Last night’s party was a huge success. And true to form, something DID go wrong – in that once the guests started arriving we realized there was a LOT of stuff we hadn’t done yet. But it was still a good time. Of the 30 positive RSVPs, 25 people showed up, which is quite reasonable. Frankly, if we had had 30 guests, I don’t know where I would have put them once the White Elephant game started. Denis took about 1000 pictures, and we’ll post the best 20 in the next couple of days.

The food we made was enjoyed, I believe. The only two non-starters were the deviled ham puffs (which I admit to be an acquired taste that even I have not conquered), and the melon with proscuitto. The waikiki meatballs I made were fabulous, if I do say so myself (I’ll post the recipe this week for those that are interested).

We put out five bottles of red wine, and none of them were opened. I guess it’s not a red wine kind of crowd. We had 72 beers in coolers, and only a handful are left this morning – it’s definitely a beer crowd.

It was great having our friends over for the night – especially folks like Rob and Tara who we hadn’t seen in a year and a half. To look at Tara you’d never know she just had baby Grace in August!! If I had a figure, I would hope it would snap back into shape as quickly as Tara’s has. It was also nice to have our neighbors Don and Lydia come, even if it was just for a couple hours. Lydia’s cat allergies just really took their toll, so they had to leave – I’m surprised she made it as long as she did!

The White Elephant game was a raging success. Lots of really creative gifts this year – I’m impressed with this crew! After four years they’ve finally learned the art of the perfect crap gift. I took home a stunningly tacky lampshade that is actually quite retro. It’ll probably make a return at next year’s game. Denis was the lucky winner of a Tweety bird night light. Other items included a bottle of wine, a couple books, a food chopper, some horse bookends, a hobby horse (which Tara and I fought over), a dutch chess/checker set, a light-up clock of the Last Supper (this was the biggest hoot of the night – I had seven people wanting that clock at the end of the night). We had plenty of theft action – which is the primary objective of a White Elephant game.

The main gift story, however, comes from Ace, He won a wooden set of Christmas carolers in a basket. He loved the basket, the figures not so much. A couple hours later I was helping someone get their coat and I saw one of the carolers on the bookshelf and realized he had left the carolers all over our house. After the party ended I went on the hunt and found four carolers, their sled, and the basket they came in. I’ll have to ask Ace if there were more than four carolers, because if there were, I’ve got some more hunting to do.

Miraculously enough, the house was NOT a true disaster area after everyone left. This morning Denis and I got up early and it only took us an hour to get the house back to it’s original state. Pretty good! Now I’m waiting on Anne to wake up, and then we’ll watch the Lord of the Rings DVD before she heads into the city.