Funny Guy Friday... Unexpected Thanksgiving blessings

     About a week ago, Cheryl reminded me that her mother was having Thanksgiving dinner this year for her family. Her sister Sue was coming in from Washington state and was going to stay the week at her mom and dad's house.
     Cheryl then asked if we could have her sister Ann and her four kids stay at our home for a few days over the Thanksgiving holiday. Typically, she does not need to ask... I love her sister... but we were scheduled to host my family for dinner this year, and that means that forty people would be at our house on Thanksgiving day. My concern was that it might be a bit chaotic having twice as many people in our house as we prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. This situation was not making me thankful.
     Cheryl acknowledged my concern and nothing else was said...........until Tuesday when she deftly brushed my concerns aside and called me at work to advise that her sister and the four kids were coming and would be at our house that night.
     Whoa... Wait a minute... We never finished the conversation when you asked if they could stay. I am King of this castle and the King was thinking this was not a good idea. 
     Apparently, the Queen had other thoughts. Not only were they coming, but when they got here, Cheryl was set to go out to meet her mom and sisters for dinner... Girls' night out.
     When I asked what she planned to do with the seven kids at our house, she chuckled and asked what time I would be home. It seems that the Queen needed me to leave work early, do the shopping for the Thanksgiving feast, and be home in time to feed the seven kids that were going to be at our house, and stay with them for the night.
     Absolutely not, the stores would be too crowded, and I reminded her about the forty people coming on Thursday. No, I would not go. That was that!
     Surprisingly, the stores were not that crowded as I shopped for the Thanksgiving Day feast. Again, I was not feeling all that thankful when I had to wrestle a seventy-five year-old woman for the biggest bird still available. Unfortunately, I lost and had to buy two turkeys for the, you remember, forty people coming to my house.
     When Cheryl and Annie got home, I reminded Cheryl of all the things that still need to be done. She assured me that the next day, her sister would help her out and and it would all get done.
     I was skeptical. I am not an authority on kids, but one thing that I do know is that kids are not conducive to cleaning, They are the anti-clean. If kids are around, nothing is getting cleaned. If you do get it put away, they are pulling it back out. If you vacuum a rug, they will trample over it with leaves all over their shoes. This is who there are. It's an innate ability.
     I arrived home early on Wednesday and, surprise, there was little progress. In fact, some of my family were starting to roll into town and they were also at our house for part of the day.
     We were never going to be ready. 
     After my family left, Annie left to spend some time with Cheryl's mom. Cheryl and I decided that I would take the kids to my parents' house and she would stay to finish the cleaning and start preparing the stuffing for the turkey. Great plan, but Noah decided that he wanted to stay with Cheryl. This, I knew, would result in either Cheryl playing with Noah instead of preparing, or Cheryl falling asleep with Noah instead of preparing. When I arrived home, I found out that it was a combination of both. Not much was done and I was still not feeling real thankful.
     Cheryl and I did rally to get some things ready, but still no stuffing was prepared. Annie arrived home from her mother's, and it was at this point that I gave up and went to bed. There was some discussion about the timing of the cooking of the birds and other food preparations, but I went to bed with a plan that we would get up early and put one bird in at 6 a.m. and then prepare the stuffing and stuff the second bird. We would then bake the stuffed turkey shortly after the first bird came out of the oven. Great plan... I set my alarm for six o'clock.
     At 7:15, I woke up in a panic. I was late and there was still a lot to do. As I gathered myself, I smelled the unmistakable smell of turkey baking in the oven. I could hear her working away. Cheryl was on the job, and there was nothing to worry about. I rolled back over and put my arm around my lovely wife, finally feeling thankful.
     Wait a second... I was hugging someone... and that someone was supposed to be downstairs. My first thought was that Annie had crawled into bed with me... I was starting to feel even more thankful... but I quickly realized that this can't be right. My second thought was that Annie was cooking dinner for the forty people coming over to our house while Cheryl was still asleep.
     I pulled myself together and went down to the kitchen to find that Annie was, in fact, hard at work. She had prepared the stuffing, prepped the birds for baking, stuffing one of them, and had peeled the potatoes that I would later mash. To top it all off, she was doing the dishes. She did apologize for waking up late and not getting the first bird in the oven until 6:05. I assured her that this was okay----I would not tell Cheryl... WHEN SHE FINALLY WAKES UP!
     As I sit here writing this post, Thanksgiving day is drawing to a close, and forty people just left my house. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner.
     What am I thankful for? I am thankful that I married the nicest person that God has ever put on this earth. I am thankful that we have three great kids that have three completely different personalities. Each presents different blessings and different challenges, and I love accepting the blessings and meeting the challenges.
     I am thankful to be able to host forty of my family members for Thanksgiving dinner and wish that many more could have been there. Each of them is a great blessing in my life.
     I am thankful that I live in the greatest country in the world. And I am thankful for all the obvious gifts that God provides me on a daily basis.
     But on this day, at this time, after cleaning up after those forty people, and thinking about the day, I am most thankful for the unexpected blessings He provides-----like my sister-in-law Annie! I hope to have her back again next year, no matter what Cheryl says!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you... Stay tuned for next week's Funny Guy Friday... When Funny Guy posts about the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl football game.