I attended Brandon and Krystel’s “Holiday Baazar” last night. The turnout was pretty good; I think twenty-or-so people showed up, which was the perfect number of people to cram into their living room and kitchen.

The dress code was either to be semi-formal or “wear an ugly sweater,” so with half of the attendees wearing dress shirts and looking like totally awesome pimps, and the other half attired in hideous thrift store sweaters and looking equally as awesome, the overall look was decidedly eclectic. (I brought a camera, but, alas, neglected to use it. If I find out anyone else took photos, I will be sure to link to them.)

The party was fun: I saw people that I hadn’t seen in a while, such as Nick and Diana, and Andrew. There was a gift exchange, done Dirty Santa-style. I ended up with a bottle of Jim Bean and a flask, items which I will gladly put to use.

Oh yeah: I played beer pong for the first time. It is a surprisingly fun game. Nick was my partner, and we lost to Ryan and Sean, though I made my first throw, so really it was FTW. Like many activities, beer pong somewhat brought out my competitive nature. Fortunately, I was too drunk at that point to really get too fired up, as I had already split two bottles of champagne laced with arsenic strawberry rum with Krystel.

For some reason that I cannot recall, I tried to do a handstand in B&K’s computer room. I was able to adequately execute a headstand, and then, with Krystel balancing my legs, I think I may have sort of done a handstand for about two seconds — until I toppled over, nearly breaking my neck in the process. Ryan may have filmed this as well. I’ll have to check on that.

It just occurred to me that this is the fifth Christmas party that our little group has orchestrated. It’s a tradition born from when a number of us — Brandon, Nick, Ryan, Krystel, Andrew, and myself — worked together at Wal-Mart. Back then, they were called Wal-Mart Christmas parties and they were held at Nick’s. The first one was held in 2005 (a recap can be found here), the year the Englewood store opened and Nick and I transferred there from Trotwood. Those were good days.