thankful is an understatement

Last week was Thanksgiving.

I can hear the, "Well, duh"s resounding.

Last year on Thanksgiving we shared a wonderful flu bug with Brent's family, so this year was bound to be better. And it proved to be excellent indeed. If you are wondering just how we managed to pull off a Thanksgiving of such wonderful proportions, here are a few steps:

Step One: Convince your "lifer" friends to drive 10/11 hours to come stay with you for a few days over the break. [Enter Meagan and Shane. Shane was the worship intern with Brent. We fell in love. Literally. It's love. And then they moved to Indiana. And then they moved to Delaware. And then we moved to Missouri. And then they moved back to Kentucky. And then we all decided that getting rid of the state of Illinois is a campaign we can jump on! These are the friends mentioned here and here. ]

Step Two: It is best if you can schedule their arrival for around 3:30 AM Thanksgiving morning. This provides an air of festivity for all as you mumble your excited "hellos!" and show them to their room where they crash, understandably.

Step Three: Wake up and head out to your family's Thanksgiving get-together. Enjoy a wonderful time chatting with your awesome family, eating d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. food, and being all around thankful for the blessings in your life. Oh, and don't forget to drag along your friends who have just driven through the night. Your family will love them!

Step Four: Jump in the car and drive to the other side of the family for some more food and fun. Have a very smelly Boston Terrier [who shall remain nameless] pass gas that forces the pregnant lady outside because it smells so terrible. This will provide much laughter for everyone and force the dog to be put away. It is a win/win for everyone!

Step Five. Return home. Change into sweatpants. Bust out the cards for a mean game of nertz. Remember that your cousin mentioned something about oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies. Immediately decide you need to make these.

Step Six: Make cookies. This is Meagan. She is awesome.

First scoop out a regular amount of dough

Then press the DOUBLE stuffed Oreo onto one of balls

Next grab another ball of dough and seal it around the Oreo…it's getting good folks!

Cookies will look massive. That's okay. They are supposed to.

MUST serve with a glass of milk. We were trying to be good stewards…use more milk than this!

Take a bite: and inspect

These are not staged photos.

I told ya you'd want that glass of milk...

Look at your friend and say, "uhmuhgosh, that boo my mind!"

Step Seven: After thoroughly enjoying the cookies, play Nertz until your eyes blur over. Call it a night at around 1:30.

Step Eight: Proceed to enjoy the rest of your time together by eating pizza, sharing a meal with your folks, going golfing [in 40 degree, windy weather?!], putting up Christmas decorations [inside, in 40 degree windy weather…I'll let you determine who you think did what], and stay up every night later than you should playing games [if you can manage around 150 rounds of Nertz, this is excellent], or simply sitting and talking and talking and talkingandtalkingandtalking and wishing you lived across town from one another again.

Step Nine: Realize it's "that time." Help them load their car, hug them quickly and don't really talk about what is happening, say "See ya soon!", and then cry as they drive away.

Step Ten: Thank the Lord for friends like them, because you know that kind of friendship comes around very rarely.

Step Eleven: In your depression over their departure, go finish off the batch of Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

*And yes, I only have pictures of food and us eating. And some of them are blurry because I was laughing at the responses to the cookies. :)