Memorial Day: a Parade and Yet Another Party

What's up, kids.

Mitch affixes our Lodge signs to a truck Morgan lent us.

So I didn't end up getting nearly as much sleep as I should have had, following yesterday's Collierpalooza, Despite going to bed around midnight I slept like crap, as did Erik, who picked me up around 8:00am to start getting stuff around for this year's Memorial Day Parade. Like we've done the last few years, we planned, organized, and recruited folks to accompany us in the parade for Centre Lodge #273, Midland's local Masonic Lodge. We usually get between seven to ten people to help out, and this year we had seven - not an ideal turnout, but better than nothing I guess. Masonic bodies are pretty elderly these days, and you can't really count on those guys wanting to walk a few miles in full sun on a Monday morning, so Erik and I always end up doing the heavy lifting for this every year.

An EV truck that Morgan got for us from his Ford dealership.

As we've done in previous years, our rally point was down on Revere Street, off Main Street downtown, where we were queued up next to the Midland Shriners (and their little clown cars.) Abby was once again marching in the vanguard of the Midland High Marching Band, along with her Varsity Pom teammates. Kris always organizes a group to march for her church, First United Methodist, distributing flyers and candy and whatever, but this year she ended up marching in it herself. Which left Alayna the sole Hough who wasn't participating in the parade at all (surprise, surprise), but she was good enough to take some pictures of us all as we marched past her vantage spot on Rodd Street, towards the tail-end of the parade route.

After the parade, Erik and I - accompanied by Mitch, who helped us out this year - had our traditional, post-parade lunch-and-beers up at Big E's, and following that we packed up a couple coolers and drove over to our girls' friend Julianna's house, whose parents had invited our families over for a driveway cookout for the afternoon. Pretty low-key, but the weather was about as perfect as you can get, so it was definitely a good time.

So here's how the Houghs spent Memorial Day '26 - enjoy. . .

Abby and the rest of the MHS Varsity Pom Team shuttled over to their staging area downtown via bus, and rallied at the second street over from Revere Street. Those groups meeting on Revere Street (like us Masons) make up the first section of the parade, while Abby and the Pom Team/Marching Band lead the middle section. Kris' church was rallying on the third street down, so they and the other organizations on that side street were bringing up the tail end of the parade.

This weird lady was sitting on her bike and staring at us for a solid twenty minutes before driving her wonky bike over and asking us where in the parade she was supposed to be at. Turns out she was supposed to be riding behind the Shriners, so we had to endure her weirdness for about an hour as we waited fellow Masons to join us on Revere Street.

Meanwhile, two blocks over, Kris and folks from her church were ready to roll with their banners and handouts.

Kris managed to walk a block over and get a pic or two of Abby as she and her fellow Chemics awaited the start of the parade.

The Magnificent Seven

Abby and Brooklyn

Killing time, still awaiting the start of the parade.

Pic courtesy of one of their coaches.

We ended up pulling ahead of this giant, inflatable eagle that the Shriners brought a long - they swapped places with us this year.

The infamous Shriner cars.

The parade finally kicked off at 10am, and as we marched onto Main Street, we passed by Midland High's position and I was able to snap a quick pic of the team in formation.

As we passed the third street, where the rearguard of the parade was waiting for the first and middle sections to pass, Kris took a couple pics of our Lodge marching past I once again helped carry our Lodge banner.)

I actually prefer carrying the banner to throwing out candy - it's way easier.

A little while later, Kris got some pics of the pommers and marching band as they marched past her. 

Entering downtown (the weather today was just PERFECT - mid-70s and nothing but sun.)

Throwing out candy to the gathered throngs.

Passing in front of our century-old residency (our Lodge owns the top floor of the building.)

Turning onto Rodd Street. The guys throwing out candy had to restock from the back of the pickup truck several times over the course of the miles-long route.

A couple blocks later, Steven and Alicia were watching the parade and took a few pics as we marched by.

The candy was holding up decently this year - we've run out by this point in the parade before, so folks bring more to throw out nowadays.

The Shriner Cars were tearing ass behind us, regularly zooming past us within arm's reach and then taking giant loops around us to return to their starting position. If you weren't careful these things would probably take your leg off.

Alayna, Sebastian, and Samson (yes, Alayna brought the dog a long for the hell of it) were a few more blocks down the road, on the opposite side.

