So a lot of magazines and sites and television shows are doing top ten lists right now. I had planned to post a Blue Blood list of the top ten sexiest men and women of the past year. Unfortunately I ran out of gas after thinking of Anderson Cooper and Vladimir Putin. I didn’t even think of any women before writer’s block set in.

For those of you who do not get CNN in your cable TV lineup, Anderson Cooper is a crystal-eyed honey who helms a show called Anderson Cooper 360. He also had a New York Times bestseller come out this year titled “Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival.” He looks like that, he is intelligent, he is curious about the world, he gets involved, and his fashion sense makes it clear he is a Vanderbilt. I could justify why it is terribly goth to be attracted to Anderson Cooper, but, trust me, it would be tasteless, so I’m just going to say he makes the list with flying colors.

Next on my abbreviated countdown is Economist coverboy Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. I know, I know, Putin arguably made some inroads against hard-won Russian democracy after the Beslan school tragedy and a bunch of war stuff in some country Americans don’t pay attention to. His gangster politics are thought by many to be bringing heinous and creative poisoning back in vogue and making it difficult for global corporations to reap the rewards of their investments in helping the Russian oil industry. But sometimes bad boys are hot. Sometimes you just want someone who is dangerously bad for you. Putin is a former spy who rose to rule a nation. That’s like being a badass cross between James Bond and Caesar. Totally fine.

All right, now that I’ve probably horrified thousands with my sorta top ten list, who did you find sexiest in 2006? I told you my answers, so nobody needs to be bashful.

When Kevin, from that shadowy organization known as The Brotherhood, asked if Blue Blood wanted to kick in to rent a double decker bus to tote 70 Santas around San Diego, I was definitely down. I already own multiple Santa hats. For some reason, I really really like Santa hats. My only difficulty was in getting some street legal (yet still slutty) lingerie for the occasion, but I prevailed. Forrest Black actually found the most awesome blue Santa outfit. He was like a cross between Santa and Cookie Monster! Superna managed to put pigtails through holes in her hat, which was adorable. The naughtier shots from our evening on the town will be posting to BlueBlood.com and I’ve got some less naughty snapshots and funny anecdotes, but, for now, this really shows how much fun it was.

The video features yours truly, Forrest, Superna, and Individual and some random guys from Google or Qualcomm who found the lure of the Santa bus too powerful to resist. (Yes, Lange, this is what we all looked like singing your Happy Birthday medley, complete with Individual’s degenerate footnotes. Is it wrong to plan to drunk dial someone? What if it is their birthday and they are in another city?)