The Holidays are always a busy time for everyone, but a few months back Mike's Mom had an idea to help make things a little less busy in the coming months. Her family lives in Eastern Oregon and she no longer feels comfortable driving over the cascade mountains in winter time so she wanted to get together with her family in mid-October for the best Holiday of the Year: Hallowthanksmas!
Now, Hallowthanksmas is a proud holiday who's traditions date back as far as eight weeks ago. As it's name implies it's a combination of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Mike's Mom, Waynette, would rent a cabin in the beach, and the family would get together and celebrate all the holidays over one weekend. Suzy's father, Alex, and her brother, Mikey, came into town that weekend as it was a good opportunity for him to meet Mike's family.
First Suzy's Dad and Brother got a chance to meet Mike's Dad and Step-Mom
And then Mike, Suzy, Alex, and Mikey set off to meet Mike's Mom's side of the clan in a big lodge on the way to the coast.
The lodge was huge and built in the style of an inanely large log cabin. Suzy's father and her brother, named Mikey, came into town that weekend as it was a good opportunity for him to meet Mike's family.
The next day Mike took his Cousin's kids and Mikey out to ride the various rides at the beach as well as taking them to a aquarium to feed the sea lions.
It was a complete coincidence that this coincided with the main cooking prep-time and Mike ended up not doing much work on this vacation.
A complete coincidence.
Really.
Suzy spent a fair amount of time talking wedding stuff with Mike's cousin's wife and daughter (Mike is never sure what the proper term is for one's cousin's wife):
The family carved pumpkins
Wore pumpkins on their hands as boxing gloves
And proudly displayed the mangled remains of these once proud plants that were now screaming their pumpkin heads off over being cut up and filled with red hot fire
Then it was time for a nice Christmas dinner:
Mike's mother gave everyone money and they had to buy gifts for themselves, had to wrap those gifts, had to bring them to the beach, and most importantly had to act surprised when they were opened.
Mike's niece with her new favorite Christmas toy;
And one of the favorite parts of the holiday, the white elephant exchange. It is believed that this exquisite gift was traded six or seven times:
And because Hallowthanksmas bends space and time, the festivities were ended with making a ginger-bread scary house:
It was agreed that Mike and Mikey's house was the best one, namely because it was the only one that was still standing at the end of the night.
Suzy and Ryan do not necessarily agree with that decision:
All in all it was a great time to spend with the family, and Mike is really glad that Suzy's father and brother got to meet all of Mike's family before the wedding. It also freed up quite a few days this holiday season that Mike and Suzy are going to be using to finish up the plans for their wedding instead of driving all over the place seeing everybody. Mike and Suzy hope that Hallowthanksmas becomes an annual tradition.
Now, Hallowthanksmas is a proud holiday who's traditions date back as far as eight weeks ago. As it's name implies it's a combination of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Mike's Mom, Waynette, would rent a cabin in the beach, and the family would get together and celebrate all the holidays over one weekend. Suzy's father, Alex, and her brother, Mikey, came into town that weekend as it was a good opportunity for him to meet Mike's family.
First Suzy's Dad and Brother got a chance to meet Mike's Dad and Step-Mom
And then Mike, Suzy, Alex, and Mikey set off to meet Mike's Mom's side of the clan in a big lodge on the way to the coast.
The lodge was huge and built in the style of an inanely large log cabin. Suzy's father and her brother, named Mikey, came into town that weekend as it was a good opportunity for him to meet Mike's family.
The next day Mike took his Cousin's kids and Mikey out to ride the various rides at the beach as well as taking them to a aquarium to feed the sea lions.
It was a complete coincidence that this coincided with the main cooking prep-time and Mike ended up not doing much work on this vacation.
A complete coincidence.
Really.
Suzy spent a fair amount of time talking wedding stuff with Mike's cousin's wife and daughter (Mike is never sure what the proper term is for one's cousin's wife):
The family carved pumpkins
Wore pumpkins on their hands as boxing gloves
And proudly displayed the mangled remains of these once proud plants that were now screaming their pumpkin heads off over being cut up and filled with red hot fire
Then it was time for a nice Christmas dinner:
Mike's mother gave everyone money and they had to buy gifts for themselves, had to wrap those gifts, had to bring them to the beach, and most importantly had to act surprised when they were opened.
Mike's niece with her new favorite Christmas toy;
And one of the favorite parts of the holiday, the white elephant exchange. It is believed that this exquisite gift was traded six or seven times:
And because Hallowthanksmas bends space and time, the festivities were ended with making a ginger-bread scary house:
It was agreed that Mike and Mikey's house was the best one, namely because it was the only one that was still standing at the end of the night.
Suzy and Ryan do not necessarily agree with that decision:
All in all it was a great time to spend with the family, and Mike is really glad that Suzy's father and brother got to meet all of Mike's family before the wedding. It also freed up quite a few days this holiday season that Mike and Suzy are going to be using to finish up the plans for their wedding instead of driving all over the place seeing everybody. Mike and Suzy hope that Hallowthanksmas becomes an annual tradition.