That makes me sad.

To dedtired: LOTS of people do not think BEFORE opening their mouths! How rude! That makes me mad! Happy Thanksgiving to ALL !!

Grandma and aunts in a small apartment kitchen were cooking all morning for mid-afternoon meal. Grandma noticed a huge mushroom in the vat of gravy, but it turned out to be a brillo pad that had fallen in. No one knew better and we all survived!

Note to all - we really don't remember the "perfect Thanksgivings". It's the "disasters" that we recall with fondness and laughter.

I was a newlywed, in my first house, and my in-laws were visiting for Thanksgiving. Our kitchen had a cooktop with a glass-doored oven above it. The turkey had been cooking about an hour when I heard a cracking sound and looked over to see the oven door dissolving in a shower of glass shards. After cleaning up the glass (fortunately it didn't get into anything on the cooktop below) we wrapped the oven door in several layers of aluminum foil, closed it, and finished cooking the turkey. It was delicious, but the kitchen was quite warm.

We had the kitchen re-done and invited everyone in the family, 12 of us in all, for Thanksgiving..the soapstone counter tops were to be installed 2 days before and we got an email saying they wouldn't be able to come for another 2 weeks..no sink ,no counters.No Thanksgiving in that kitchen! Of course it was fine and we went to our son-in laws home...I won't forget this one. Flexibility is key!

I have a couple stories. The first was the Atkins Thanksgiving my husband and I attended once. We didn't know much about the diet, we just knew our friends had invited us to Thanksgiving.

Imagine my surprise when I took a heaping helping of mashed potatoes only to discover it was pureed cauliflower! And then I was offered some lasagna. Yeah, that was paper thin slices of zucchini lightly sautéed in butter.

The worst of it was that if I had been offered pureed cauliflower and sautéed zucchini, I would have been perfectly content. It was the pretending that made it bad for me... but it was worse for my husband. Not only did the pretense honk him off, he hated cauliflower and zucchini and missed my pumpkin pie like crazy!

The other story is much worse. I longed to cook Thanksgiving by myself, but I had no dining room. A friend had a great dining room, but her interest in cooking runs to baking a couple mixes now and again. Her house was a five minute drive away. It seemed like kismet.

I made up a menu and bought a small turkey that would more than cover the needs of four people. The next day, I learned that my friend was going around a large festival she worked at inviting everyone she knew... and she knew EVERYONE! She couldn't tell me how many people she'd invited, let alone how many were coming. Stress doesn't begin to describe it. I added a couple dishes which meant I'd need to start cooking even earlier in the day and we would probably have to make two trips to take the food over.

So Thanksgiving arrives and I've been grouchy all week because I can't properly plan. After that, my husband went into full-on Unhelpful Mode. No matter what I needed or how badly I needed it right then, the only reaction I got was that he played another chorus of Allentown on the piano. This made me frantic which didn't make him any more helpful.

Eventually I got him to take the first load of food over, making room for me to finish cooking. And eventually he even came back and transported me and the rest of the food over to its destination.

All the people who had been invited? Not one person showed. I could have cooked my original meal.

I was so tired and stressed out and burning with resentment at that point that I was in no mood to celebrate. My husband was done with everyone and everything. My friend's husband insulted my cooking and fed my stuffing to the dog at the table while making 'humorous' gagging sounds.

No, I have never cooked ANYTHING for them again and I never will. These days I only cook for people who like my cooking and who discuss any plans that will affect my ability to plan in advance.

Refusing that stress meant that my husband and I never passed that miserable a day for the rest of our marriage. This thursday is going to be difficult for me because it's my first Thanksgiving without him since the mid-eighties. He was the light of my life and the other half of me. His death has devastated me, but I am profoundly thankful for the years I had with him. Last Thanksgiving was spent at the hospital and my meal was the Thanksgiving lunch served in the hospital cafeteria. But I did have fun helping the lovely ladies in the dialysis unit decorate a basket of holiday goodies for the needy.

And that reminds me of one more Thanksgiving that many people would have considered a disaster. About five or six years ago, we were going to do a tandem Thanksgiving with a friend. She would cook half the meal and I would do the other half. On Thanksgiving morning, she called and told me she was sick in bed with a nasty virus, so she was canceling. Since dinner was at her house and she did the turkey and stuffing, all I had ready to go was the potatoes, the rolls, and desserts.

