Coll'Euchre

What's up, readers.

The dudes eating some Mexican before the tourney started. 

We're in the slums of winter still, and it's been relatively dead around these parts for weeks, but tonight we had ourselves a slight break in the monotony: the Colliers' annual Euchre Tournament.

This one has never been one of my favorite parties our tribe throws; as much as I enjoy a good hand of Euchre, playing eleven rounds of it (or four hours of it, whatever comes first) is a bit excessive. I'd be cool with, like, half that amount of playing cards - after a few games I'm over it and ready to call it a night - but Collier loves hosting this so we all buck up in order to help the guy out.

Mitch the Pro and Mr. Collier partaking in some jello shots.

After all, Kris and I make all of these assholes dress up in themed Halloween costumes every year, it's the least we can do.

Kris, of course, never plays at these tournaments. Sometimes she makes up an excuse, other times she's just like, "Nope, I'm not playing," but this year she had a legitimate reason for bowing out of the tournament at least. Abby and Ella each got a few tickets to the Saginaw Spirit (the 'minor league' hockey team in our area) for Christmas, considering they're both huge hockey fans, and neither us or the Johnsons were cool with Ella driving them both into downtown Saginaw after dark. She volunteered to drive the girls down to the Dow Event Center for a game tonight, and then pick them up about three hours or so later so the Johnsons and I could participate in the tourney.

Out of the twenty or so players who pay the $10 buy-in for the winning pot, I usually place somewhere in the 8th - 12th place, comfortably in the middle of the pack. I know how to play the game and am competent at it, but I don't take a lot of ballsy risks like Going Alone, etc., so I never place in the top five. Honestly this game is like 95% luck of the draw, so that doesn't even really matter. This year, however, I was on fire, and was in the top three spots for most of the night. Ultimately, I ended up placing in 4th place, which meant I made my $10 back plus an additional $10 - not bad for a night's work of playing cards and drinking beers.

So here you go, folks - this year's Coll'Euchre (something Ryan's AI came up with, don't ask me.) Enjoy. . .

Some of the wives grab some shots of something or other that Mitch whipped up. Left to Right: Kirsty, Courtney, Mees, Lori, Beth (the wife of one of Collier's college friends who comes out to the Euchre tourneys ever year), and Danielle.

Grazing on some Mexican food.

Collier sets up the tournament's spreadsheet (a crap-load of formulas go into this thing, I have no idea how it works - Cory set it up for him.)

Morgan, Mitch and Erik talking among Collier's famous homemade cookie spread.

The taco spread they set out for these tournaments is pretty impressive. A few clicks up from what we usually do for our family on any given weeknight.

Different types of proteins.

I'm always grateful so many folks in this tribe of ours knows how to operate a grill - the food is always top-notch.

As we approached the 7pm start time, Collier once again went over the House Rules for all those in attendance (not that we needed a refresher, we're all old hands at this by now.)

Cory has won the last couple of years and is a notoriously aggressive player. Collier wanted blood.

The tournament begins. . .

After each round, as various tables concluded their two rounds, folks would come back to the kitchen to continue grazing on the spread and observe the scores as they came in.

We noticed at one point in the evening that the Collier's family room windows had plastic on them. Mees tried telling us this was probably for energy purposes, but we told her that that's not really a thing. When she told us that they had been up since they had moved into the house back in like 2017 or whatever, we tried telling her that the plastic wrap was probably just never taken off during the installation process (because the previous owners had installed the windows shortly before selling the house.) Mees had to run outside to investigate.

Holty and Morgan face off against Lori and Danielle.

Kris showed up shortly into the second or third round after dropping the girls off in Saginaw.

I brought my Oredock stein along for the night 'cause Collier had a keg of Miller Lite primed in his kegorator. The flip lid is awesome for events like this where folks are constantly knocking drinks over.

He had five tables set up throughout the main level of his house. We had eighteen players this year, so we didn't have to set up any tables in his basement (which is usually like twenty degrees colder than the main level - no one was complaining.)