A short time later, Abby and the Pom Team lead the Marching Band past Alayna's vantage point.

Running low on candy, but definitely not complaining about the weather.

Probably the biggest turnout we've ever seen for a Memorial Day Parade - both sides of the street were pretty packed a long the entire route, all the way to the end.

After stowing all the parade crap and partying ways with the other members of Lodge, Erik, Mitch and I drove up to Big E's for our traditional lunch and beers.

Taco Salad was on point today, for sure.

After packing up a quick cooler, Erik picked me up and we drove over to Julianna's house, where Kris, Courtney, and the girls were already hanging out in the driveway, soaking up the glorious, glorious sun.

Bought a sixer of this recently, and figured the weather today almost demanded I include it in my afternoon lineup. Tastes exactly like the original, just half the calories (and a slightly less ABV.)

I lasted a little longer than these guys in the full sun, but eventually I retreated into the shade as well.

After a couple hours hanging out there, we decided to call it. Most folks had to work early the next morning, and Yours Truly had to get up at like frickin' 4:30am in order to be at my school by 6am for our annual 8th Grade field trip to Cedar Point (which I'll cover in tomorrow's post - stay tuned for that one.)

All tuckered out. This is what a full day of sun and beers will do to a guy in his mid-40s. See ya next time, Internet.

- Brian

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Season's Greetings, folks.

So here we are at long last - the pinnacle of the Holiday Season. Technically tomorrow morning is the big event, but since it's basically just two hours of gift-opening followed by a short visit to Mom's, we've always looked at Christmas Eve as a bigger deal. Like I've said before, with our girls being older now, the enjoyment of watching kids tear into a mountain of presents has been replaced with teens patiently opening up a handful of far more expensive gifts in a fraction of the time, then disappearing to their rooms to FaceTime with friends and compare their presents. 

I miss buying, wrapping, and giving out toys so damn much.

As I've stated before, we've been making this Christmas Eve of ours a Laginess extended family event for the last nine or ten years, hosting an informal drop-in and stay however long you want sort of a deal for whomever is around. I cook up a giant turkey, we offer up a table full of sides, desserts and various Holiday booze, and have crafts and activities (like gingerbread house making) for folks. Some years we have a house full of folks, other years it's just one or two relatives, and each year more or less plays out the same.

A morning coffee with Kris and Samson before I had to prep the turkey. . .

This year, neither Kris nor myself were really feeling the whole 'hosting' thing, so we didn't really invite anyone over, aside from Kris' niece, Victoria, who lives in Midland now. This was fine for us, since the turkey that we had - a 12 pound Butterball I had won the month before in a trivia challenge at work - was smaller and wouldn't have been able to feed a dozen or so relatives while still having enough to make the couple leftover meals that I usually make the week after Christmas (Southwestern Turkey Soup, etc.)

As a result, it was a lot more chill this year. I took far fewer pictures than I usually do (hence this being a much shorter post than in previous years), we had more down time in which to focus on other things, and we even managed to squeeze in a traditional church service in the evening after everyone had left.

All in all, it was another solid Christmas Eve for the Houghs, as you can ascertain from the following pictures.

Enjoy. . .

Prepping the turkey with my usual 'Michigander Home style Turkey' recipe. . .

It's on Allrecipes.com, in case you're curious - it's always a hit. I dry-brine the turkey for a few days before doing the actual pre-roasting prep work, which makes the meat super tender and moist.

After a half an hour of prep-work, I threw the turkey in the oven (tented in foil) for three hours. I didn't flip the turkey upside down his year, nor did I remove the foil for the last half hour of roasting in order to brown the skin - the skin was already pulled taught from the dry-brining this year, and I didn't want to risk it splitting.

Our food table, pre-food set up (I was just testing the SLR's settings.)

From left to right: Alayna's, Sebastian's, and Abby's gingerbread houses from the day before.

Some of the cookies and sweets that were given to us from various friends and co-workers over the last week or two.

Some gingerbread mulled wine, all warmed up and ready for mugs.

A classic Holiday offering that folks always forget about, I frickin' love it.

In the late morning, as food was being prepped and folks began getting around for the day, Kris gave the girls a small, combo gift to open. . .

A custom, 520-piece puzzle of our two dogs, hanging out in the Study. Kris figured this would be a fun activity for us to do during the downtime throughout the day.