So I sent my husband out into the world to find us some turkey cutlets while I made the pumpkin pie. I made the fabulous potatoes I was going to make anyway, cooked up some green beans I already had with some sun-dried tomatoes sliced up in them, sautéed the cutlets and made a mustard sauce for them, and there was Thanksgiving dinner.

Hands down, that was my husband's favorite Thanksgiving ever. Just us in our kitchen sharing a tasty meal. And I think that will always be one of my favorite memories.

S MacDonald, I wish you peace and comfort this Thanksgiving and Christmas season. I, too, will be celebrating the holiday season without my beloved husband who I lost in 2015. It will be a difficult time, but I am so glad you have wonderful memories to get you through.

Mom-in law accedes to new generation, so first Turkey at my new house, complete with all newlywed china,crystal and silver. Pies, give hers a run for money, turkey is perfection. In attempt to assist she decides to make gravy. Someone filled the pepper shaker (or maybe bro-in-law unscrewed it as a "prank" (most likely) but didn't expect Mom-in-law to use it to make the gravy. With a short scream, a chagrined look, gravy is "ruined." Well, paper towel sops up good portion, adding more turkey broth from cooking of feet, neck and extra pieces bought for use with gravy (Old Polack way, which surprised her Norwegian/Finnish customs,)making it good as original. Still feeling upset, after her many years with no such accidents, m-i-l ate stoically. Came time for desert, using my new chaffing dish, Cherries Jubilee was attempted. M-i-l is tee tottler, but doesn't know ingredients include Brandy. What I didn't know is how to flame the brandy (Neapolitan, no less, ) and kept adding as it wouldn't ignite. After adding almost 1/2 quart, served it un-flamed. M-I-L couldn't get enough of the "sauce," which everyone else knew was mostly brandy, and spent a very mellow rest of day. Almost 60 years ago! Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks so much Melinda. Remembering all the good times definitely helps. I'll be thinking of you on Thursday.

Years ago, my parents invited some well to do people (including local politicians) to their house for thanksgiving dinner. They do not cook, so they ordered food to pick up, and heat at home , from a restaurant.

After a long discussion on how to heat the turkey, they decided to leave the plastic on while it heated in the oven. While their guests were socializing in the living room, they heard a loud BOOM. The door had blown off the oven! The house filled with black smoke. To make things worse the biscuits looked like charcoal. Meanwhile, the mashed potatoes were so over-heated that when they lifted the stirring spoon the entire pan came up with it! Luckily, they had lots of alcohol to keep everyone happy. They had to repaint the entire downstairs because of the smoke damage.

I was 21 years old and just married a few months. This was my first time hosting a formal dinner of any kind and both sets of parents were guests. Trying to be sophisticated I set out nibbles and poured cocktails. After a while my new mother-in-law went into the kitchen to see how the turkey was coming along and discovered that I had forgotten to turn the oven on! I'm elderly now and honestly can't remember how they solved it or what they substituted for the turkey, but both mothers jumped into action and saved the day - and the meal.

the best sort of mothers do that. and happily there was no houzz for them to report you!

Which year? LOL. A spoiled turkey (stores fault), a broken oven, homemade bread that never rose, you get the gist. We are really fortunate that our Turkey Day disasters are, in the big scheme of things, pretty minor and never beyond the scope of a food faux paux. Still without fail, Murphy’s law always finds it’s way to my kitchen!

oh gosh, spoiled turkey. the best piece of advice i can ever give is: 2 days before thanksgiving, when you still can get another turkey if you need to, make a tiny snip in the plastic wrappings over the "stuffing hole" in the turkey, and give it a sniff. fresh poultry will smell pleasant and mildly sweet. spoiled poultry will make you fall over backwards.

if it smells bad, just put some tape over the hole and return it to the store. let them deal with it. dont, as in DO NOT unwrap it and put it in your own trash the stench will kill you before trash day.

customer service will never ever doubt you by untaping it and smelling it themself. guaranteed money back without them ever giving you side eye.

So...I guess ninigret is saying indirectly that a turkey with that not so fresh scent should be disposed of in your ex’s trash, that one rude neighbor’s trash, or mail it to one of the gross groping men out in Hollywood? Just don’t put it in your own trash. ;)

My story is basically one my father always told.

