I hope your Thanksgiving festivities were everything you hoped they would be and more. Mine were great. And I'm never eating again.

Until next week, strangers. Please enjoy some pictures and weekly distractions.

Standing in front of the results of one billion hours of Thanksgiving cooking. I seriously need to take smiling lessons. They do those, right?

A card that depicts my future sent to me by a friend, Kelly. Getting something in the mail down here is easily the most exciting thing that happens to me.

Ok, so this isn't a picture from my phone. My sister, Krishelle, passed this along to me and promised it would be sent in a package for Christmas. If it doesn't show up by December 25, there will be Hell to pay. I don't know who will pay it. I only know the price.

A package showed up the other day from my good friend Hannah and this was what was in it. A signed photograph from the lady who played Marilla from the Anne of Green Gables mini-series in the '80s. Found on eBay, I think. I have the best/strangest friends.

Ok, so this one is cheating, too. It's not actually from my phone. The older guy in the picture is a good friend of mine and he recently shared this photo of us from 2004 in L'viv Ukraine when I was a missionary. I was 19 in this picture and not 12 like you might have guessed.  The exceedingly flamboyant lady between us went by the name Pani Lala ("Miss La-La") and she claimed to be "the center of the social scene" in L'viv. We ran into her pretty regularly and through her caught up on all the latest town gossip. I wish I still had a Miss La-La in my life.

Crap to distract you from whatever you're supposed to be doing: Glad I'm not the only one who thinks parade balloons are frightening. In case Miranda hasn't blessed your life yet, here she is. This is an older one but it's one of my favorite of her music videos. Miranda started posting these videos several years ago to mock so many others who post terrible videos of themselves singing on Youtube. The singing in this one starts at 1:42. And how about a vintage music video from Jan Terri? While we're on the topic of terrible singing, here's a video by the worst choir of all time. For several years I have religiously visited this site weekly. The dullest blog in the world. The comments are often wonderful, too.

~It Just Gets Stranger