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

A Very Tribal Christmas

Season's Greetings, folks.

Preparing the hot cocoa mix in one of the church's auxiliary kitchens.

This, the first full day of Winter Break (at least for the girls and I), is quickly becoming yet another Hough Family Christmas Tradition. 

Every year, in the early afternoon, us and the Johnsons head downtown to Kris' church (First United Methodist Church) to prep hot cocoa for our annual, yuletide volunteering event, passing out warm beverages for those poor bastards waiting in line at Santa's House (conveniently right across Main Street from the church.) 

The weather was better this year than last year (which was frigid as hell), and consequently the Santa House was slammed - the line was wrapped up and down the sidewalk when we first arrived - and we ran out of hot cocoa after an hour and half, thereabouts. We're thinking next year we'll have to stock up and have enough for three jugs worth, just so we can last a little longer downtown.

After we had run out of hot cocoa, we walked down so the girls could ride the train for a bit before ultimately coming home so Kris could prepare our food contribution for the evening's main event, the annual Sheahan Christmas Party. Two years ago Tom took the reins of this tribe staple from the Bos fam, and it's become one of the 'Big Three' parties for our group every year (the others being our annual Halloween bash and Collierpalooza, in May.) We had just enough time at home for Kris to whip up her veggie pizza dish, change into our party clothes, and drive a couple blocks over to the Sheahan's for the party.

So I'll leave you now with a bunch of pics that cover our first, installment of the Houghs' 2025 Holiday Season. 

Enjoy. . .

Establishing our position out in front of the Santa House downtown. . .

Kris, Abby, and the Johnsons.

A selfie of the girls, taken off Abby's phone.

Alayna brought Lexi again (she's helped us out a few times in the past with this outing.)

Some of Kris' congregation members, caroling for the folks waiting in line to see Santa.

At one point this old guy walked down the line of folks waiting outside with a reindeer in tow. . . .

Looks like a young one, I can't imagine something this small being able to pull Santa's fat ass all the way around the globe in a single night.

The Cannonball and Lexi

The Hot Cocoa Squad

This display out front of the Santa House is in pretty rough shape: multiple elves are missing limbs, the sign looks like someone blasted it with a shotgun, and the whole thing is just plain embarrassing. For a town with as much money to throw around as Midland, you'd think someone would have stepped forward at this point and offered to fix and/or replace parts of it.

The city courthouse, all decked out for the Holidays.

After two hours of slinging hot cocoa, we cleaned up and stored all the supplies in the church, then walked the girls down to the North Pole Express (or whatever the hell they call it) for a quick ride around downtown.

Old folks selfie aboard the train.

Abby and Ella

While Kris and I prepared at home for the two hours or so leading up to the Sheahan party, Abby and Ella hooked up with Jackson and drove around with him back over to Ella's house, where they were hanging out for a bit before the party started.

Doing some pom stretches in the Johnson's kitchen.

Kris and I made our way over to the Sheahan's around 6pm, and found the place already bustling with folks.

Mitch borrowed a sushi boat from a guy he knows who works at Fuji Sushi here in Midland, and stocked it full of multiple sushi rolls he handmade at home (he makes sushi for our tribe's parties on a regular basis, and he's damn good at it.)

Some of the festive spread set out for folks. This group knows how to eat.

Alayna drove separately (so that she could leave after eating in order to meet up with her own friends later on) and arrived about twenty minutes after we did. She immediately set about loading up a plate with a bunch of Mitch's sushi (which she does whenever he makes it.)

Tom set out his usual whiskey station by the front door, which we all made use of throughout the evening.

Kris and I made sure to get a couple's pic in front of the Sheahan's tree early on in the night while we were still thinking about it.

Kris and Danielle, stuffing their faces full of sushi.

Rob loads up on some of the glazed ham Tom had smoked on his grill.

Squaws eating in the dining room.

Old man Mitch, eating beside a roaring fire. All by his lonesome.

As is the case with any party this group does, food came first. Everyone made a plate and stuffed themselves stupid before ultimately moving on to party activities.

Downstairs in the basement, Kris got a pic of some of the older kids all hanging out. Left to Right: Alayna, Sophie, Fletcher (Ella's boyfriend), Abby, Jackson, Sophie's friend (forgot her name), and Ella.