I came roaring out of the gate this year, and was in first or second place for the first several rounds. Mees was on fire, though - she kept getting insanely good hands all night.

Erik, Kelli and Mees gang up on some over-zealous petting of the Collier family dog, Winnie.

Collier adjusts the spreadsheet as the tournament drags on.

I fell to fourth place in the last stretch of the tournament and remained there for the rest of the night. Would have been cool to make it to third place, which paid out like $30, but I was cool placing as high as I did - probably won't happen again.

At the end of the tournament, we were met with an unprecedented anomaly: a tie for first place.

Mees and the infamous Cory had tied for the top spot, so Collier decided to hold a final, sudden death round to determine the night's winner.

Stakes were high for Mees, who was the tribe's best shot at unseating the usual champion.

But there was no stopping the juggernaut - Cory came out on top once again.

Mees concedes defeat. Cory won a trophy mug for nabbing first place, but he was nice enough to bequeath it to Mees for her efforts.

Being inappropriate with some Vienna sausages. . .

This lil' guy is super excited about Collier's cookies. . .

Courtney tries dislodging something from Winnie's mouth. Dogs are a-holes.

Collier and Cory

An attempt at a group pic towards the end of the night, right before the vast majority of folks took off for the night.

At the end of the night, it was us, the Johnsons, Amy, and the Colliers remaining. The wives took up singing karaoke to the music Collier had playing in the background, which is pretty typical for midnight-ish around these parts.

So there you go, gang - this year's Collier Euchre Tourney. Hopefully next year Yours Truly will crack the Top Three, but I'm not getting my hopes up. . . 

- Brian

Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year's Eve, America!

Mitch, overseeing the finish touches on the evening spread in his kitchen.

Tonight marks the end of the Holiday Season (at least for us, not sure how the rest of the world sees it.) Since being back in Michigan, we've made a conscious effort to celebrate the last holiday of the year with friends: the first several years we kept things low key with our old college friends, Smitty and Rita, then slowly built it up to a larger affair involving our local friends as well. The last time we hosted a New Year's Eve party was 2022, and since then - following a one-off hosting by the Larsons in 2023 - the Bos family has taken over (just like they did with St. Patrick's Day) as we took a step back on hosting huge parties at our house (the lone exception, of course, being our Halloween parties.)

The snack/dessert offerings on the Bos kitchen island - perfect for grazing. 

This year played out the same as the year before, with folks rolling in around 7pm and leaving about an hour after the Ball Drop. We got stuck playing Mind the Gap until about five minutes before midnight this time around, and consequently ran out of time getting the champagne toast together. Most of us missed the Countdown - as you can see from the video I got at the end of the night, we weren't even in the room to document it at all - but whatever, we'll make a point of being more on top of it next year.

The usual suspects were all on hand tonight, the exception being the Sheahans (who are usually out of town with their extended family for this holiday) and the MacLeods, who were racked with Covid this year. The rest of the tribe turned out in full force, though, and as always we had more than enough food (and drink) on hand to keep everybody thoroughly satisfied.

So here's 2025's last hurrah with the Houghs, folks - enjoy. . .

Mitch went with a Taco Bar again for this year's New Year's Eve bash, with beef, pork, and chicken options.

Multiple chips and dips, most of which were brought by other families as they arrived.

Bacon wrapped elk and other random meats, courtesy of Erik. We can't cook like this so, for the second year in a row, we donated the midnight toast for the party, bringing multiple bottles of champagne (for the adults) and a variety of sparkling grape juice (for the minors.)

Still chugging away at this 12 Milkshake Stouts of Christmas. I was saving this bad boy for a special occasion, and it did not disappoint.

We were the first couple to arrive this evening, getting there right at 7pm (we were ready to rock and roll at like 4pm, having nothing else going on during earlier in the day), but everyone else showed up over the course of the next 20-30 minutes.

This was the first year Alayna opted to go celebrate the holiday with her friends instead of her family, heading over to Lexi's house where they were having a small party with girls from school. I have no idea who this dog is, but he/she apparently enjoyed Alayna's company.

