Santa, Poms, and Friendsgiving

Season's Greetings, Internet.

I didn't take this pic, but someone else did and posted it on Facebook.

We haven't hit Thanksgiving yet, but none of that bullshit matters anymore. For today, dear readers, marked the return of Santa Claus to Midland, Michigan, via the annual Santa Parade. This momentous occasion, which sees Santa ride a train (on wheels) down Eastlawn, Saginaw, and Ashman streets on his way to his yuletide home at the famous Santa House, marks the official beginning of the Holiday Season.

You heard me, Thanksgiving fans.

Like she's done the last few years, Abby once again marched in the parade with the rest of the Northeast Pom Team. Unfortunately for us, they were positioned almost at the very end of the parade this year, which meant we had to sit (er, stand) through the entire parade in order to get some pics and video of her and team as they marched by. 

Not that it mattered, Kris and Courtney (who we met up with) insisted on staying until Santa came by, and he's dead-last every year.

After the parade, we went over to the Griffin residence for our annual 'Friendsgiving' celebration. This is like Thanksgiving itself, just a week earlier and with our local 'tribe' of friends (the ten or so families that make up our Midland friend group.) We kicked off dinner around 5pm, then hung out and had drinks, played some games, etc. before retiring for the evening. You know, more or less the usual - any excuse to get together and gorge ourselves stupid.

So here you go, folks - another Saturday of weirdness with the Houghs. Enjoy. . 

Frosty was losing air and falling off the float. Dude needs to stop hitting the egg nog so damn hard.

Midland might not have as many horses on hand as Clare does for its parades, but they managed to scrounge up a few.

A super gay unicorn.

We met up with Courtney down at Kris' office, which is located near the corner of Ashman right across a side street from Kroger. This is super convenient because we can park in the the private lot, have access to bathrooms and hot chocolate (inside the office), and our corner parade-watching vantage is all of, like, thirty feet away. Courtney had the Larson kids and Jackson's friend, Aiden, along with her, and Kris was able to get a selfie of the whole group while we waited (forever) for Abby, Ella and the rest of the pom team to pass by.

Some local company tricked out a vintage hearse like the old Ghostbusters car. Pretty rad.

Featuring Slimer in the back seat, a nice touch.

This sign was posted on the back of someone's RV float (if you know, you know.)

After over an hour of watching other folks pass by, the Northeast Pom team finally came into view. Courtney ran into the middle of the intersection to start taking pics.

Not sure what the deal was with that lady trying to smother her dog. Lots of crazies come out of the woodwork at events like this.

Ella, at far left, and Abby, at far right, in the front row of the team (which makes sense, since they're the  veterans and two of the best performers on the team.)

Look. More horses.

I'd love to normalize converting vehicles into pirate ships. Let's get on this, America.

One of Midland's high-tech, futuristic fire trucks. This is Courtney's favorite part of the parade. Shit looks like a Transformer.

At long last, Santa and his train finally arrive, bringing up the rear.

Santa (the real one) and his ball and chain.

After the parade passed by our location, we headed back to the van and drove downtown to rendezvous with Abby and team at the end of their trek. Unfortunately, they were still making their way down Ashman, so we parked down by the East Building and made our way down Main Street in order to meet up with her. As we passed by Ace Hardware, we saw this awesome Holiday display in one of their storefront windows.

We ran back into Courtney and the Larson kids shortly before the pom team passed us a second time.

Kris was able to nab a few selfies with Abby as we followed the team back down Main Street towards the end of the parade route.

Another selfie, featuring some random, dashing gentleman.

After the parade, we headed home and basically just sat around for a few hours. When it started approaching dinner time, Kris threw together a couple dishes to contribute to our annual Friendsgiving, I threw together my trusty cooler, and we headed over to the Griffin residence. We showed up around the same time as the Larsons and Bardens, but had to kinda wait around for, like, a half an hour until all the late arrivals showed up. . . with their contributions.

The husbands took the initiative this year and snagged the big, dining room table (in previous years, we've always gotten screwed and have had to cram in at that small-ass, kitchen nook table you see the wives at. They complained a little at first, buuuuut. . . . f*** it.

