Operation Grub

Thanksgiving has always been one of Susanne's favorite holidays because it revolves around family and, of course, food. She loves when everyone can get together to spend time with each other. It reminded her of where she came from and who had been with her through all of the ups and downs of life.

Scott's idea of waking Paxton up at the 6:00am feeding and switching the side that he was laying on to see if that would help decrease the gagging episodes appeared to be working. They could only suspect that this allowed him to wake up slowly and give his brain time to process what to do with all of the saliva that had accumulated in his mouth overnight. Since he had such trouble swallowing, they were looking for any way to help prevent him from drowning or aspirating on his own spit. Scott and Susanne were able to lay their head back down for a little while longer before they had to get up for the day. Susanne decided to put Paxton in the bed next to Scott when it was time to get a move on. This was Scott's favorite way to wake up.

Susanne enjoyed cooking. She loved being in the kitchen, especially with her mother. Gigi was the reason behind Susanne's passion for food. There was a long history of cooking in the kitchen together. A lot of Susanne's fondest memories were cooking along side her mom and sisters. They had always bonded over the dinner table. She hoped to share these special moments with Paxton.

Needless to say, they spent all morning cooking. It took much longer than they had expected because of a little problem. The turkey was so huge that it took up the entire oven. There was not much room at all for any of the other dishes. They ended up having to cook some of the other items one at a time in the oven with the large bird. Some of the other dishes had to wait until the turkey was completely finished to begin their cooking process. It was times like these that Susanne wished she was back at her house in Virginia where she had a double oven. This would be the perfect set up for a large Thanksgiving spread like what they were having today.

Throughout the day, different people started showing up. Moppy arrived first. She had driven the six hour drive that Susanne was all too familiar with to be able to be with everyone for the holiday. She had brought an appetizer which was a life saver for those who were already starving to death. Susanne was more excited that Moppy had made some adjustments to her famous salad so that Susanne could eat some of it. This salad was Susanne's one request from Moppy for any holiday. She was looking forward to continuing the tradition. Aunt Leah, Uncle Wally, Parker, and Cole came shortly thereafter. They brought more food including Leah's homemade bread. Since Susanne wouldn't be able to eat that, Leah was so kind to bring a different bread that was safe for Susanne's dietary restrictions. Susanne decided to try a new mashed sweet potato recipe since she wouldn't be able to eat the traditional mashed potatoes. She was getting pretty creative with her Thanksgiving meal.

As they waited and waited and waited for everything to finish cooking, they all caught up on each other's lives. It was so good to spend time with everyone. Finally at the end of the day, the meal was ready for enjoyment. Thankfully, it was well worth the wait. They were all very happy that Paxton was actually awake for the Thanksgiving dinner. It was so special that he was there. He even dressed up for the occasion. He decided that it would be super cute to dress like his daddy. They both looked adorable.

Since they ate way too much, there was no room for dessert. This was unheard of, especially in this household, but they literally were about to pop. Dessert would just have to wait for another day.

With bellies full of food and hearts full of thanks, they had a wonderful Thanksgiving.