Phoebe Buffay Hannigan stood clutching her tapestry bag. With gray showing through her blonde hair, she still had the same free spirit that she had in her twenties. Accompanying her was her lawyer husband Mike. Phoebe ran over and immediately hugged Monica. After that she brought out a bag of crystals.

"They're for healing." she explained. "And I wished bad things on the driver who did this to you."

"Thanks Pheebs, but we have a problem." sighed Monica. "I can't cook this year. We have got my parents, everyone here and Joey and Alex coming for Thanksgiving."

"Phoebe can help, she has become a really great cook." exclaimed Mike.

"I am afraid that I am not as good as Monica." said Phoebe.

"It's either we all pitch in or Rachel cooks Thanksgiving. Rachel sat and sighed. Ross looked at Chandler and Chandler looked at Phoebe.

"We'll all help honey." said Chandler smiling. "Not that Rachel can't do it; it's just that it might be a little bit harder than she thought.

"Sure we can do this. All of

us have at least a little ability when it comes to cooking. After Carol left, I cooked for myself and also when I had a girl come over. Joey cooks a little and so does his wife. Phoebe does also and …"

And I can make my world famous chanberries."added Chandler.

"A monkey could open a can of cranberries." said Ross.

"You would know Monkey Boy."giggled Chandler.

"Just because I can't get out of this chair doesn't mean I can't give instructions. I will direct this Thanksgiving like a maestro directs a symphony and it will be the greatest Thanksgiving ever." said Monica excitedly.

"Oh no, she's getting that look again." Said Chandler as he put his hand to his forehead.

Monica took out a notebook and began to plan her Thanksgiving feast.

"First we are going to need a turkey, then stuffing, then potatoes." she said methodically.

"And we will have many kinds of potatoes." Phoebe said as she grabbed the pencil from Monica's hand. Monica's mind began to wander back in time, to the first Thanksgiving with Rachel back in her life.

"Mom and Dad are going to Puerto Rico so we are going to have to have Thanksgiving here." Ross announced sadly. It had been a bad year with his marriage ending and now Carol was pregnant with his baby and living with her lover Susan.

To complicate matters, Chandler still hated Thanksgiving and she had agreed to make him and un Thanksgiving dinner. This consisted of toasted cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and a bag of fun ions. Phoebe would be coming over as well, since her grandma would celebrate in December. Joey had been hired to be a model, but he was now plastered all over New York as a man who had VD for the health department. His family would not allow him to come home. Rachel had her own plans; she would be flying to Vail to go skiing with her family.

In an effort to make everyone happy, Monica was now making three kinds of potatoes. There were the lumpy ones her brother loved, the mashed potatoes with peas and onions that reminded Phoebe of her mother, and the tater tots that were part of the Tribbiani thanksgiving.

It was supposed to be an uneventful Thanksgiving, until Chandler came into the apartment screaming that Underdog had floated away from the parade route. Excitedly everyone ran to the roof, then Rachel in a hurry to catch her flight, closed the door without unlocking it. Monica now had a ruined dinner and Rachel had missed her flight. The only thing that saved that Thanksgiving was when Phoebe spotted Ugly Naked Guy and he was not alone. They all realized that life wasn't so bad and that there was someone for everyone. Eating their toasted cheese sandwiches, they toasted that first Thanksgiving they would all spend together.

"Earth to Monica." said Chandler snapping Monica out of her reverie.

"Oh I guess I was thinking about the year underdog got away." She said as she had been startled by her husband's voice.

"I remember that year. I went over to Carol's and sang to Ben while he was still in her stomach. Then he moved for the first time. It was so great." sighed Ross.

"And even though I didn't get to go skiing that year, I got to spend Thanksgiving with the greatest group of friends a girl could have." Rachel smiled. "And also with this guy." she shyly kissed Ross.

"So how many Thanksgivings have you guys spent together?" asked Jack.

"Well your father and your Aunt Rachel and Uncle Ross and I have spent many Thanksgivings together. In fact, it was Thanksgiving when I met your father. It was when he was a freshman in college." Monica started.

"Yeah Dad and Uncle Chandler were roommates in college." continued Emma.

"He had the same dreamy blue eyes and this real cool hair cut." Monica sighed.

"And your mother made macaroni and cheese, just for me." Chandler added.

"I've heard this story before. Mom was dating this other guy and Dad was still so in love with her." Emma said.

"And your mother wouldn't have anything to do with me. She thought I was just Monica's geeky older brother who liked dinosaurs. I wanted to impress her with my music so I wrote a song for her." Ross continued. "It was called ..."

"Emotional Knapsack." Smiled Rachel. "But Uncle Chandler said some mean things to Aunt Monica like that she was fat and hurt her feelings. After that though, she dieted and lost the weight for good."

"The next Thanksgiving, your mom looked so hot. She was wearing this dress that hugged every curve on her body. I just wanted to…." Chandler said until he was abruptly stopped.

"She is still my little sister Bing." interrupted Ross. "If I would have known these were the thoughts going through your head…"

"What you would have kicked my ass?" Laughed Chandler. "I think that your sister got even with me for the both of you."

"How did he get even?" said Mike as he was now engrossed in the story

"Did you ever notice how my father never goes barefoot?" said Erica innocently. "That's why."

"I don't understand." said Mike puzzled.

Mom cut off Dad's big toe." said Jack.

"I didn't mean to, I was trying to be sexy and the knife slipped from my hands and went into your father's huarache sandals." Monica said ashamed.

"You mean like Don Johnson in Miami Vice?" laughed Mike.

"Yeah we're not proud of it, but we were trying to be cool." Ross said."We thought that the girls would love it."

"That was a Thanksgiving way before me and Joey. I'm sure that Mike would like to hear about another one. Maybe the year we played football." said Phoebe.