Gonzo Christmas Orgy – Deluxe & Plus

The punch bowl was a cauldron of chaos. It started as mulled wine. Then someone added Everclear. Then someone else threw in a candy cane, a melatonin gummy, and a goldfish cracker for protein. By midnight, the punch had achieved sentience. It whispered my name. It asked me if I believed in Santa. I said yes, and it replied, “Good. Because he’s currently trying to fight the thermostat.”

He looked at me. He looked at the chaos. He looked at the hamster cage now full of pickled eggs.

The entertainment hit its peak when a brass band walked in unannounced—tuba, two trumpets, a sousaphone—and launched into a version of "Jingle Bells" that sounded like New Orleans had a stroke at the North Pole. People danced on furniture. A woman in a Grinch onesie set fire to a Yule log that was actually a rolled-up yoga mat. The fire alarm didn’t go off because someone had stuffed it with tinsel and a prayer.

This wasn’t a party. This was a lifestyle choice. And I was all in.

"Gonzo," he whispered. "It’s the only way to celebrate the birth of a revolutionary socialist in a borrowed stable."

And indeed, Santa—the real one, or a very committed hallucination—was wrestling the thermostat. "It’s too hot for the reindeer!" he screamed. The reindeer, for the record, were three dachshunds wearing felt antlers and looking deeply disappointed in humanity.

"Best party ever?" I asked.