Lots of awesome food on hand this year. Several different side dishes - casseroles, mac and cheese, potatoes, stuffings, dips, veggies, breads, etc. - along with hams, smoked briskets, sliders, charcuterie boards, pies, cookies, and other desserts. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: this group will EAT.

You can't tell from this picture, but these hens were clucking something fierce - they're so loud when they get together we have a hard time hearing ourselves talk from the other side of the room.

The kids were in the basement for the entire night, only resurfacing to grab more food and then scamper off back downstairs.

Picked up six-pack of my all-time, favorite Christmas beer, which was fortunately still in stock at Cork and Ale earlier today (I made Kris stop off there on our way back from the parade downtown.) I had a few of these left over in the basement beer fridge, so a couple weeks ago when I was picking up seasonal beer I passed on picking it up then. It had been gnawing at the back of my brain ever since, so I was glad to have finally set my mind at ease. I won't be doing that again next year, I can guarantee you that.

Lonnie opened up this $60 bottle of 'whiskey wine' (yes, you heard that right) to share with us dads. It's a red wine from Leelanau that's aged in whiskey barrels, and you can actually taste the whiskey pretty well (though its well-balanced, not over-powering.) At 20% we only drank like 3 or 4 oz apiece, but damn was it ever good.

We started a few simultaneous games of euchre after awhile. Lonnie, Tom, Steven and Collier played through two games pretty quick, but Mitch, Morgan, Erik and I had a long, drawn-out slugfest that was quite possibly the ugliest game of euchre any one of us had ever played. Every one of us euchred, every one of us was caught in a 'screw the dealer' scenario at least twice apiece, and, in the end, Morgan and I won by one point. But in a game that ugly, there really aren't any winners, folks.

Found this beer in my fridge earlier in the evening while packing up my cooler - it's one of the last from a sampler pack I picked up in the UP on Brocation 2020. Back then you couldn't get Upper Hand anywhere in the Lower Peninsula, so you had to stock up before you came back down south. Now that's not the case, and you can start finding it around here and there.

Tom's wife, Susan, brought me a box of dusty, old vinyl to look through - her dad had passed away a couple years ago, then her mother-in-law, and this was a bunch of their records. Mostly the kind of crap you'd find in a dollar bin at Radio Wasteland, or sitting around on the bottom shelf of a local Goodwill store, but I was happy to look up some of it while the other guys continued playing cards. The wives got a huge kick out of this because I had to use my reading glasses in order to read some of the worn run-out grooves.

Things wound down pretty early this evening - the Larsons took off to catch a movie at the local cinema around 9:30pm, and us, the Sheahans, and the Colliers weren't far behind.

While most of these albums were in pretty rough shape - they had been stored in an attic, so were exposed to moisture (damaging the outer sleeves), dust, and scratches (no inner sleeves in any of them), there were a few things that peaked my interest. There was a case of 78s that were in new condition, and a couple LPs looked like I might be able to get $15 or so out of them if I ran 'em through my Spin Clean machine first.

That Stones album was in rough shape, but it's a first pressing, so even in crappy condition I might be able to get something out of it.

Collier - like all the wives - thought I looked ridiculous and decided to get a couple pics. I look like some sorta frickin' Grand Rapids hipster. . . should've chosen a better outfit I guess.

Food comas knocked a lot of folks on their asses this evening.

These guys were playing cards as Kris and I packed up and left, sometime around 10:30pm. A pretty chill evening, capping off the first 'official' day of the Holiday Season. . .

- Brian

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

The Nutcracker, on Disney+.  I was not impressed.

We're almost to the Finish Line, folks.

Christmas Eve came upon us pretty damn fast this year, even with our family launching the Holiday Season a week or so earlier than usual (after all, these are dark times, and we needed all the Yule we could get.)  Nevertheless, even with the extra couple of weeks in which to celebrate, we felt time flying by ridiculously fast, and before we knew it, the Holidays were almost over.

And so here we are.

