Santa Claus and a Very Tribal Christmas

Happy Holidays, A-Holes.

The Saturday before Christmas usually finds us Houghs up-to-the-hilt in yuletide shenanigans, and this year was no exception. With Yours Truly and the girls straight out of the gate kicking off two-weeks of Winter Break, we spent our first, full day off from work/school with an afternoon of handing out hot chocolates (alongside the Johnsons once again) in front of the Santa House, followed by a raucous evening at the Sheahan's for our tribe's annual Christmas Party.

I guess I'll just let the following dump of pics and video tell the tale, it pretty much speaks for itself.

Behold. . .

We arrived at First United Methodist Church in downtown Midland, right across the street from the Santa House, about a half an hour before our assigned start time. It takes awhile to heat up and pour in water from the coffee makers into the big, Igloo dispensers the church has on hand. We had to kinda keep the volume down a bit this year since there was a funeral taking place in the neighboring chapel.

Abby, gung ho and ready to. . . mix things up.

It was much, much colder this year than it was last year when we did this - so much so that Kris brought a long a big bag of hand-warmers to keep everyone going. And thank God she did so, too, because within twenty minutes of standing out in the chilly wind my gloves hands toes were frozen.

We ran this two-hour window the same we did last year, with Erik pouring the hot chocolates, me capping them and arranging them on our trusty, little cart, and the girls running them out to folks standing in line to see Santa.

The line stayed this long throughout the afternoon. Nothing like waiting until the absolute, last minute to tell Santa what you want for Christmas. . . most likely weeks after your parents have already pulled the trigger on presents.

Morale high. I think I was far more miserable than anyone out in this cold, I don't handle it well at all.

Team selfie.

The girls had decided to 'take a break,' and took a spin around downtown on the Great Northern Line (or whatever the hell that Santa train is called.)

And of course they had to stop in for a quick visit with Baby Jesus (who's blonde for some reason.)

More gratuitous foot pics from the girls.

The girls then jumped in line to see Santa (because we obviously have stopped taking them to do so years ago, and they usually just jump in line whenever we pass out hot chocolates.)

Alayna randomly asked for a pet raccoon this year. Santa must've loved the shit out of that request.

Santa and the Hough Girls. (Kris went in to grab all these pics with Santa.)

Abby told Santa she didn't want anything for Christmas. That would have been nice to know, like, a month and a shit-load of money ago. . .

Kris and Courtney, towards the end of our two-hour long term of service. We served two, full containers of hot chocolate before throwing in the towel.

We had a few hours off before the Sheahan's Christmas Party was slotted to begin, so while I warmed up in the living room (playing Skyrim) and Kris began prepping food for the party, Ella came over for a gift exchange with Alayna and Abby in the basement.

They all got matching pajama pants. How adorable.

Abby channels her inner-Urkel.

After Ella went home, the kids hung out upstairs for a bit and showed off what they had gotten for each other.

A new steering wheel cover for her car.

Ready to party.

We headed over to the Sheahan residence around 6pm, and the crew was already in full-blown feasting mode.

Mitch made up a ridiculous amount of sushi for the evening's festivities.

Sushi is Alayna's favorite food by far, and so when we got there I took a bunch of pics to send to her, as her and her sister were back at the house still getting ready (its an hours-long process these days.) I told her to hurry up and get to the party before it was all snatched up.

This year's Holiday theme - aside from something to do with the Grinch that no one really quite understood - was pajamas, so folks were encouraged to roll in their most festive set of Christmas pajamas.

This marked the first time since, oh, Halloween that our whole group was able to get together in one spot, though the Nadgaudas didnt' drive up from Indiana this time around.

Breaking into one of my all-time, favorite Holiday beers. . .

Rob manages the shot table by the front door. Peanut Butter whiskey (Screwball) and some kinda Apple Pucker concoction that was way too sugary for my taste.)

The sushi was getting picked through fast, and the girls hadn't arrived yet, so I figured I'd be a nice dad and pick out one or two pieces of each type of roll and put it the fridge for the Cannonball so her frickin' Christmas wouldn't be ruined.

Vultures circle around the food.

Wives feasting.

Like last year, we once again held a White Elephant gift exchange for all the adults. Folks have to bring a gift under $25, wrapped up in nothing but white paper.

The Kings of the Hill - and Tom's brother-in-law, who was also in attendance - decided to kick things off with a shot by the shot table.

The Real Housewives of Midland

Kris kicks things off in the White Elephant exchange.

I don't remember what she grabbed first, but she ended up with a set of nice coffee mugs - a pink, girly one and then a blue, 'dad' mug - along with some gourmet coffee (because she went first, she was also able to go last, thereby getting a shot at any gift that hadn't already been stolen three or four times.) Right up her alley.

Definitely wasn't as much stealing this year as there was last year. Not sure if folks were feeling nicer or else the gifts just sucked more.

Collier and a 'special' cigarette.

Tom, Collier and Yours Truly, following the gift exchange.

Lonnie evidently had to take a very important phone call in the kitchen.

Another posed picture with the Kings. . . and Tom's brother-in-law.

I found the Sheahan's Elf on the Shelf in their Christmas Tree and decided it needed a new hangout spot. I put a turban on him/her/whatever and positioned them in this waste basket by their kitchen bathroom. It was discovered an hour or so later and returned to the tree, so, undeterred, I re-hid it in their refrigerator. Don't mess with me, Sheahans.

The Tribe

The Sheahans brought back the Flip Cup Tournament from last year, with the addition of Tic-Tac-Toe being introduced into the game. Basically after each cup is flipped, you place it on a square and try and get three in a row.

I'm pretty good at this game - my team won it last year, after all - but I was weighed down by two teammates who weren't very great at it, and, as such, we were knocked out in the very first round. Oh well, maybe next year. . . 

Erik and I hijacked the music out in the garage after a few minutes, as the current playlist wasn't that awesome. Took some finagling but we were finally able to hook up Erik's phone to the bluetooth speaker out there. 

There has never been a better pairing of a person with a coffee mug in the history of mankind.

Kris and the rest of the A Team (minus Kelli, who was staying home with a headache. . . again.)

The tourney rolls on. . .

Erik and Morgan's team was the clear juggernaut this year, as they didn't have a weak player on their team.

Doing what I do best.

Tom keeps track of things on a trusty bracket poster (like he made for our Halloween Party.)

(Not sure what's happening here.)

Erik and Morgan's team notches another win in the tourney.

The girls and Ella had accompanied the Larsons back to their house for a sleepover (once they had finished gorging themselves on food they soon grew bored at the Christmas Party and took off in Alayna's car.) Abby enjoys snuggling up with their dog, Nico.

The Championship Game

Collier makes a friend (the Sheahans have, like, twenty cats - Abby and I always load up on allergy meds before hanging out at their house.)

Meanwhile, the girls take more pics in the Larsons' gaming room.

After the tournament wrapped up, we switched over to the old Hough Party favorite, Slap Cup. Whoever ends up with the final cup on the table has to chug what's called The Death Cup (which is just seltzer, like all the other cups, just filled up more.) Kris got stuck with it at one point, but folks felt bad for her and helped her finish it off.

Courtney was not a fan of this one. . .

Ella, Abby, Jackson and the Cannonball (Sophie turned in early, I guess.)

Here's a weird shot of the moms. Us dudes don't take pics like this. Ever.

At the end of the night, picking at the leftovers and slurring about God knows what. Another Tribal Party in the books, folks.

- Brian