Collier, Lonnie Big Balls, Big E and Baby Driver, standing around the island in the kitchen (our usual hangout spot when the weather isn't ideal for hanging out back under the gazebo.)

A variety of booze on hand for folks to play around with (I attempted to be responsible and stuck to just beer this evening.)

Another tribe party, another chance for Collier's much-loved kegorator to shine. Mitch bought a quarter barrel of Short's Local Light (their light beer), and it lasted all night (with folks drinking other stuff it didn't get as much use as it had at previous parties.)

Meanwhile, over at Lexi's, the girls got a few pics in (not much, as Alayna doesn't take as many pics as Abby and I do, but I included what I found in her photo gallery.)

Sure sure where those fishnet gloves came from, but whatever.

Abby took forever getting around for the evening, and was getting a ride from Ella to the Bos' house. Before she left the house, Kris made her take a picture proving that she had remembered to unplug all of her hair accessories before she left the house. She's left them plugged in before after assuring us she'd unplugged everything, and we really, really don't want our house to burn down.

Collier, Holty, and Lonnie, filling up plates in the kitchen.

Mitch and Morgan

Decisions, decisions.

The dinner rush in full swing, with multiple groups of teenagers finally rolling in.

The Gruesome Twosome

Post-dinner, before anyone started getting into activities and/or games, just sitting around and catching up.

Kelli decided to break out some liqueur shot with a cream topping that was supposed to look like little beers (which they did.)

My wife is a special woman.

With the kitchen and dining room packed with people, some of us ventured into the living room where the Dick Clark Rockin' New Year's Eve thing was streaming on the TV. I made sure to notify the moms when this legendary boy band popped up on the TV, which they were super excited about.

Singing along to 4 Non Blondes, another mom favorite.

Another girl pic over at Lexi's.

Erik, his cousin and her husband, and Kelli.

A couple card games broke out, which usually happens with this group.

Erik peeks into the TV room to see what everyone else is up to.

Danielle and Kris, deep in convo.

Mitch brought up a card table to accommodate a second game of Euchre (right in the middle of the entryway.)

Collier, Morgan and Kelli

Someone was decapitated at the Nativity. I smell foul play.

Larsons vs. Boses

Erik, Courtney, Mees and Erik's cousin (I always forget her name.)

Collier, Brandon and Lonnie

Once the card games wrapped up, everyone assembled in the dining room for another wives vs. husbands match of Mind the Gap. . .

Brandon reads the womenfolk their next trivia question.

Like I've said before, multiple times: the Kings of the Hill always win this game.

Yours Truly was tasked with a Challenge Card at one point, and had to impersonate Mick Jagger for my team. . .

We got it.

The women take their next question.

Kris' turn to tackle a Challenge Card. She was supposed to do the Hustle dance (which, I guess, is a real thing - I didn't know it, either.)

Mitch, who had been steadily drinking bourbon for the last couple hours, was starting to fade at this point. . .

Kris starts distributing sparkling grape juice to kids.

Gathering up champagne for the Countdown (which, as stated before, we totally missed.)

About the best we got this year. Oh well.

Post- Ball Drop

Some wives get a group pic in the kitchen

The Houghs

Not sure what's happening here. . . maybe they're feeling her sweater?

Folks beginning to head out at the end of the night.

Mees was getting tired at the end of the night (according to her, the pinot grigio she always drinks makes her tired), so she decided to just lie down right there on the kitchen floor.

It was the perfect opportunity to break out my old wrestling moves.

Collier, walking around with one of the Bos family's dogs, Penny. For whatever reason.

Hanging out in the dining room at the end of the night.

Collier, Erik and I went upstairs to check on Mitch at the end of the night - he had inexplicably disappeared and no one knew where he was.

So no late-night tri-tip for folks to enjoy. Not that anyone had any space left in their guts at this point anyway.

I guess Mitch slept like this in this chair in his bedroom 'til like 5am (which couldn't have been comfortable), then moved to his bed. Thus concludes another New Year's Eve, and another year, with the Tribe. Here's to 2026, and hopefully a ton of awesomeness for our future. . .

- Brian