roommates.)

Bride and Groom

The girls spent a lot of time ordering drinks at the bar.  Not sure how the bartenders felt about that, but I didn't care too much.

Gossiping

Kris' extended family spends a lot of time on their phones.

That's Kris' uncle Jeff (her dad's youngest brother.)  And here we see Abby's been given a phone to keep her busy, as wedding receptions get pretty boring for little kids after awhile.

The Maid of Honor's speech, an hour into the bridal party's drinking bonanza, was prepared about two minutes before she went on.  That, coupled with booze, made for a pretty. . . 'colorful' toast.  Needless to say, Kris felt it necessary to cover Abby's ears (a ridiculous amount of f-bombs. . . not sure how all the grandparents in attendance felt about that.)

Queens of the dance floor

Prof. Hough.

The traditional Bride and Groom's dance. . . featuring Alayna.

An impromptu conga line.  This was a reoccurring theme throughout the reception.

. . . and of course this happened.

Ben was pretty pissed from the beginning of this reception until the end (he's autistic, so large social events like this can obviously be pretty problematic.)

Ben caught the. . . whatever that is. 

After the reception, back at Margie's.  This was some Minions night light, but the kids had a riot pretending it was a fortune teller's crystal ball.

- Brian