Auld Lang Syne

Here we go again.

Mitch and Erik check in on the meat as folks begin to roll in for the evening.

New Years Eve has become a mandatory event for our Tribe in recent years. Years ago folks were busy with other plans, out of town, or hosting family for the big night, but the last few years we've made a concentrated effort to get everyone together in order to ring in the New Year. We ourselves started it, in 2021, inviting whoever was around to swing by for a low-key evening and chug some champagne at midnight with us. The following year it turned into more of a party, with the Larsons picking it up the year after us. 

Various types of meat off the grill. I ate this shit like finger food all night.

This year, Mitch offered to host (I'd say the Boses, but Kelli never plans anything.) Seeing how it's Mitch, the meal was very, very grill-heavy, with several different types of meat offered kabob/skewer -style (steak, chicken, elk, you name it.) The entire group couldn't make it, seeing how it's still technically the Holidays and a lot of folks had family obligations, but most of the usual suspects were on hand - us, the Boses (well, at least Mitch - Kelli was upstairs with a headache all evening), the Johnsons, and the Colliers, along with the Griffins and Rob.

For the most part it was a super chill evening, playing games, grazing on a shit-load of food, and having some drinks - three things our group excels at. A super fun way to ring in the New Year, for sure.

Behold. . .

As usual, us dudes stood around the kitchen and bullshitted while grazing non-stop.

Meanwhile, back at our house, Alayna and her friends were still getting ready. We had cleared it with Mitch first, just to make sure it was cool, but Alayna planned on rolling in to the Bos party with like six or seven kids this year. All they were all dressing up.

We played this super-easy - but entertaining - dice game called Left, Right, Center for most of the night. Just something to do with your hands while you're sitting around having a few drinks and talking. I'm giving Collier some stink eye here because he kept taking my quarters.

Essentially you roll special dice at the start of your turn, one for each quarter you have in front of you. If you roll an L, you pass a quarter to the person to your left. Same goes for R, respectively. If it's C, you put a quarter in the cup at the center of the table, and whoever has the last quarter at the end of the game gets the cup of quarters. That's it. 

The ladies whip up some fancy Christmas cocktails (I forget what all was in them.)

Kris, Courtney, Mees and Stephanie.

The basement was taken over by teens and tweens, with Alayna's group - augmented by Abby and Ella - outnumbering the usual crowd of Bos, Collier, and Griffin children.

The ladies got a huge chuckle out of this: apparently Kelli just throws whatever bulbs are around the house into her dining room chandelier, so there's some cool tones and some warm tones on display right now. Rookie move, Bos.

Weirdos in the basement.

We played a few rounds of this, with Courtney winning once, Kris winning once, aaaaand I forget who won the last one.

That's actually not a blunt, I was just pretending it was. Actually it was once of those chocolate wafers thingies that you eat alongside a coffee or hot chocolate or the like.

After awhile of Left, Right, Center, Mitch broke out Mind the Gap - one of our favorite trivia games in this group. Everyone made a big stink about Erik and I - hands down the two best trivia players in our tribe - being on the same team, so they split us up. We split the table down the middle, with Stephanie, Yours Truly, Kris, Mitch and Lonnie on a team against the other side of the table.

Kris and Mees square off. They had to continually list different forms of communication, with the last one being able to name something getting a point for their team.

These phone filters are gross.

The full group assembled in the basement. Kyle, Lexi, Bree, Amelia, forget her name, Alayna, Ella and Abby.

Doing some Crown Royal Blackberry shots as we edge closer to midnight.

I spearheaded the pouring out of champagne as we closed in on midnight. Not being grill-masters ourselves, we instead rolled in with The Toast - about six bottles of champagne and four bottles of sparkling grape juice for the kids.

Courtney and Kris keep track of the time.

Teens watching Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve in the living room.

Primed and ready.

LJ and Myles, standing around drinkin'.

Getting ready. . .

IT'S THE FINAL COUNT-DOWWWN. . . 

Happy New Year.