It was one of my parents Thanksgiving and my mom had prepared all this great food unfortunately she mistakenly thickened the gravy with powdered sugar instead of corn starch and she had to add a lot because it wouldn't thicken. She did not bother to taste it before putting it on the table. Dad said everyone covered their turkey, potatoes and dressing etc. with it. My older sister who was a toddler at the time took one bite and pushed her plate away saying "All sooo" which was her way of saying "All through". Anyway the whole meal was ruined and he ended up taking my grandparents and the family out to dinner. My mother never lived it down.

when my children were small, they loved the 4 layer delight dessert (lots of pudding, cream cheese, cool whip etc) --- one year i put the dessert and the dressing in pans that were alike in the bottom of the fridge, next morning i grabbed the "dressing" and put it in the oven and baked it for 40 min ..... only it wasn't the dressing in the oven, it was the dessert...... my children were crushed because i fixed that dessert maybe twice a year and dh and i were disappointed because lunch was very late because the dressing had to be cooked..... if you ever see melted cool whip, you'll never eat it again looks like pure "oil"

A couple of years ago a massive snowstorm hit our small Massachusetts town the day before Thanksgiving. The power went out everywhere. Restaurants opened up to loan out their ovens. Gas and charcoal grills were dug out of the snowbanks and put to great use. Neighbors without power packed up their food and went to the homes of people who still had power. The best laid plans fell apart but were beautifully adjusted, altered, upended and everyone had an amazing experience by candlelight, which was documented throughout town on social media. It was wonderful and extra special.

One year when I was in high school, there was a big storm that blew our power out the morning of Thanksgiving. So we ran an extension cord from the neighbor's house and made our turkey in a pressure cooker on the back porch.

We tried cooking a turkey on the weber charcoal rotisserie grill one year. We'd cooked turkey on the grill in the past so thought this wouldn't be too high risk. Instructions said not to peek but we decided to take a look when it was supposed to be about half way done. It was burned black on the outside and done on the inside and this was 90 minutes before guests were even supposed to arrive, let alone eat. I had an "auxiliary" turkey breast and quickly got that in the oven while attempting to keep the burned bird warm. It all turned out fine as the burned bird was good inside, we ate earlier than planned and overall the meal was good as usual. It did make for some family excitement when we uncovered the blackened bird.

Landlord redid our kitchen one Fall - basically gutted it for us - and hired his son and crew to do the work. Sink drained a bit slow, but everything else was beautiful, so I didn't complain.

Come Thanksgiving AM, the darn sink wouldn't drain AT ALL. I called a plumber, who asked if I really wanted to pay what it would cost for him to come out on Thanksgiving and fix the problem, and I said yes, indeed - I had invited guests for dinner, and I needed the sink!

Well, he tried to snake it but the snake was stopped by something in the basement pipes. He went down there, and the pipes looked good on the outside, so he was not happy when I said, "Cut it open and find out what's in there!". Took him an hour or so to get through the thick cast iron pipe to discover, hard as rock, the spackle landlord's son's crew had washed off of their tools - in the kitchen sink.

I had the plumber document what had been wrong, kept the stopped up piece of pipe as proof, and put the receipt in with our December rent check, from which I'd deducted the amount the plumber got. He never made a peep to us about it - but I would have loved to hear what he said to his son!!

Dinner was delayed a bit, but we had lots of laughs as the batch of us washed dishes in a sink that drained oh-so-nicely.

And I have another "doggy" story, too. Basically - never adopt a dog the folks at the shelter tell you they had to "fatten up" before putting up for adoption. A dog that has not gotten enough food growing up will never outgrow its ravenous hunger. Our son picked out the dog (it was a birthday present) - and his first Thanksgiving with us, he opened the refrigerator, ate a whole stick of butter, and topped it off with the leftover turkey. Had to go to the vet (in case he'd ingested cooked turkey bones), had to have the carpets cleaned ... and had to attach industrial strength Velcro on the refrigerator door after one of those alarms you put in hotel doors didn't deter him at all (it would go off a bit after we went to bed, and by the time we were downstairs. he'd be in his bed, all innocence and surprised that we'd come down the stairs at all.)

1. My sister had already invited me and my son (a college student) to their Thanksgiving dinner. We were looking forward to a four day weekend. Then on the day before Thanksgiving while on my lunch our at work I decided to call and check on my elderly neighbor. He was in bad health, very depressed and then told me that neither of his two kids were coming to their house for Thanksgiving. He said that his wife was too depressed/ill to fix a Thanksgiving meal. I called my son and told him that when he got off work to go to the grocery store and find a FRESH turkey (not frozen) and buy it regardless of the price. I told him that when I got off work I would go to the store and buy everything else. He was to meet me at my neighbor's house. We was going to spend the night at the neighbor's and fix a Thanksgiving meal for them. I finally got up enough nerve to call my sister and tell her that we would not be at her house for Thanksgiving. She was disappointed but, understood the situation. The meal turned out wonderful. We cleaned up all the and kitchen before leaving. The couple both thanked us for what we did. The man had one other request before we left. He needed a haircut. I cut and shampooed his hair. My son and returned home that evening talking about how we had just had one of the best Thanksgivings ever. A few weeks later on Friday, December 13th the neighbor man passed away. By the way, both of the kids did manage to make it to the funeral. I will never forget that Thanksgiving day.

