8th Annual Christmas and Yule Party!

Seriously.
We've been doing this 8 years?
Yes, yes we have.
Hard to believe something that started as a mid sized gathering to get people together because our circle of friends had finished school and started moving away.
Sadly, my husband is still a student... though he is on his PHD now.  Could be worse, he could still be doing a degree.
I didn't feel as rushed or that things were as much a blur in years passed.  I actually got to visit with people pre and post turkey!
The Turkey was done on time! And very tasty.  Thank you James for being my partner in crime with the turkey while my husband pieced together the gingerbread creation.
First year the turkey was done on time and nothing else was!
This was probably the most eventful party for mishaps..
Oven gloves are useful, too bad James's doesn't have any and has a blister on his finger to teach him the err of his ways.
The stove catching on fire while trying to make gravy also taught James that remembering to clean one's stove from time to time is a necessity.
One of the guests lost his wedding band and thought he'd lost it putting stuff (the turkey carcass) in the garbage which resulted in a house wide search.  The good news is that he did find it in their car later when they went home.
The gingerbread was awesome, still doesn't top the Pirate ship.  I'll get picture up at some point when I get the pictures from Andrew.  I also believe there is a video of the smash.
The gift exchange was pretty decent.  It was weird having my husband come away from it with the game I put into it (Pirate Fluxx).  I ended up with Bananagrams!  There were other things like wine, beer, stainless steel vampire fangs bottle opener, a variety of DVDs and a bunch more games.
There were some of the usual faces missing from this year's party.  You were missed, but we know you will be back next year!

Good friends, good food and lots of laughter.
A great way to finish off the year.
It has been one hell of a year for good or bad.

Thank you all who came even for a time.  It was wonderful.