A Bunch of Holly, Jolly A-Holes

Season's Greetings, ya filthy animals.

This year we broke from our usual tradition a bit. Instead of the Bos Family hosting our friend group's annual Christmas party, this year the Sheahan Family took the reins. They've always wanted to host a big annual party, but most - if not all - of the major Holidays are already spoken for. The Houghs (as you well know) spearhead Halloween and St. Patrick's Day every year, the Johnsons do Trick or Treating, the Griffins take care of our annual Friendsgivings, the Larsons have become the go-to destination for the SuperBowl, and the Colliers bring in the summer with their Memorial Day bashes.

The Sheahans certainly lived up to our group's expectations. They planned multiple activities for the evening: a Table Tennis Tournament for the kids, a Flip Cup Tournament for the adults, an Ugly Sweater Contest, and a White Elephant Gift Exchange. On top of the usual ridiculous amount of food and booze on hand, obviously.

The only downside to the whole evening was that we had to behave ourselves and retire quasi-early, seeing how we had a 9am church service the next day that Abby was involved in (so we couldn't skip it, unfortunately.) We ended up leaving, along with most of the other families, around 10:30pm, but we definitely filled up our four or five hours over there with more than enough yuletide spirit (and beer.)

Behold. . . 

Mitch, per Tom's request, made up a bunch of his famous sushi.

I had a talk with Alayna beforehand to remind her that the sushi was there for everyone, and she had to allow other people to eat some.

If I don't say anything, she'll load up her plate with, like, 30 pieces of sushi. . . then go back for seconds. Sushi's definitely her favorite type of food.

The Houghs. We made sure to nab a family picture right at the beginning of the evening, before we were scattered to the Four Winds.

As folks came in, they went straight to the food. Usually at parties like this the first hour and a half is spent eating and watching other families slowly trickle in.

The moms and some of the kids staked out this table right away. . .

. . . while the dads, as usual, were cast out to the smaller table at the far side of the house.

Apparently the kids' tournament went down right away, they must have been eager to get started.

Tom had set out liquor and shot glasses by the front door so folks can take shots as they came in. Screwball - which I've seen at Costco a few times - does a Peanut Butter Whiskey (which tastes exactly as you'd expect, but surprisingly good), and an Egg Nog (which, while good, wasn't my favorite 'nog - Kirkland's is better.)

This wouldn't be the last time we did this throughout the course of the evening.

I brought along one of my all-time favorite Holiday craft beers. 'Tis the Season.

After everyone had a chance to eat, the adults gathered in the living room for the White Elephant Gift Exchange. . . 

Tom made up a ridiculous amount of rules for this Exchange, and, while it was a bit too structured, it was more competitive than some of the other exchanges we'd been involved with in the past. I plan on modifying his rules when we do our family's Exchange at my dad's house for Christmas next week. . .

Whoever's present(s) got stolen the most during the Exchange won this poster-sized collage of various shots of our Friend Group and our adventures over the course of the last year. I took, like, 95% of these pictures. Ultimately Danielle and Morgan would win this.

Tom and Susan had this frame sitting on one of their end tables. Apparently they love the two kids in this stock photo image more than their own kids.

By the end of the Exchange, Kris won a $25 gift certificate to the theater (which had been stolen a few times) and I won a four-pack of craft beer and a cookbook called 'Cooking with Beer.' We were both pretty happy with what we ended up with.

Post-Exchange, grazing in the kitchen.

Danielle won the Ugly Sweater Contest (when she puts her arms above her head she turns into a wreath.)

The Flip Cup Tournament kicked off shortly afterwards. When we first arrived at the party, Tom had everyone draw numbers out of a hat in order to lump people into teams of three. I was assigned to Team Dasher, along with Ryan and Morgan.

Some people are definitely better than others. You can tell who used to play this in college.

I happen to be really good at this game. My time at Western Michigan served me well.

Team Dasher racks up another win. The three of us probably shouldn't have been on the same team, it wasn't really fair to the other teams.

Undefeated Team Dasher, coming into the Championship game. . .

This is the stuff of legend.

The Champions

Victory is Ours. #TeamDasherRules

After our victory, a few folks continued playing on random teams, but things were definitely beginning to wind down.

The Wives, Left to Right: Kelli, Courtney, Mees, Stephanie, Danielle, Amy, Kris, some MacLeod lady that was there (must be a friend of Susan's), and Susan.

(Not sure what was happening off-camera, here.)

And the Dads.

Left to Right: that MacLeod guy (that lady's husband), Omkar, Mitch, Tom, Brad, Ryan, Yours Truly, Morgan, Lonnie Big Balls, and Erik.

Aaaaaaaaand one more, in closing, of the entire gang. Happy Holidays, Internet.