In 2008, my dad had come home around Thanksgiving after 4 months in the hospital. He had a house built in 1969 with the original harvest gold oven/stove-top. I had told him for years, "You better get a new oven, it is going to die one day on Thanksgiving." So, I turn on the oven. It seems to heat, put in the turkey. A few hours later, some sides go in and I check the turkey, barely cooked. The oven was barely warm. I microwaved the sides (yuck!) and my brother went to the grocery store and bought some rotisserie chickens and turkey breast. I thought what an awful year! My dad in the hospital 4 months battling cancer and infections and now a defunct Thanksgiving. It got better after that and I was thankful my dad was doing ok.

Not a disaster but funny I thought. My uncle Cletus stuck 4 toothpicks into a whole baked potato, placed it in the center of the table and said, "this looks like Brenda's dog!" Both are passed now, but I remember this every year around this time.

The first year we were married (all of 3 months), I insist on doing Thanksgiving for parents and in-laws and siblings . They were thrilled to let me do it. So I use all my new china, silver, etc., call my mother 20 times for instructions and advice, and borrow a few large things from her like the coffee urn. I'm stressed but everything has gone very well in the morning, and I decide to do one last prep before taking a shower. I fill the coffee urn with grounds and probably a gallon of water (everybody was big on coffee after dinner in those days). Little apartment kitchen has bracket shelves with cookbooks on one wall, and there's room to put the urn there. You guessed it...weight of water pulls the shelf off the wall, coffee grounds, water everywhere and ruined books!!! I just sat on the floor and cried a while. But DH jumped in to help clean up and everything else went off without a hitch. I hosted TG every year thereafter.

When this TG dinner is all done but the left overs, treat yourself to this: Dave cooks the Turkey http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/vinyl-cafe/episode/11221890

Dave cooks the turkey (Vinyl Cafe) story is definitely the best Thanksgiving story ever!!!!!!

About ten years ago, Thanksgiving at my house, my cousin brought her four kids all under the age of ten, and evidently they were sick to begin with. When I opened the door one of them was throwing up into the topiary outside the door. But she just brought them on in, acting like it was no big deal. Then one by one, by the end of the day, all four kids ended up all throwing up all over the den and bathroom floors. We were running around with towels and cleanser trying to clean up quickly, and those of us that did were completely sick and down for count with the same bug within 24 hours. I could have killed her. She's one of those parents that acts like the whole world should make arrangements to accommodate her kids.

Em11, as far as I am concerned, your story takes the cake!! That really is horrific! I can't imagine what the silly woman was thinking......as soon as the first kid heaved into the porch plant, she should have given her apologies, wished you a Happy Thanksgiving and taken her sick brood home!!

I have strong aversion to people who think their kids walk on water and we should all be delighted to share in their presence. Those tend to be the ones with the most ill-mannered little demons.......although it's typically the parents' fault they are. You know the ones who will never say 'no' because it might stifle their darling's creativity or some such nonsense.

My MIL was a wonderful person and a great cook who was professionally trained in her native Germany. Thanksgiving was her holiday to host. I had Christmas and my mom did Easter. After her husband died, MIL still wanted to cook but just for the 5 of us. I offered to supply a turkey breast to make it easier for her. This was something she had never seen before. It was packaged in plastic (with writing on it) and a net bag over that.

About an hour before we left the house, we received a frantic phone call from her about something melting off the turkey! Hubby asked if she took the turkey out of the bag and she swore she did. When we arrived she showed us the melted plastic bag. All she had removed was the netting and did not notice the writing at all.

We ate and it was actually ok but the rest of the meal was awful so that was the last time she hosted Thanksgiving. After that, we took her to a restaurant for this holiday.

