Our party was a ton of fun, as I've said.  Mike didn't have time to grow a beard* before the party, so I knit him one.

 
It was a hella-popular beard.  I think we wound up with 4 different bearded Santas over the course of the evening.  Some were nicer than others.




Even Amy's beau Will got into the act:



He's a very good sport.



TC even got into the act, briefly, before she declared us all crazy and retreated to the bedroom to sleep on black coats.




Obviously, there were some of the most fabulousest people we know at the party:

  Robb was there.
  So were Matthew and Airie.

 And Cody and Candy.

  Amy and Will.  Aren't they cute?



  Julia made it too.  It was fabulous.

  Even Sarah joined us via telephone, briefly.  Hi, Sarah!!

Then it was time for the gift steal.  Everyone was prepared to do whatever it took to get what they wanted.  Those of you who have been to our gift steal know, it can get pretty cutthroat.  

  Sometimes, you have to take down the people closest to you.  Law of the Christmas jungle, baby.

There was some pretty amazing swag at this party.

  Airie is holding Agnes, a beautiful Fimo dragon Amy made.  She's a little nervous, and very pretty.

  She lives with us now, because Mike stole her.  (Those little purple bits next to her foot?  Those are her fingers and toes.  I think that's what makes her nervous.  She needs a little surgery, because she's delicate.)

  Oooooh... A travel mug set from Matthew or Airie.  I don't think that Julia went home with this, though.  I think Will stole this, and she wound up with the mojito kit ("it's not a gay drink") and a chocolate fondue pot, also from Matthew or Airie.  Yummy.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that.  Moving along...

  Another mug, not so much for travelling.  I believe this was a Holiday Market find, from Candy, I think.  Amy wasn't letting this baby go.  She took that bad boy home, I tell you what.

  A sand candle for me, from Cody.  It smells like a head shop.  I nearly traded it for some awesome beaded coasters from Julia, but how can you turn down a head shop scented sand candle?  I don't have pictures of the coasters though.  Just as well - you'd all be jealous of Cody, who took them home.

  Not the best picture in the world, but Matthew is lovingly cradling a Godzilla lamp (well, actually it's a Lizard Monster lamp, but close enough).  He's got a flicker-flame bulb in his mouth.  Yeah, my boy made that.  There was a bit of a scuffle over this one, too.  Robb wanted it, but I think he went home with a beeswax candle that Will made after Airie stole it from him.  Then Matthew stole it from her, and she wound up with a Seinfeld DVD.  I think Matthew went home happy.

  A knitted Santa hat (sans beard) for Candy.  Guess who made that?  Robb wanted to borrow this for the Santa Crawl.  I guess I know what I'll be knitting for him next year, huh?  :)  She also got a pair of mini-mittens:

  Unbeknownst to me, these mini-mittens are the stars of the Good Mitten/Bad Mitten Travelling Show.  Good Mitten is the one wearing the little scarf (I whipped it up at the party so we'd know which one we were talking to).  I'm still walking around saying, "I say to you, Shut Up!"

And that is all for now.  I may post more pictures later, because good golly, did we take some pictures!  Thanks again for a wonderful time!  And saschamacha, stellaria_media, Samuel, and mojo26, we missed you!!

*I'm thinking of writing up the pattern for the beard and submitting it to knitty.com for next year's holiday edition.  What do you think?