Thanksgiving at Antioch

 We started off Saturday morning getting ready for Antioch's Thanksgiving celebration. We were supposed to bring something from our area so picked a good Southern dessert--banana pudding. I make so many chocolate chip cookies that I decided it needed to be something different. I think I made one a few years ago, but it's definitely not something I make very often. This year I got started with making my own Nilla wafers.
I found a recipe online and got busy. It suggested to pipe the cookie dough on to the cookie sheet to make them even. That worked very well and using the parchment paper was really nice as well. When I took them out of the oven, I let them cool for a few minutes and then used the paper to funnel them right into the cookie box. No sticking!
Rusty really enjoyed snacking on these, and I must say the flavor was exactly what we needed. The only problem was the thinness of the cookies. I ended up not putting cookie layers in the banana pudding because I was afraid they would just disintegrate, and I didn't want to waste the cookies. They were also softer than boxed Nilla wafers but tastier. I'm not sure exactly what changes need to be made for next time, but I'm willing to try them again.

 It seemed like there were a lot of cookies, but they went really fast.

 The custard made quick work of a dozen eggs.

 I went to the market to buy the bananas. Not too bad of a price at $0.33. I had to pay more than the posted price since I picked out the biggest bunch. They were still the cheapest ones.

 Here's the finished product. It was a pretty big pan of banana pudding.

 Gam, Sii, and Atit went with us. It was the first time Atit had been with us in a while. They each memorized a verse and quoted it for their part in the festivities.

 During the last skit, the lights went out and stayed out. We had a bit of a storm passing through, and the electricity flicked on and off a few times before it finally stayed off. It's a bit funny when we do have storms here because it's so seldom. We don't get a lot of the high wind stuff, but when it happens it's a bit scary for some. I guess after growing up in Texas, the scariness wears off a bit.
Rusty preached in the dark, but we all thought it turned out nice. Everyone had to get close together, and there weren't as many distractions. Of course it did get a bit warm with no fans, but it was fine.

There were candles burning everywhere, and it really made for some nice effects. Pawn said it was a lot like being in the Karen village. It was a great Thanksgiving celebration!