Second Tier Holiday(s)

What's up, homies.

You guys all know this very well by now, but we Houghs aren't really 'Thanksgiving People.' Maybe it's the lackluster Thanksgivings we celebrated in our youth, maybe it's the Hough Family Curse, maybe it's the fact that neither Kris not myself are the 'foodie' type. I have multiple friends who look forward to this holiday more than they do Christmas, which is honestly super weird, but to each their own. No, Thanksgiving to us is basically just Christmas without the gifts, music and decor - a bunch of family sitting around and gorging on food. 

Fat people don't need their own, designated holiday.

It certainly doesn't help that Thanksgiving falls smack dab in the middle of the Christmas Pre-Season, when everyone's shopping and preparing for the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Ain't nobody got time for some lame-ass Holiday centered around Pilgrims and Injuns. 

Anyway, once again we drove south to scenic f***ing Romulus in order to celebrate the holiday with Kris' extended family, as we've done every year since 2015 (minus that weird 2020 year when society quasi-collapsed.) Kris' Uncle Wayne did his usual hosting thing, and we hung out there 'til around 6pm or so before heading over to visit with her Uncle Jeff and his family (on her other side of the family) for an hour or two before starting our drive back up north.

The next day, everyone slept in substantially, then Kris ended up driving her mom back to Clare around noon or so. Around dinner time we headed over to Mom's for an impromptu leftovers meal (my brothers had both eaten Thanksgiving over there the day before) and visited until like 6pm, when Alayna went in for a late-night shift at Taco Bell and Kris, Abby and I headed out for a grocery pick-up order (which took like a half a frickin' an hour to collect, seeing how it was Black Friday and everything.) 

When we got home, we threw on our traditional tree-decorating movie - Some Like It Hot - and Abby, Kris and I set to work decorating the living room Christmas Tree. Just like we do every year, though considerably faster this time around. 

So yeah. Pretty typical 48-hour period for the Houghs.

Behold. . .

Captain, the two-hundred-pound beast.

People were still food prepping when we showed up, as the meal was planned for Halftime, so while some of us hung out and watched the Lions game, Kris and the girls hung out in the dining room and snacked.

Selfie on the porch.

We decided to get the girls and get a family pic since we hadn't gotten one in awhile. Unfortunately it was like 30 degrees out and this entire process was absolutely miserable.

Kris wanted to get one of just the two of us and handed my phone off to Abby, who thought it'd be hilarious to snap a selfie while pretending to take a pic of us. You know, exactly like when Morgan and I did that last weekend.

The girls requested a 0.5x, forced perspective pic of us. That's always a blast.

As we got closer to food time, Kris and I started helping set things up and the kids retreated down into the basement. And Abby took this slightly creepy pic.  

Wayne asked if I'd carve up the bird again this year, which is like the third or fourth year in a row I've now done this.

So I usually divide it up into three segments - white, dark, and dog scraps (the skin, fat, gristle, rubbery parts, etc.) At home, when I do this at Christmas Eve, I have a fourth part that I save to use in a turkey soup (how we prefer to consume the rest of it - otherwise it goes gross after a couple days.)

Captain kept everyone in the kitchen company throughout this process. Unsurprisingly.

Lots of carbs.

The end of this Lions game was not fun to watch.

Back in the basement, following the meal.

Dessert time.

(Looks like Abby's showing off a pom routine or something here. I have no idea, I just take pics and video off the girls' phones.)

Thank f***ing God. The seven-year curse has been lifted.

The girls and their cousin, Lily (well, technically she's Kris' cousin, but whatever) got bored in the basement and decided to walk around the neighborhood a bit. And of course they took a butt-load of pics while they did so. 

Colton and Kyan.

Obligatory family pic of those in attendance this year (a pretty small turnout compared to some of the previous years.)

Wayne's ex-wife, Kathy, swapped out so that Wayne's new girlfriend, Cathy, could be in one. Not. Awkward. At. All.

Melanie, Marcy, Kathy and Mickey.

Meanwhile, at some random, local park, teenagers were being somewhat inappropriate.

Teens are so edgy and cool.

Kris got a pic of the three girls, who had decided to 'dress up' this year as Alvin and the Chipmunks. Because why not.

Kyan and Little Andy (a name that's due to him being a junior, obviously not referring to the guy's size.)

Back in the basement.

Some random game no one cared about followed up the Lions game, but nobody was really invested in it.

I always pack a cooler and keep it in the trunk of Kris' van, occasionally stepping out to fill up my Yeti with random craft beers. This one from Midland Brewing Company was decent, but I wouldn't go out of my way to purchase it again.

So right before we loaded up the girls into the van in order to head over to Jeff's house (for a visit with Kris' other side of the family), Lily accidentally dropped a 45-pound weight on her brand new cell phone. Totally sucks, but I was just happy it didn't happen to one of my two kids' phones (my money would be on Abby, obviously.) 

Hanging out with some dogs at Jeff and Carol's. We visited over there for a little over an hour before starting our two-hour, late night drive back up to Midland.

The next morning, I hauled out all the Christmas tree ornament totes to decorate our three trees. In the process of doing so, I found another cache of dog food (Kris found one at the back of one of our kitchen cabinets last week.) It must've taken a mouse forever to haul this from the dog's bowls, one piece at a time, all the way down into the basement storage room. We set out a few traps and have nabbed about three of the motherf***ers so far, and have fortunately not found any other damage, droppings, or comical piles of dog food since.

In the evening, once we had returned from a short visit and meal with Mom and John, Abby, Kris and I settled into the living room for some Tree decorating.

And you can't decorate a Christmas Tree without Some Like It Hot (obviously.)

This was a pretty solid drink, spiced like you'd expect for a Christmas beer. Not one of my all-time favorites for the Holidays, but not terrible.

Abby, playing her cello.

Abby's helped Kris and I decorate the tree the last two years now, ending a parent-only tradition that Kris and I had observed since 2005. Alayna was at work while we did this, but even if she hadn't been I seriously doubt she would've helped out with this.

See how the bottom of the tree is brighter than the middle there? I think the LED bulbs are dying, I noticed this last year. We might get another year or two out of this tree, but I think the writing's on the wall with this one.

It didn't take us long to set this whole tree up. Maybe it was the fact that we had three people knocking it out this year, who knows.

The 2024 Hough Family Christmas Tree.

So you'd have to really zoom in to notice, but this year I opted to take our collection of Hallmark Muppets ornaments and set them up on the new pre-lit tree I bought for the Study. Aside from the 2008 ornament, I own Hallmark's entire run of the franchise, so we were tight on space last year. Problem solved. 

First 'Nog of the Season. Slainte, f***ers.

While we were sitting around watching TV that night, Abby wanted to watch old home videos. . . and stumbled upon some stupid video me and a bunch of my friends made my Freshman year at WMU for a buddy's sociology class. I can't believe our old managers at Wendy's were cool with this happening during restaurant hours.

- Brian