Susan (Tom's wife), Amy, Lacy (Rob's wife), and Courtney.

Still grazing in the kitchen.

Holty and Morgan

Erik donated this mini bottle of Malort - mankind's grossest liqueur - to the Sheahan's house, if only to give this gnome something to enjoy on Christmas Eve.

The first activity of any Sheahan Christmas Party, once folks had stuffed their faces, is the White Elephant Gift Exchange. Everyone drew a slip of paper with a number on it that determined their position in the order of gift-selecting/stealing/opening.

Kelli and Mitch Bos

Courtney and Erik Johnson

Kris selects a gift from under the tree (she was the second or third person out of eighteen to do so.)

Gifts have to be around $25 and wrapped in all white so that no one knows who brought what.

A bottle of Bulleit bourbon. She didn't hang on to this long, it was stolen a couple times by various guys before Collier ultimately won it. 

Abby took this selfie of a bunch of kids all crowded into someone's car in the driveway. We're hoping they didn't go joy-riding around town like this while their parents were all drinking inside at a Christmas party. . .

Kris ended up with this as her gift for the evening - a bunch of toilet-themed stuff, that she plans on putting downstairs in our basement bathroom.

Susan, Lacy, Rob, Morgan and Mees.

Tom's sister, his brother-in-law, Kelli, Mitch, Tom and Ryan.

Watching folks open gifts.

Alicia and Holty

Rob discovers a bottle of Basil Hayden hidden in a loaf of bread. This, too, was stolen a handful of times before Mitch ended up with it.

The older kids had left the party awhile ago, and had run up to Taco Bell for some food (because, you know, there wasn't enough food at the party they had just left. . .)

Kris' veggie pizza and yet another charcuterie board.

More of the spread.

Meanwhile, back in the family room, the gift exchange was still raging on. . .

Another whoop-ass Holiday ale from Southern Tier. Was perfect for a night like this, sooooo good.

Danielle, Courtney, Kris and Alicia.

Conversing over the food table, following the end of the gift exchange.

Tom once again printed off and framed this collage of our tribe's pics throughout 2025 (about 95% of the pics in this collage were taken by Yours Truly, and if you look closely you're sure to recognize most of them from earlier blog posts.)

Danielle, Alicia, Kris, Courtney and Amy prepare to take a shot of Screwball (which is a nice dessert whiskey to keep on hand, I have a bottle downstairs in my bar.)

Down the hatch. . .

Tom brings out his second smoked ham for the masses.

The next event was the annual Flip Cup Tournament. Like in for the gift exchange, folks drew numbers in order to determine the teams.

The tourney kicks off. . .

Mitch, taking care of business.

Morgan, Mitch and Amy won the first game.

Erik was saddled with two less-than-ideal teammates, but they came from behind to beat tout their opponents and hung for quite awhile in the tournament.

Celebrating their victory.

Abby and Ella ended up back over at the Larson's house for most of the night, where they hung out in their basement and took a series of weird pics.

Tom and his sister.

Danielle, Mees, Kris, Courtney and Alicia.

Mees is notorious for her in-game shit-talking.

My team got knocked out of the tournament right away - I didn't even get to participate 'cause one of my teammates (Kelli) didn't manage to flip her cup over once before the entire opposing team flipped their cups. Twice.

Abby, doing some kinda cirque du soleil nonsense in the Larson basement.

Kris and Alicia, kicking ass in Slap Cup (following the completion of the tournament.)

This game gets out of hand real fast (which you've seen from its extensive use at our Halloween parties over the years.)

In the zone.

Jackson, giving Abby and Ella a ride back over to the Johnson's place.

While some folks remained out in the garage playing slap cup, some folks migrated back into the family room to watch some Green Bay game that Kelli was all excited about.

Towards the end of the night, the ladies all requested a group pic in front of the tree, so I was called into action.

Lacy and Amy had gone home by this point.

. . . .and the obligatory weird one.

The Kings of the Hill (plus Tom's brother-in-law.)

Mees photobombs our group pic ('cause it's Mees.)

The whole gang (with MacLeod's daughter filling in for her mom, who had already gone home.)

Erik, hanging out by himself in the garage at the end of the night, "taking it all in."

So there you go, folks - another year, another Christmas party in the books. Stay tuned for more Holiday shenanigans from the Houghs and our associates.

- Brian