Grandma Emma's Thanksgiving

Grandma Emma had a full house yesterday with all of us for Thanksgiving. I was impressed with everyone's effort in making all the food. We all made really good stuff, mostly recipes from Paula Deen, Tyler Florence and Alton Brown, which means lots of good stuff from scratch that took a lot of work. Aunt Vesta made Paula Deen's Pumpkin Cheesecake. Mary made two pies: one was Paula Deen's Chocolate Pecan and the other was a delicious apple pie but I forget where she got the recipe. Mary also made Tyler Florence's crab artichoke dip (that's not the official name, I'm sure) for an appetizer. Grandma did the turkey, stuffing and gravy. My dad did a spiral ham. Debbie made the sweet taters. I made something called The Best Ever Green Bean Casserole (so glad it turned out good!) and Alton Brown's It's A Wonderful Waldorf (which wasn't really that good to me). There was a bunch of other stuff, I just don't remember everything. Oh! Grandma made her soooo-good boysenberry pie. And James and Ally made a pumpkin pie. Everyone pitched in!

Uncle Mark was supposed to be there with us but for some reason, he left before we all got there and nobody knew exactly why. 'Twas a mystery, indeed, and very unexpected.

Then Maxine was very unhappy. When we walked into the house and she saw all the people she got really upset and wouldn't stop crying. She was only calm and happy when I took her outside and walked around the house. As soon as I would take her back in the house she'd cry again. Jose eventually put her to sleep and she took a 5 hour nap in my old bed! She tuckered herself out with all the crying. It's too bad I couldn't show off how cute and fun she really is.

Grandma suddenly didn't feel good right before dinner. I felt so sorry for her but she was the one feeling sorry for us having to fend for ourselves without her. Aunt Vesta found some medicine for her and pretty soon she felt better and joined us for the rest of the evening.

Raquel had a blast with Debbie and thank goodness for someone like her! She has almost as much energy as Raquel!

I'm so glad I got to chat with my cousins, my aunt, my grandpa and my dad and Debbie. This was the biggest Thanksgiving I've been to since before my Grandma Betty died ten years ago. It was a good day.