The Party's over...

and the numbers are in.

Number of guests attending: 54
Average # of guests in house at once: 33
Injuries or broken dishes: 0
Beers drunk: 1
Cookies and desserts brought into the house: Beyond counting

A number of key inferences can be derived from this year's holiday party:

* We can fit more people in our house, and therefore invite more.

* Utilizing our precise tabulations of food purchased, imported, and eaten, we can better predict future consumption, thereby reducing future waste, taking into account a few additional variables, such as average age of child. Aggregate and per capita consumption can be assumed to correlate to age of children, which should only rise. Anecdotal evidence does not suggest that this rise in consumption will be to any demonstrable degree offset by a decrease in consumption by aging adults.

* (As if to demonstrate the above) Those desserts made with chocolate chips, coconut, caramel and a graham cracker crust are too delicious, even if made right out of a box.

* Do not leave important and fancy dishes in the closet off the downstairs bathroom if 7-year olds will be present. An impromptu game of hide-and-seek almost lit up the board on the "injuries and broken dishes" stat.