- Brian

Auld Lang Syne

Hi gang.

Seriously.

2016 is over.  Finally.

I think I can speak for all of humanity when I say that the close of the year was waaaaay overdue.  Between the year's mass-holocaust of musicians, celebrities, notable figures, democratic ideals, and all hope for mankind's sustainable future, I, for one am more than happy to usher in 2017.

It can't get any worse than 2016 was, right?

. . .

Here's some pictures.

A surprisingly clean cage (it doesn't last long.)

Fuzzy and Susie

I bought the girls a couple of Advent Calendars this year, which they were super excited about (they were Playmobil ones, so that definitely helped.)  Last year we tried doing the whole Advent thing, but no one was really on top of it and we missed a lot of days.  This year, seeing how every day they get to open a small toy, we're hoping they'll help us remember to do 'em.

Alayna's set was a family on Christmas Eve, so it included a light-up Christmas tree (which, of course, ended up NOT working at all), lots of presents, and various house decor.

Abby's set was a fashion boutique - two figures, and a crap-load of dresses and outfits.  Fortunately, both girls were happy with their respective sets (if you have little kids yourself, you know that's often a problem when getting siblings different things.)

Alayna demonstrates how our children usually sit on furniture.  Just like normal, civilized children do.

A Merry Irishman.  'Tis the Season.

Not the first time this has happened to me.  Generally happens about once a month or so:  getting caught at the train tracks in front of Dow Chemical on my way to work in Saginaw.  This particular morning I had to wait, like, 10 or 15 minutes for a five-mile-long train full of what I can only assume was deadly chemicals to slowly creep by. . . at about 2 mph.

My class recreated the Constitutional Convention this year, which had each one of my students assuming the roles of  historical delegates from varying states that were actually at the convention where they created the Constitution.  Each delegate had pre-designed agendas, each state delegation had their own agendas, and they had to argue their stances against other states and other delegates over the course of two days.  It was awesome.

We got green tablecloth, quill pens, and LED candles, too - somewhat not historically accurate, but close - which helped set the mood.  It was cool working with teenagers as they were forced to compromise with one another on issues like state representation, slavery, etc.  A definite pain in the ass to plan out in advance, but worth it in the end.

Wrapping presents one school night, after dinner.

Abby's teacher sent us this pic one day:  I guess it was for Show and Tell at school (or something along those lines), and so Abby wanted to bring in this glass angel.  Which obviously broke.

(Not sure if this picture was in any of the previous Holidays posts - here's the 2017 Christmas Tree.)

Ugly Christmas Sweater Day at work.  Go Lions.

The Team.  Ugly Sweater'd up.

First major snowfall of the season.  Abby decided to help me shovel some of the walkway.

It was coming down pretty hard, and like an idiot I shoveled way too early:  within a few hours, you couldn't tell Abby and I had shoveled anything at all.

. . . this led to the first Snow Day of the School Year.  Hallelujah. 

Over the last year or so, whenever Alayna receives her allowance, she divides her money into three categories:  Spend (that she can take to the store to buy toys), Save (to deposit into her personal savings account), and Give (to the charity of her choice.)  Her charity is the World Wildlife Fund, and she opted to save up $50 to 'adopt' the Amur Leopard (an Asian species with less than a hundred left in existence.)  For that $50 donation, she got an information card, tote, a plush version of the animal, and her adoption papers.  She was super proud of herself when that package came in the mail.

One Saturday I put in all the sleeves of our kitchen table, which turned it into a twelve-person behemoth upon which the kids could play with their Playmobil, Shopkins, and other toys (our basement gets pretty cold during the winter months, so they rarely go down there to play with their toys.) For dinner one night we opted to throw down a tablecloth (not a usual thing in this family), put up some candlesticks, and have ourselves a 'fancy' dinner, for the girls' sake.

Note extended pinkie finger.  A clear indication of formal dining.   The ketchup?  Not so much.

We moved the desk that I had previously been using in the office into the girls' bedroom so that they could use it for homework, as it was originally intended.  Since we're hoping to move into a new house in the Spring, I'll be getting a new desk anyway.

Wouldn't be the Holiday Season without tackling this stop-animation classic.

After a few months of owning Guinea Pigs, Kris and I were absolutely miserable.  We were cleaning the pigs' cage about three times a week, and washing soiled fleece lining on an almost continuous basis.  Since guinea pigs are social animals, and we had bought a second one - Fuzzy - to keep Susie company, we were dealing with twice the amount of shit and twice the amount of cage cleaning.  To make matters worse, the girls showed little interest in them anymore, and rarely asked to pick them up (something they were supposed to be doing for an hour or so on a daily basis.)  After mulling the problem over for a couple weeks, Kris and I decided to donate the two pigs, the cage, and all the remaining food and accessories we had for them to Soldan's Pet Store.