Opening up some gift cards from Grandma Marcy.

We decided to start the puzzle in the basement shortly after lunch, and, seeing how it was after noon and everything, I deemed it time to crack open one of my all-time favorite Holiday beers.

Hard at work.

Kris and Abby popped in from time to time to help out, but most of this undertaking was tackled by the Cannonball and I.

Around 3pm, I took the turkey out of the oven and prepared to carve it up into white, dark, and leftover meat (for the soup I want to make next week.)

Had this spinning while I was taking care of my turkey duties - hard rock Christmas staple.

The finished product (which Alayna hammered out all by herself in the basement.) The books and cabinets (and dogs) were pretty easy, but the chairs were a pain in the ass.

With the turkey done and the food being set out for guests, we had some more down time, so I had a beer and put on my second favorite Christmas movie (which I prefer to stream off YouTube, which has the full version of the video plus all the commercial breaks with the original 1987 commercials included.)

Rock and roll.

About an hour later, Victoria, her boyfriend Stephen, and their respective kids (Julian and Sophia) showed up to hang out for a bit. Kris bought each kid a present so they'd have something to open up while they were over.

Sophia showing Vic her new stuffed animal (that of course talks.)

Since the Johnsons are basically family, we invited them over for a few drinks and snacks. They were in the same boat as us, just killing time before they were heading out to an evening church service (they go to Trinity Lutheran, across town.)

Ella and Abby

Kris got a super awesome deal with our local hockey team, the Saginaw Spirit, during Black Friday. Six tickets for the price of two, something like that. She decided to make it a combo gift so each girl got three tickets, which allows them to go together once, and once each with a boyfriend or something, or any combination thereof, depending on how they want to do it. Both girls are super into hockey, so this was a no-brainer. 

Back upstairs, grazing at the snack table and having some drinks while we killed time before the church services.

Abby keeps the kids from wandering into the Study, where the kids would probably break a bunch of shit (you know, 'cause they're toddlers and toddlers are wild animals.)

Erik, Courtney and Kris.

These two cannot hang out together without regressing to a six-year-old mindset.

The current state of Alayna's walls. She's got a knack for decor, I'll give her that much.

After Vic and her fam took off, and the Johnsons set off for their own church service, it was time for us to load up and drive downtown for the traditional, 7pm service (Abby and Kris both wanted to go to this one this year, and Alayna and I were indifferent as always.)

The candlelight service at First United Methodist. Unlike the half-hour, carol-based services we've gone to in previous years, this was a full, hour-long service, just with more music and no sermon (which I was more than okay with.)

It was packed to the gills inside the sanctuary, so we had to take seats upstairs in the balcony (which we've only done on a handful of occasions in the last decade.)

After the service, I nabbed a pic of Kris and the girls on our way out of the church.

Back home, we had a few more things to knock off the ol' Christmas Eve Check List before turning in for the night. . .

Put this bad boy on as we started off into our end-of-the-day routine. I discovered it a couple years ago, it's phenomenal.

Opening up the traditional Christmas Eve presents (pajamas as always, just like every other family in the United States.)

Kris had these pants custom made on Etsy, featuring Watson's face and his favorite Bark Box toy, St. Pickelous (a pickle with a Santa hat on it, Watson was obsessed with it.)

Kris also threw in matching, black shirts for everyone - just something basic as to not distract from the pants.

I was already wearing a black shirt throughout the day, so we took one with my old first. . . but Kris didn't like it so she forced me to change into a second black shirt (the one she got me when she bought hers and the girls' shirts.) Happy wife, happy life.

The Houghs' annual Christmas Eve pic.

We forced the girls to wind-down and sequester themselves to their bedrooms at 9:30pm so that Kris and I could bring up and set out all the gifts and stockings before turning in ourselves. As tradition dictates, we put on my all-time favorite Christmas movie, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, while we set to work.

Wouldn't be Christmas Eve without a Merry Irishman. . .

The gifts all set out under the tree. Didn't take as long this year because, like I explained earlier, there are far fewer gifts now that each of the girls' presents have, like, quadrupled in price (at the very least.)

This feeling perfectly sums up the vibe of Christmas Eve, once everything is finished for the coming morning.

The stage is set for Christmas Morning. Stay tuned for tomorrow's installment, gang. . .

- Brian