Mitch works on troubleshooting his bluetooth speaker, following the ringing in of 2025.

Why are Abby and Ella hiding under the dining room table? Who knows . . .

The evening wind-down begins. Once the Ball drops it's a decline at that point. . .

Mees and Stephanie attempted - multiple times - to emulate something they had seen on Tik Tok.

This champagne got everywhere.

Totally cool to shampoo one's hair with bubbly.

And that's New Year's Eve '24, children - banger way to ring in the new year, for sure.

- Brian

Auld Lang Syne

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S (EVE), AMERICA!!

Well, this year was definitely random, but it ended up being one of the more entertaining New Year's Eves we've ever had. 

Waking up in the morning, we weren't sure what the plan was for this evening - no one had anything 'official' in the books, and we'd only informally batted around a few ideas when we hung out with folks over at the Larson's the day before (when we watched the Lions get f***ing robbed.) Later on in the morning, we started talking on our Inner Five text thread, folks trying to figure out what the plan was going to be, and ultimately - by lunch time - the Larsons offered to have everyone over again. For the second night in a row.

Abby, Lexi and Alayna spent most of the day in the bathroom.

We figured this was going to be a pretty low key affair, but in the back-and-forth with trying to determine food and activities and what-not, it somehow was brought up that it'd be cool for folks to dress up for this. While only some of the adults decided to entertain this notion, the kids went all in on it. Alayna invited her friend Lexi along, and for about three hours in the afternoon/evening (not even joking) the three girls 'got ready' for their super-formal New Year's Eve.

So here you go, folks - ringing in the New Year, Hough-style. 

Enjoy.

We got to the Larsons around 6pm, and took a few pics of folks before the night got too crazy. Here's our kids (and Lexi) along with the Larsons (Jackson and Sophie.)

The Houghs.

The Larsons.

Morgan helps Alayna pin a strap (or something.)

The adults hung out in the back room while the kids hung out at the kitchen table and played whatever this game is called (I forget, but I'm really good at it.)

Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, that was Abby.

Morgan and Danielle wanted to play this Catan game that they had been sitting on and wanted to try. The instructions were super-confusing but after awhile you got the hang of it.

Couple other folks showed up as we were playing through the game. From left to right: Mitch, Kelli, Danielle, Morgan, Kris, Yours Truly, Erik and Courtney.

(Kris was not great at this game.)

Ultimately, I would end up winning this game (I'm the blue player.) Not bad for my first time.

Following Catan, we switched over to some drinking games, starting with the recently-discovered Slap Cup. The ladies did not fare well in this one - they end up drinking a ton.

Back in the kitchen, the kids were still playing through this game. . .

Jackson, Ella, Abby, Sophie, Lexi, and the Cannonball.

(. . . aaaaand one with the Bos girls, Audrey and Maddie.)

This game is probably more entertaining than beer pong, but you have to be good at pouncing a ping pong ball, otherwise you can get into a ton of trouble.

Kris points at all the cups of seltzer she has to drink (there's only a couple of ounces at the bottom of each cup, but still - that's probably an entire cup's worth right there.) She's not awesome at this game, either.

Taking a break from the game (not sure what I'm looking at, here.)

Watching Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve in the living room. . .

A lot of dessert was consumed this evening.

(Minus Collier.)

We took over this game from the kids and played a few rounds. I ended up winning these games, too - I was definitely on a roll tonight.

(99% of the pics we get off Abby's phone look like this.)

As we inched closer to midnight, folks started congregating in the living room, with sparkling grape juice and champagne at the ready.

The whole squad, assembled.

Getting closer. . . 

(Alayna takes selfies like this on her phone, too. . . just not as much as her sister.)

The Countdown. . .

Afterwards, we resumed our games in the back room, where my domination of all things entertainment continued.

I'm literally #1.

Kris and Morgan

(Not sure what's happening here.)

If it's terrible music, there's a solid chance Abby and Ella are really into it.

And that's how we rang in the New Year, America. So begins 2024. . .

- Brian