Turkeylurkey-do

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  I did the bulk of my celebrating last Sunday at our Wingert family Thanksgiving gathering.  There was close to 70 people there...tons of tasty food and good company (mostly).  Of course there's always a few folks I'd rather not see, but you can't choose your family right?

Anyways, we did our annual cookie exchange, fifteen people involved (ie I walked away with 15 different plates of cookies or treats).  As per usual, my aunt Ann made peanut brittle, which reminds me I should bring it over to my dad...cuz I hate it with the fiery passion of hell.  It gets all stuck in my teeth and it doesn't even taste good.  Her daughter Michelle (who was one of my closest childhood friends, but now has 2 illegitimate kids and completely ignores me at every family get together) took the seriously LAZY route and made chex-mix.  It was like she just mixed 3 different kinds of chex, cheerios, chees-its and cashews together and called it good.  No seasonings or baking...and a horrible picture of her brats taped to the top of the container.  And my nasty cousin Angela and her teenage trouble-making daughter Dara both contributed as well.  I think one made what we call 'bacon and eggs', which is 2 small stick pretzels, a dollop of white almond bark and a yellow m&m...BORING!!! And not a cookie either...  The other had a plate of mismatched crappy cookies.  Can you tell I don't think much of any of them these days?  Whatever...  Grandma made her famous and most excellent peanut butter balls.  My sister-in-law Marcy made regular chocolate chip cookies, tasty ones though.  Aunt Janet, the cookie lady, made her super cute (but rather boring) decorated sugar cookies.  My sister Jessica made mint chocolate chip cookies (that I ended up eating all six of them on Monday afternoon, lol).  My aunt Sharon and her daughter Nicole made some tasty chocolate chip coconut and peanut butter chip m&m cookies.  Terri made her tasty cookie bars.  I don't know who made the chocolate crinkles but those are definitely a favorite.  There was a handful of different cookies that I couldn't figure out who made.  I know my aunt Sue and my cousin Kate made some but the rest are a big question mark.  I made a new recipe I found.  They were Cinnamon Chocolate Orange Almond Spice Pretzels with drizzled chocolate and powdered sugar on top...more of a biscuit consistency but delicious nonetheless.   All-in-all the cookie exchange was a success as usual.  And the overall meal was fantastic.

My grandparents ended up leaving for Texas on Monday morning.  That's part of the reason we always celebrate early.  They're snowbirds that go south for the winter.  Unfortunately I will miss them more than usual since I've gotten quite used to coffee at their house on Saturday morning with mom.  When they get back in the Spring, we'll start back up again.

So now, I'm fixing to head to Hyvee to get some whipped cream and snickers bars to make a fruit salad for lunch.  Then I'll be going to Jon and Marcy's house for a small Thanksgiving lunch with just them and my folks.  I have to work at 5 tonight so I will celebrate while I can.  Again, Happy Thanksgiving all!  Enjoy yourselves and be safe!