Well with another Steam Christmas sale almost over (baring a bit of moping up of some indie titles that won't be discounted for another 12 months) I have to say I feel this has been the best Steam sale yet. Even with owning most of what was on offer there was still some good deals to be had.
Granted there are alway people who moan and say it's been awful just because they didn't offer the discount they wanted or the games they had their eye on but if you were new to Steam this year you could have walked away with a lot of quality for very little coin.
So in light of that here's my own personal take on this years sale:-
Biggest Surprise
Nominated: Hard Reset, Blur, Rock of Ages
Winner: Rock of Ages
Wasn't expecting too much other than a Marble Madness rip off but was pleasantly surprised how much fun this game is. Totally unique in a sea of copy-paste fps and cover based third person games.
Missed Opportunity
Nominated: Driver San Francisco, Dirt 3, Sonic Generations
Winner: Sonic Generations
Even though this year there was an extra 4 hours to grab one of the daily deals there's always that doubt if something is worth it's price of leave it until the next sale. From what a few friends have said it seams the blue hedgehog is on the up again and was a snip at £6.79. See you next sale Sonic.
Biggest Kick In The Teeth
Nominated: Deus Ex Human Revolution, Batman Arkham City, Portal 2
Winner: Portal 2
I bought all of these titles at full price knowing that more than likely they'd be discounted in the sale but couldn't wait to play them. Even still for a game of Portal 2's quality to be £25 cheaper than what it was just over 7 months after it came out makes you wonder.
Top Rip Off
Nominated: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Lord of the Rings War in the North, Assassin's Creed Revelations
Winner: Assassin's Creed Revelations
We've all got a title or 2 we got our eyes on, hoping to be as cheap as possible, only to be shocked at the still high price. While MW3 seams to me to be the same game with a new paint job as the last few Call of Duty titles at least you could still be playing it this time next year which is more than you can say about Assassin's Creed Revelations.
Best Bargin
Nominated: LA Noire, Fallout New Vegas, Total War Shogun 2
Winner: Total War Shogun 2
With some many games on sale it's hard not to go crazy and add to your backlog but there's always a few games that are far too good to pass up on. While I sunk a lot of hours into New Vegas and LA Noire is a lot of game for £8.74, Shogun 2 is a snip at £7.49. I was tempted to buy it a few days earlier at £15 and can safely say it will still get a look in for main years to come.
As I said just my take on the sale based on what I already owned and what I was after. What did everyone else think?
Not the most expensive year but I'd certainly say it had the most to offer. From people who have massive backlogs to Steam virgins there was a lot to be had.
In 2009 i spent £400+ in the steam sales 
Valve have always heavily discounted there own games. Not to mention people who got the Golden Potato before the launch got a FREE valve complete pack INCLUDING Portal 2. With preorder and 2-pack deal I got it cheap, after selling the free copy the game cost me less than a few quid at launch.