Looks like it's gonna be a Green Christmas.  Again.

There's no f***ing snow on the ground (thank you very much, Global Warming.)  The kids have been regularly going to school all the way up until yesterday.  Kris is just now getting off of work.  It's been business as usual around these parts, and so there's no confusion as to why we haven't really gotten all that much into Christmas this year.  Sure, we threw up our decorations a week or so early, but when there's no snow on the ground and life continues on as usual, it's easy to forget the time of year.

Something weird going on in Abby's room.  Who knows.

Well, now that it's finally Christmas Eve - traditionally our favorite day of the year - we're in a mad scramble to squeeze in all the Holiday festiveness we can before it's too late.  

Our day, for the most part, played out like normal:  we watched some Christmas movies in the morning, while Kris and I went back and forth into the kitchen, preparing food.  Then, around lunch time, Kris' family showed up - this year, due to Covid, that meant just Marcy by herself - and folks decorated gingerbread houses, cookies, etc. while grazing on food.  

The kids wanted to use our wine charms for mimosas this year.

In the early evening, gift were exchanged, we drove around looking at Christmas lights, and extended family left.  When it was just we Houghs left, we launched into our usual wind-down traditions, which meant giving the girls their Christmas Eve presents (pajamas or robes), taking a family picture, reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (or whatever the hell that poem is called), leaving 'Nog and cookies out for the Fat Man, and putting the girls to bed.

Then, of course, it was time for putting out presents, stuffing stockings, mixing up some Christmas cocktails, and enjoying National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation one, last time.

After a decade of posting about this shit, you should all know the routine by now.  C'mon.

So yeah, anyway, here's this year's installment of Christmas Eve pictures and videos.  Very similar to previous years, just way fewer people on hand.

Enjoy. . .

Food starts to appear on the dining room table. . .

Samson the hobo dog.

(Testing out the flash before the day kicked off. . .)

Trying to shove a healthy meal down the kids' throats before a day full of cookies, candy, and God knows what else kicks off.

While I was playing with my flash, Alayna insisted on having her picture taken with the dog. . .

. . . and the other one.

After a couple hours in the Instant Pot, the Turkey is out and ready for carving.  This has seriously made the Christmas Eve meal so much easier, I'm pissed we didn't have an Instant Pot earlier on in our lives.

I know I've said this before, but we don't buy a whole turkey anymore - it wouldn't fit in the InstantPot - we just do a breast, which gives us way more meat that we can eat over the course of a few days anyway.

This dude has no shame.

Kris and her selfies. . .

So Kris wanted these shelves hung up in the girls' bathroom, which I was fine doing. . . but when I was setting the holes for them, Kris was standing behind me telling me where to hang the lower shelf.  Like an idiot, I took her word for it that the shelf was where it needed to be.  Little did I know, at the time, that she was just talking about the height of the shelf, not it's left-right alignment, so when I hung the shelf it wasn't centered with the top shelf.  And now I get to re-hang the entire f***ing thing.  Merry Christmas to me.

Time for one of my favorite Holiday beers, courtesy of Bell's. . .

The spread.

Meanwhile, back in the living room. . .

Marcy showed up around lunch time and the kids set to work constructing their gingerbread houses. . .

It's sparkling grape juice.  Give me some credit, Internet.

Some candid Christmas Eve footage for ya. . .

These assholes never know when to stop.

Still under construction

After letting the frosting/adhesive dry for awhile, the kids came back to put on candy and the finishing touches. . .

Samson enjoys being picked up and cradled as if he were a human child.  It happens a lot more often than I'd like to admit.

Abby's gingerbread house.  That nobody ate.  Seriously, do people actually eat this stuff, or does the rest of the country do what we do and just pitch the entire thing in the garbage after a couple days?

After hanging out in the dining room for awhile, decorating baked goods and grazing on way more food than we should have, we moved into the living room so that we could exchange gifts with Marcy.  Kris picked out a necklace for her mom this year with the girls' birthstones in it (a pearl for Alayna, an emerald for Abby.)

Alayna brings out another gift for Marcy.

