Dawn of the Gauntlet

What's up, folks.

We hadn't planned on today being chock-full of Holiday antics, but that's exactly how it turned out. Originally, the only thing we had on the docket was a two-hour window in the afternoon where Kris, the girls and I were handing out hot chocolate at the Santa House downtown. The rest of the day was supposed to be chill. But then we added a couple sleepovers, a social hangout, and a bunch of meal prep to our plates. . . 'cause The Season.

Welcome to Christmas Eve Eve, America. The beginning of a gauntlet that won't let up until December 27th. Time to sharpen thy swords and tighten thy belts. . .

Like last year, I decided to dry-brine my turkey for Christmas Eve. I was able to grab a Butterball turkey on sale at Walmart a couple weeks ago for like 50 cents a pound, and so snatched up an 18-pound turkey for, like, eight bucks (an insane deal.) Thawing the turkey took about three days, then I had to prep and dry-brine it, which took twenty-four hours, before shoving it in the oven Christmas Eve morning for three and a half hours. Lots of math, folks.

In the early afternoon, we took the girls - along with Ella and Lexi - down to the First United Methodist Church in order to prep the hot cocoa (this volunteering shift was through the church, so they had all the supplies.)

The girls patiently killing time while the adults prep hot cocoa in one of the auxiliary kitchens.

Hough Girls (courtesy of Snapchat.)

Erik and Courtney met us down there to lend a hand. Prepping this crap took nearly as long as distributing it.

The Santa House, located directly across the street from the church.

Erik and I would ultimately turn this into a well-oiled system, with me filling the cups and him putting lids on them and setting them out on the cart. 

After about an hour of having the girls serving hot cocoa to folks waiting in line to see Santa, Courtney and Kris decided to take the girls and jump in line as well. Fortunately it moved pretty fast and they were inside the Santa House before too long (where the girls proceeded to take a ridiculous amount of pictures with the decor.)

Mirrors were apparently a HUGE draw for the teenagers. . .

Can you spot Abby?

A group selfie with a nutcracker.

Seriously. What's up with all the frickin' mirror pics?

The Hough girls with Santa.

And another one with the girls' plus-ones.

(I'm not sure what's being discussed here.)

And then Kris and Courtney decided to get in on this as well. . .

I guess Alayna asked Santa for a decent boyfriend this year. Last year she just asked for a boyfriend and ended up dating some guy for like four months who ended up being a douche.

Back outside, about a half hour later.

Erik and I had held down the fort in the meantime, and had returned to the church in order to make a second tub of hot cocoa.

Putting the girls back to work. They'd grab the cups off the cart and run them up and down the lines in front of the Santa House and the neighboring train/trolley.

After running cups around for a bit the girls got bored again and wandered down the street, where they had a sleigh set up for photo ops.

Still taking care of business.

Lexi and Alayna grab a selfie with Baby Jesus in front of the Courthouse.

Kris and Courtney took the girls on a 'train' ride next, and when they boarded Ella took a selfie with her and Abby. . . and some random guy in the background.  

Back for more hot cocoa. . .

Two hours down, about ready to close up shop for the day. . .

These elves have seen some shit in their day. The loss of limbs speaks of untold horrors. . .

After dinner, me and some of the guys decided we should have a low-key hang out - sit around, listen to Christmas music on vinyl, enjoy some Holiday cocktails, etc. While I waited for everyone, I decided to knock out the day's Milkshake Stout for the day (I'm currently on Day 3 of the Twelve Milkshake Stouts of Christmas.) This one was really good.

Mitch and Erik, enjoying some beer, snacks, and Bing.

I finally broke this baby out. Took Erik and I a bit to figure out why it kept losing pressure (it's a mini-keg, but the mechanics of it aren't ideal), but once we got it going we got about eight or nine pints out of it. At 7 or 8% ABV, it caught up to us quick.

Ella was staying the night (no shocker there, she's practically family at this point), and so her, Abby and Alayna spent most of the evening recording weird-ass videos in the bedrooms. . .

After downing a keg of Christmas Ale, then a jug of Kirkland Egg Nog, we proceeded on to Manhattans (made with Old Forester Rye Whiskey.) This was NOT smart.

Teenagers, teenaging it up. . .

Collier eventually showed up for a couple drinks towards the end of the night (Morgan was out of town, so was unavailable.) We probably got a little out of hand for a 'low-key' evening, buuuuuut. . . 'tis the Season.

- Brian