Thank you everyone who participated in TBOX11 -- the 11th Annual Twelve Bars of Xmas in Chicago!! We are pleased to report that we (unofficially) set the WORLD RECORD for the World's Largest Pub Crawl, ever, with approximately 3,300 people! It was, to say the least, a glorious day... a triumphant masterpiece... a mind-blowing thrill ride... and of course, a wire-to-wire extravaganza. Please find below THE FIRST BATCH of photos -- thanks to all who sent in so far -- but we'll email out as we post new batches of them. As a veteran pub crawler, I would like to give mad props to ALL the "TBOX Virgins" who did a fantastic job in their very first TBOX. Also, of course, we'd like to really thank all of those who came from out of town, as far away as San Francisco, New York, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta, Seattle, The UK, Detroit, and even Naperville. Heck, we had TBOXers from as far away as Australia! -- and, to my Royal Court -- those with the Bling Numbers -- aka, The Best of The Best -- you all represented in an appropriately regal manner for all who followed! Enjoy the pix....

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! We'd like thank the following for their wonderful contributions to TBOX11 -- first, our Festa employees, Kelly, Katie, and Wayne, without whom TBOX would not have been possible. Also, thank you to Molly for carving out each and every ROYAL COURT BLING NUMBER and responsible for all that glitter everywhere. Thanks also to our day-of helpers, Kara, Laura, Anne, Julie, and Bubba. Very special thanks to Lisa from H3 Events and Casey Moran's, who were so tremendously helpful in all of the planning of the event. Thanks also to the RedEye for all the Lanyards and Lollipops, and to Chicago Beverage Systems for their help with the Miller specials, the banners, and the badges. Thanks also to the eternal #2, Fred, aka William H. Macy, aka BULLHORN BOY, for his unbelievable dedication and enthusiasm for TBOX and for cutting every piece of Wire-to-Wire Wire you all may have gotten. Thanks as well to our wonderful #1, Teri, to the great advice, mentoring, and steady hand from #3, Fuji, a man who needs no introduction, to my oldest friend, Bigggoooones, #6, for his 4th straight trip to TBOX from our hometown of Vero Beach, Florida, to the dynamic yet stabilizing presence of the former #1, now #13, the ubiquitous Mr. Jeff Davis, to the New York Crew for coming in again, to former #1 Tony Yaniz, who left his wife at home with his newborn twins for a whole day just to be with us, to Ty, Liz, and Chris P, who kept their streaks alive as the only 3 people to be at EVERY TBOX, also thanks to LEMON BOY for his beyond-the-call-of-duty dedication to the "fruit team" concept, thanks to the BLARNEY STONE for being our super headquarters for TBOX for the 3rd year in a row, thanks to all the bartenders and waitresses who worked so hard all day, thanks to the Boy Scouts for their incredibly-creepy-yet-so-festive team uniform, to ALL the people who dressed up so fantastically, and of course, a big thank you to the best interns in the world money can buy (though they worked for free!), #8A and #8B on your badges but #1 in your hearts, Virginia and Michelle, who, along with all the above-mentioned, for me personally at least, made this a wonderful, stress-free day and an unforgettable memory!! DWAHIA??

We also wanted to give a shout-out to all the AWESOME cereal shots and all the people who brought cereal! It was flying everywhere all day, and provided us with the stomach-stabilization and sugar-rush needed to get through a long, long day! Also, I think we can safely say that everyone enjoyed the nearly 13,000 STICKERS that were in play throughout the entire day, and I honestly was impressed that i saw every possible grammatical defacement and combination of the "DO NOT LAY FLAT" stickers I could have possibly imagined. Also, no joke, at 1:30AM at Sluggers, guess who was there that I met??? Mr. Nicolas Cage! I got to meet him and chat for a sec. So, unofficially, though he didn't know it, he was at TBOX (he is really tall, by the way) -- also, this was the 2nd Warmest TBOX Day on Record (1998 as we said, it was 73F, all day), after it was about 10F the day before, so praise the Lord for the great weather. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and remember that Festa T-Shirts (our real job) -- Festa T-Shirts -- make awesome gifts at Christmas and all year round -- remember to look at your badges for your participants' discount!