Abby helps Grandma Jordan put her new necklace on.

Kris picked out some kind of a shawl or poncho or something from that Secret Garden boutique in Bay City she and all the other moms in our group are obsessed with.

Zoned out in a Christmas movie.  'Tis the Season.

Both girls wanted to wear my Detroit Lions Santa hats.  Whatever floats your boat, kids.

Marcy gave us money this year to pick something out for the girls, so Kris pulled the trigger for a hair curler for Abby (she's been using Kris' a lot this school year in order to curl up her front locks.)

And Alayna got a hair straightener, because, once again, she's been using Kris' every morning in order to fine-tune her hair before going to school.  These gifts, with any luck, will keep the girls out of our bathroom every morning.

Christmas Eve chaos.

More dog brawlin'

The girls try out their new hair accessories. . .

Kris scolds Alayna for not taking the plastic wrapper off her new straightener before plugging it in and heating it up (fortunately the plastic wrap scraped off pretty easily. . . though it smelled like crap.)

Then here's this holly, jolly son of a bitch. . .

Our friends, the Larsons, dropped off this late gift for Kris and I - they're fellow mimosa aficionados.

Marcy always insists on getting a picture taken every Christmas Eve.  Done and done.

After gift exchanging, we piled up in the van to drive around Midland for awhile, checking out Christmas lights.  Off of Vine Street we stumbled upon this crazy light show, which they had synced up with a local radio station.  Way more effort than I, personally, would've put into something like this, but hell - to each their own.

Upon our return home, here's your annual obligatory 'shots around the Hough home on Christmas Eve' series.  Starting things off with the greatest room in our house, The Study. . .

Holiday vinyl.

I hadn't broken in to this crap since our Marquette trip back in June (Brocation 2020), but I was in desperate need of some caffeine.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, folks.

After Marcy left for Clare, we gave the girls their usual Christmas Eve presents.  This year both girls got a set of pajama pants. . .

. . . and new plush robes and matching slippers (seeing how they had drastically outgrown theirs from a few Christmases ago.)

Happy camper

(She comes by it naturally.)

I'd say Alayna posed intentionally like this, but. . . that's just her.  The ever-disgusted pre-teen.

We managed to coerce a 'nice' picture out of them by threatening them with violence.  'Cause it's Christmas.

Winding down before bed with A Muppets Christmas Carol

If I didn't get to watch this movie on Christmas Eve while enjoying a Holiday cocktail, I might have to kill someone.

Snugglin' up with Samson, the attention whore.

After we got our fill of Muppets and Dickens, we scrambled to throw together our traditional Hough Family Christmas Eve Portrait.  This year I decided we should all pose around the piano, for shits and giggles.  I eventually uploaded it to Facebook with an MC5-themed caption, but Kris didn't find the cursing amusing so she untagged herself.  Whatever, Scrooge.

Kris' church was doing some outdoor caroling on Christmas Eve thing, where all the congregation members took pictures of themselves outdoors caroling. . . or something.  I don't know, I was inside for this.

Setting out 'Nog and cookies for the Fat Man.

This is all the more tiresome because Alayna blatantly doesn't believe in Santa and I'm, like, 90% sure Abby doesn't either, despite her telling us otherwise (you can almost see it in her face here.)

Another shot in front of the Christmas Tree.

And now, for the final tradition of the night - Yours Truly reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (or whatever the hell it's called.)

Oh look, 'Santa' crumpled up and threw away ate all the cookies. . .

After the girls went to bed, Kris and I threw in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (of course), and started bringing up all the presents (from the Captain's Quarters, where I've been housing them for the last couple months.)  Watson, like every damn year, was obsessed with what was in the dogs' stockings.

About an hour or so into the process, all the presents are under the tree, assembled in the appropriate manner (largest gifts towards the back, cascading in size towards the front - like God intended), all have bows on them, etc.

Clark reaches enlightenment.

The stage is set for what is bound to be yet another insane, Christmas Morning whirlwind.  And that's another Christmas Eve in the books, folks. . .

- Brian