[Picture a beautiful Christmas scene, on a snow covered lawn. There's a rent-a-tent set up, and inside are a gathering of blogs not seen since the Carnival began. Everyone has brought a dish to share, and everyone's scrambling for a seat at the table ...]

Okay, okay, everybody. Settle down, settle down. Everybody take a seat, there’s plenty of room. Yes, I did rent the tables. And the chairs. What, you think I own a tent like this? Why would I own a tent? There’s not a lot of call for a tent this large in my apartment that’s for sure.

Before we start eating, I want to thank everybody for making it here today. I know some of you have come a very long way for tonight’s dinner. I’m sorry it was a little delayed getting it on the table. I blame Foton; he was supposed to bring the yams.

Right. So let’s take a look at what everyone brought. I know November was a busy month for everyone, so I want to thank you all again for preparing a dish for today. I guess we’ll start down at my end of the table.

update: Apparently, you’re not supposed to post a Carnival and then go out to dinner. Links are now fixed.

Nice! chrisdolley brought in his look at the game ‘Election’ from a design point of view. Given recent events in the states, it seems like a quite seasonal dish. Right next to that, we have an interview with Amanda Fitch. Tales of the Rampant Coyote brought that one, in, and it’s stuffed with some sort of indie RPG center. Nicely done, both of you. Good to see some design stuff on this end of the table.

Alright, next we have the dishes that the next-gen folks brought. I know next-gen console chatter was in season this year, so these are sure to be some fresh stuff. Pocket Change has a quick run-down on the pros and cons of all three systems. When we dish things up, I’m going to make sure I get some of that right next to SharpBrains’ lecture on the Brain Training series. Somehow, I think those would probably taste good together.

Hey, it’s cool, guys. Don’t look embarrassed. It’s not a problem that both of you brought some Wii to the table. Like I said, it’s fresh! We’ve got The Game Chair’s Microcosm of the Early Wii Experience piece, so that’s one way to prepare it. I also see over there what looks like Man Byte’s Blogs’ Wii’ve Been Played. I had a taste of that earlier, and it is quite well done. Good job, sir. Ah, and then we also have Belated Birthday Wishes for the Xbox 360. Did Gaming Nexus bring that? Right! We were trying out your recipe at Slashdot the other day, and everybody seemed to really like it.

We’d better start passing the plates, I guess. There’s just so much to look at, if we don’t get going it will all be cold by the time we’re done saying who brought what.

So here in the middle we’ve got a bunch of random stuff … including a bunch of dishes I’ve never seen before. I need some recipes, I think. Actually, I’ll need some help too, because I’m not sure I know who brought what. Lessee … I know Heartless brought the The Spoils Pre-Release Tournament writeup. Good stuff there. Geez, who brought all that? Oh, thanks, Dust Forms Words. Right, he’s brought The Death of the Board Game Part 1 and Part 2. Everybody make sure to take some seconds of that if you want them. Gone Gaming has some of that delicious Alternatives to ‘winning’ a Game … I imagine that tastes kind of like Yehuda’s Undefining Games, which I really enjoyed last month. Okay, then we have …

Hey! Hey you two. Yeah, you in the middle? Calm down. Yes. Yes, I see you two. C’mon guys. Alright, alright.

“Look, everybody! Oh I See What You Did There and Avant News have brought us satire loafs!” Hehe. Just kidding, guys. OISWYDT brought some traditional Rockstar’s Stalker, while Avant did something a little different. He’s busted out the President Bush ‘Ownz’ on Runescape. I’m really not sure how that one is going to taste, but … there you go.

I recognize that crock pot: that’s Unfettered Blather’s Best Buy Doomsday Scenario. That means … *that* has to be TamsPalm’s Value of a High Score Table. Oh! And that’s Covert Operations’ Immersion, Anywhere dish. I just had to sneak a piece of that. It’s really good folks, you’ve got to try that one.

Okay, we’re at the last batch. Good, good, you folks keep passing. Yeah, that’s some tasty satire bread. Mmm. Whoo. Okay! So down at the end of the table … hey, how did the other MMOG folk get sat down there? Bah.

I want to make sure to point out Nefbat’s Retroactively ‘New’ Features. He just moved, so he couldn’t be here, but he made sure to send that over wrapped in a thermal pad. Good luck with that green monster, Blackguard! The Wizard of Duke Street has a tasty Comparison of WoW and EVE, and Tobold’s got a great big pile of Guild Management in World of Warcraft under that napkin over there. Brent brought some of the Almighty /Tell he made for VirginWorlds last month. Hmm … smells good too. What did you do, put it in a ziplock baggie? Nice. Then we have Foton, who brought us … ‘If This is Wednesday This Must Be Naxxramas‘? Naxx? Foton, you brought Naxx to a Christmas dinner instead of yams? Jeez. I know you’re a non-traditionalist, but c’mon.

I guess my dishes made it down to that end, at least. Alright, so the green crock has my 3 Newbs in a Blender … I promise it’s tastier than it looks. The red pot has some of the Legitimate MMOG I whipped up at the beginning of last month. It even reheated pretty well. I also went ahead and dropped some of that Future of Ryzom I cooked last week into that little serving dish on the end. I know there’s not much left, but feel free to pick at it if you enjoyed it then.

Okay. Our last dishes today are from Darniaq, who I must also point out is not with us today. He’s actually gone ahead and closed up shop on Darniaq: Verbosity Unleashed. I know all of us wish him the best of luck in his pursuits, and I can’t think of a better way to honor his work than by consuming it as quickly as possible. So! Everybody make sure and get a big spoonful of the Designing for the Past and the Gamers want Games when it goes past you.

Good deal! Nicely done everybody! Thanks to everyone who made it. I was worried that our year end Carnival of Gamers wouldn’t get a good turnout, but … heckfire was I wrong. Everybody eat up, enjoy the booze and most of all … have a very happy Holidays!