Remember how I mentioned December was crazy? One of the reasons was the Living Direct Christmas party I had been planning for months (initially with my friend and former coworker John) was a blast.

As a company with mostly north Austin based employees, we chose Maggiano's Little Italy at the Domain as our location. Our (waitstaff) captain Andrew was great and super attentive. Maggiano's offered gluten-free and vegetarian options for the protein averse like myself.

I heard little complaint about food, location, or parking and almost everyone seemed to be in good spirits. That's all I could ask for...that and Santa Claus making an appearance. The latter didn't happen.

We were even able to have Annie Ray's photobooth document the debauchery. Here are my favorites:

See the use of the diamonds from the Diamond Sweater Phenomenon. I hope this continues to be a Living Direct tradition.

Alex gets mad at me every time someone refers to the diamonds. This happens often. I think he's finally learning to accept it. I'd say he's at stage 4 in the Kubler-Ross model of stages of grief.

Oh yeah, Florent requested Alex wear the diamond sweater to the party as his goodbye gift. Nathalie's date just happened to be wearing the exact same outfit. Win!

I do regret not getting a marketing department picture together.

You can see the rest of the pictures on Annie Ray's website. Which are your faves?