We donated them on the condition that they only be sold together, which the store was cool enough to agree to.  The girls were bummed out initially, but got over it eerily fast:  a solid indication that they had lost most of their interest in owning Guinea Pigs.  Safe travels, Susie and Fuzzy. . . you join the ranks of Banished Pets that have come before you (dozens of fish, Fezzig, etc.)

Some Christmas Lights display Kris wanted to check out, near Freeland off of Saginaw Road.  The lights were programmed to music that played at intervals on a local radio station, which was cool and all, but the place was super-packed, we got their late, and the girls were beyond tired.   Needless to say, we didn't stay long.

The Three Borthers and our families drove up to Clare one weekend in order to celebrate Dad's birthday - something we try to do every year.  Kris had to take Alayna to a birthday party that afternoon, so Abby and I would be heading back to Midland in the evening with Chris.

Nana, Abby, James Caan.

This was hanging on my folks' bulletin board in their utility room.  'Cause everybody needs to have a clown's contact information handy.  Just in case.

Houghs, Whites, James Caan.

Digging in to the Greatest Pizza on Earth.

Helping Papa blow out birthday candles (these are anything but shy about cake.)

Some grandkids (not pictured:  Alayna and Blake.)

Nana shows Abby and Scarlett some of the Snow Village. . .

Find the dog.

This winter has been so cold that the cans of Vernor's I was storing in a mini-fridge in the garage began exploding, which was concerning because they were in a temperature-controlled refrigerator and not just sitting out in the cold.  I was just glad the glass bottles of beer weren't exploding. . .

Naps.

Outside Midland Cinemas after watching Star Wars: Rogue One.  Abby fell asleep during the first half of the movie (which is, arguably, pretty slow), but woke up in time to catch the last act. . .  including the last three minutes of the movie, which are probably three of the greatest minutes in the entire Star Wars saga.

Showing off her gingerbread ornament at Chestnut Hill. . .

. . . and slingin' cookies in the gym with the rest of her squad.

The last day before Christmas break, one of my students gave me this framed drawing of Grand Moff Tarkin (from Rogue One) as a Christmas present. . . which is pretty badass.

More letters and notes to Santa, courtesy of the Hough girls. . .

The last week before Christmas Break, Kris went in to volunteer at both of the girls' Christmas Parties. . .

(I think it's supposed to be a reindeer.)

Not sure what's happening here.

Again, a fine example of why it'd be a hell of a lot easier if Kris helped out with this blog once and awhile.  I'm assuming she had to open a present while wearing over mitts, but since I wasn't there I guess we'll never know.

Another lazy afternoon at the beginning of Christmas break (FYI - I love getting paid time off.)

Abigail Hough: Queen of Photobombs.

Forgot to add this one earlier, as it was off of Kris' phone:  this is the girls pouring out some 'Nog for the Fat Man on Christmas Eve. . . 

Watson, festive.

Hough jam session in the basement., morning after Christmas.

Trying out a 'make your own lip balm' kit (FYI - it was just as messy as you'd think.)

Star Wars Trivial Pursuit (Abby and I are the only ones in the house who are any good at this.) 

Kris and her girl scout troop had a field trip to the bank one afternoon. . . which, I'm sure, was loads of fun for all the bank employees working that day.  The Cannonball tagged along simply because she had personal banking to see to (she was making another deposit into her personal savings account, which she's doing pretty good with.)

She filled up a punch card at the bank (they punch a kid's card when they make a deposit over $15), so she was able to pick out a prize.  She had been eying this gumball machine for a quite awhile, and was pretty stoked she finally got to claim it today.

Towards the end of the month, I decided to drive down to Kalamazoo - my old college stomping ground - in order to hang out with these two sorry sons of bitches. . .

There was some college football game on, which Damon and Zack were both adamant about watching.  Since I have no interest in sports, I just drank beer without any clue as to what was going on in the slightest, as the two of them periodically screamed at the TV.  Pretty much exactly how we did things back in college. . .

For New Year's Eve, we hosted Smitty and Rita at our place.  None of us really wanted to do anything crazy this year, so we just sat around and had a few drinks. . . and pizzas.

Zack - who I had hung out with the previous night - requested I send him photographic proof of this (I guess Smitty had been in Kalamazoo recently and hadn't contacted Zack to hang out, and Zack wanted vengeance.)  Rest assured, Yours Truly is a man of his word.

Well, she almost made it to midnight. . .

Shortly before midnight, with a few minutes to spare.  Not surprisingly, Alayna managed to stay up the entire time, and probably could have stayed up for another few hours if we had allowed her to.  All of us lame-ass adults?  No way in Hell. . .

- Brian