Brought out my old pump thermos to keep the coffee hot while we cooked. The counters were covered in pots and pans, and all the paraphernalia of thanksgiving so I put the thermos on the kitchen table. I squeezed it onto the table which had become a dumping ground as folks came through—bags, jackets, an iPad with a pie recipe up. I had another round of coffee ready to top up the thermos and didn’t want to spill so I grabbed it by the handle to carry it to the sink—and it exploded!!! Hot coffee sloshed onto my slippers and large and small bits of glass went everywhere. Some of it atomized—we found flakes everywhere. No one was hurt, and after the worst of it was cleaned up, my daughters resumed meal prep while I spent the next hour mopping and tracking down elusive bits of glass. If it had happened an hour later when the turkey, dressing, and all the other dishes were laid out on the table, our meal would have been ruined. The funny thing is, I never found time to clean the kitchen floor before everyone started arriving, and I was embarrassed that it was so grimy—but by the time we sat down, it was sparkling.

My husband put the turkey on the edge of the counter. The dogs thanked him.

That’s a terrible story about the sick kids! I think your cousin was intensely selfish to bring them anywhere. Poor things.

The first time I hosted TG, my mom drove 3 hours to my house the night before to help before my siblings, nieces and nephews (of which there were many) descended. Per her instructions I met her in the kitchen at 4 a.m. to prepare and get the turkey in the oven (before the days of the quick cooking turkey bags). I was still half asleep and the sight of that raw bird inspired me to get my camcorder and stage a "TURKEY VIDEO". The idea was to educate and include the children in the procedure. Tom "talked" to them and danced along the counter, even squealing, "OUCH!" when the stuffing was inserted. He really put up a fuss while being wrestled to the oven, jumping around the roasting pan and screaming, "NO! NOT THE OVEN!!". My mom and I were silly with laughter by the time we were done. Prior to the meal we sat everyone down for the show. One by one the children started crying and most were in full tears by the part where Tom was forced into the oven. The worst was that none of them would eat the turkey!

The TURKEY VIDEO became an annual event with costumes and props and scripts. This has reminded me to find that old VHS tape and have it transferred to a DVD!

I moved back to Texas 8 months ago to be near my younger, adult children who kept saying, you're too far away. Two daughters and a son to be exact with 3 wonderful grandsons. I called my 26 year old son down a few months ago for disrespecting woman as well as some of his other behavior so he will no longer speak to me. So my daughter who was hosting told me I could come over Thanksgiving morning and stay until 1:00 pm. but would have to leave for dinner because my son did not want to see me. Long story short, I went to a restaurant and had a lovely buffet that was quiet and drama free. Boy, do kids have a lot to learn these days!

Jayne, I am aghast! Get your daughter and etiquette book for Christmas. What a potential guest threatens not to show up unless the host acquiesces to his demands, the host says, "I'm so sorry. We will miss you."

Jayne, You definitely made the right choice for your Thanksgiving dinner. Kids now days have no respect for their parents or other elders.

No real problem, but we had a major power outage! Fortunately we were already eating and had lighting on the tables. Love the hand thrown plate in your photo. Almost looks like some I had made for us.

About 25 years ago, when my kids were toddlers, we were driving on the Wednesday before to where both our parents lived, about 6 or 7 hours away. Half and hour into the trip the one-year-old spit up. I was sitting between them in the back seat and was at first unconcerned (bad bottle, whatever.) Sadly, he continued to throw up for about two hours, into most of the towels and small blankets we had brought. When we stopped for dinner, I changed his clothes, just as the 3-year-old started throwing up. By the time we got to my parents' house, we had used all the blankets, and all the clothes we had with us, but the kids were finally okay. Next day, dinner with my folks. My husband was upstairs, throwing up. Friday, dinner with the in-laws. I was upstairs, throwing up. Saturday, my parents were sick. Sunday, his parents. But we were gone by then.

skim,

I feel your pain. The year after our, um, adventure, the littler kid started to look peaked again the day before we were to travel again for Thanksgiving-- so I canceled and bought whatever turkey related food I could find and we stayed at home. Went back the following weekend. Now they are all in their thirties and I think we are past all this. I hope.

My darling brother and SIL just moved to Punta Gorda, Margery. From their pics so far, it looks like a beautiful place.

My first married Thanksgiving I hosted my new mother and father in-law, we had a drop leaf table and about five minutes into our dinner, their side suddenly collapsed and everything that was on their side of the table either fell on their lap or onto the floor. And for some reason I couldn’t stop laughing, I’m talking tears streaming down my face bent over laughing. I was so embarrassed, mostly for laughing. My in-laws were not mad, but they didn’t laugh either. My husband laughed after they left.