The Houghs' 200th Episode: Holiday Blast-Off

Happy African American Friday, y'all!

Black Friday has gotten out of control, and people are becoming nothing more than masses of greedy sheep after Thanksgiving.  Accordingly, we didn't participate at all this year.  We didn't buy a damn thing on Black Friday, and I won't bother wasting time talking about it now. 

So, today morale was low in the realm of the Houghs.  Puking kid lying around the house, half-decorated Christmas tree.  You know the drill.  Not fun.

Well, the morale dropped even further when I decided to hook up Alayna's Fisher Price iXL and upload some new Christmas music and more pictures.  I'll spare you the nerdish details of this six hour ordeal (as only those savvy in computer-speak would appreciate and/or understand what I'm talking about), but it involved utilizing two different computers, multiple AA batteries, and a hell of a lot of cords.  In the end, the music was uploaded, the pictures were added, I added two new games for her, but lost three of the originals... and now face the task of resyncing the damn thing again (probably next month, when we go up to Dad's in Michigan) when I have access to another PC (I can no longer install it on any computer I own, since the software was updated and now the sync process is impossible).

I love the iXL, but the sync process is absolute shit.

By the time I threw in the towel, it was practically time for Kris to go to work.  The Cannonball was still pretty sick, so she only took Abby with her this afternoon.  Having failed in my attempt to update her iXL, I let her use my laptop to watch some movies in her bedroom . . .

. . . when she wasn't puking, of course.

Anyway, after an afternoon and evening spent lounging around, drinking water, and watching Pixar, the kid started to actually feel better.  The Hough Family Thanksgiving Curse had apparently subsided, its damage done.

By the time Kris and Abby got back from Sunchild, she was actually up and running around and in good spirits again.  So much so, in fact, that we decided that we'd attempt to finish what we had started the night before: throwing up the damn Christmas Tree.

Check it out:

Once we decided to finish decorating the tree, I dragged Alayna out to Target and we picked up $20 worth of cheaper, non-breakable Christmas ornaments to hang along the lower half of the tree (where inquisitive fingers frequently roam).

Jingle Bells:  Durable, shakable, fun to rip off the tree

Alayna hanging up a Mickey ornament she got last year from Papa and Nana

My old school Grover ornament I painted when I was in elementary school.  Yes, is still hangs on my tree.  Because Grover is awesome.

Abby having a snack.

Believe it or not, that's a Christmas movie on in the background. . .

We got this set of tacky, pink glass ornaments from my folks one year as a joke gift. . . and they somehow turned into a HUGE favorite with the kids.  Go figure.

Candy canes.  They are crack for children.

Alayna figured the candy canes were best hung clustered.

The Cannonball checks out Kris' old Angel tree-topper - something that we've discussed replacing with a light-up star for the past, oh, seven years or so. . .

Ornament exchange - I got a six-piece set of wooden Gye Nyames .

. . . and I got Kris a Dunkin' Donuts ornament 'cause, well, the chick loves the hell out of that place.

Christmas Decorating - complete

In closing, behold this year's Hough Family Christmas Card.  Print it out, slap it on your fridge, and add a touch of sexy yule to your holiday season:

(You're welcome.)

- Brian