While Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to catch up with friends and family, eat lots of delicious food, and dwell on everything we are thankful for, it can also be a very awkward holiday. Check out what these people have to say about their Turkey Day that went badly amiss:
“I Ate Thanksgiving Dinner Alone At A Truck Stop”
“I was away from home for work and ate Thanksgiving dinner alone at a truck stop because it was the only place open. I was the only person there except the waitress and the cook. The cook must have been furious working Turkey Day because he put his hair from down there into my mashed potatoes. He didn’t even bother to mix them in there either, just slapped a handful of them on top of the potatoes and then covered them with gravy. I asked for my check and tipped the waitress $20 then went the gas station and ate pizza combos, zingers and gummy worms for dinner.”
An Ugly Brother Showdown
“My oldest brother lost his mind at my parent’s house. I was in my 30s and he was in his early 40s. We were both with our wives. He struggled with addiction and must have loaded up before getting there. He was going on and on about politics and I was carefully conversing with him. I kept it general, and he accidentally walked himself into a trap. He got angry and demanded no more political talk. I happily agreed and we moved on.
When dinner was served, he forgot his moratorium on politics and tried to re-engage me at the table. This time, he was trying to embarrass me in front of everyone by rephrasing my earlier comments incorrectly to make my point of view look naive. A typical straw man fallacy. Instead of getting back into it, I reminded him of his request that we do not talk about politics and this did it. He quietly ate his dinner and waited. About an hour later, he called me into the empty kitchen and came at me. It was ugly. I kept it from becoming physical, but he was absolutely losing it; yelling and screaming, saying that he hated my wife and that I was wrong about everything. Keep in mind that I’ve hardly expressed a single opinion all day. I simply tried to keep the peace. It was the worst Thanksgiving of my life. My brother ended up committing suicide about 15 years later. He was an Ivy League-educated teacher and highly intelligent. His addiction was his downfall.”
Uh, I Never Agreed To This
“This was during the first semester of college after moving to Canada from America. My uncle offered to have me over for Thanksgiving dinner. I spent 12 hours traveling from my school to his place, only for him to put me to work on demolishing the bathroom tiles. Then, he puts me to work on figuring out how many tiles he needs. Then, it’s time for me to go home on a 12-hour journey and take a midterm. I was told we’d be celebrating Thanksgiving. I didn’t even get a nice dinner out of it.”
That Awkward Moment When The Cougar Shows Up To Dinner
“Every Thanksgiving, there is this woman who shows up to eat with our huge family. She is my aunt’s friend and always brings her kids. She got divorced a few months beforehand, and as a result, she reverted back to before she got married, and turned promiscuous.
After my high school graduation, we all went out to party. This was about two months after this woman’s divorce. She showed up to the graduation party of someone that I knew. Apparently, she knew my buddy’s mom. I saw her and I recognized her but I don’t think that she knew who I was, even though she had seen me at Thanksgiving dinner ever since I was a kid.
She showed up to the graduation party of someone that I knew. Apparently, she knew my buddy’s mom. Well, everybody was drinking. I saw her and I recognized her but I don’t think that she knew who I was (even though she had seen me at Thanksgiving dinner ever since I was a kid).
I started dancing with her. She was very lit and was coming onto me really hard. She was like 40 years old, but she was attractive. One thing led to another and I ended up getting with her. We weren’t exactly subtle about it either. I pretty much carried her up the stairs in front of the whole party, up to my buddy’s room. So needless to say, word got around.
Cut to Thanksgiving. She got back with her husband and then she showed up the dinner (apparently she had forgotten that I was her friend’s nephew). She comes in with her kids and her husband. The look on her face when she saw me was one of utter disbelief. The entire time her husband was giving me the evil eye. It was obvious that he wanted to kill me.
The most awkward part was when her kid came up and started talking to me. As soon as he did, the father was like, ‘We are leaving,’ and basically dragged everyone out of the house. Everyone was just sitting there in complete silence. It was obvious that some of my family knew about it. Thankfully nobody said anything. It was terrible, to say the least.”
The Thanksgiving Turkey Doesn’t Approve Of This Message
“I got a turkey from the food bank as it was our first holiday after my husband left. I thawed it properly in the fridge and cooked it. Halfway through the cooking, the element went out in the oven. There was nowhere open to buy a new one.
I put the turkey on the BBQ and ran out of propane. After I finally found a place to get propane, I finished the turkey and went to serve it, but the thing was rancid. You could smell it when we cut into it. That was our first vegetarian Thanksgiving.”
Is It Even Thanksgiving Without A Little Family Drama?
“I got into a fight with my ex’s mom, who we were visiting for Thanksgiving. I attempted to leave to go stay in a hotel, and she took my son from me. I threatened to call the police if she would not give me my infant son so I could leave, and her husband had to step in. Had I called the police and pressed charges, she would have been charged with kidnapping, even though my child’s father was her son and was staying because at that point my son’s father wasn’t on the birth certificate.
I think her husband realized this. He then convinced me to stay for the sake of ‘family harmony’ and said he would deal with her. I haven’t been back out there to visit since, nor has my son, despite the fact that my son’s father has moved out there.”
Not The Turkey!
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“The night before Thanksgiving, we were helping prepare dinner at my grandfather’s apartment in New York. His then-girlfriend was there helping us cook. My grandfather learned that the place we were ordering part of our dinner from had messed up, and we weren’t getting cranberry sauce.
My grandfather, who had a temper, threw a fit and was yelling at the man on the phone. His girlfriend tried to calm him down, and then he began to yell at her. They got in a screaming match, which ended with her taking the turkey out of the oven and outside the apartment with her. We ended up eating at a crummy Chinese Restaurant on Thanksgiving.”
A Truly Traumatic Thanksgiving
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“My cousins were playing with my fragile, two-pound Yorkie on Thanksgiving day. We stupidly weren’t keeping an eye on them in the other room, and at some point, one of my cousins came up to me with my lifeless dog in her arms. They were playing with him on a bunk bed when he fell off and died. This happened two years ago, and I still feel so guilty and torn apart by the dog’s death.”
Prank Gone Seriously Wrong
“Back in the ’70s, my great-aunt and uncle were hosting Thanksgiving at their place. During the preparation of the meal, my great-uncle fell asleep in his rocking chair while watching TV in the upstairs living room before anyone arrived. His brother arrived first and saw him asleep in the chair.
Being a prankster, he got the wild idea to steal the turkey neck which was set aside to be discarded and stuck it in my great uncle’s pants (I guess his fly was partially down or something). To make a long story short, my great-aunt went upstairs to ask him a question, saw the turkey neck sticking out of his pants, freaked, and fell backwards down the flight of stairs.”
Father-In-Law Problems
“We started out Thanksgiving by going to my father-in-law’s house. The last couple of years have consisted of pretty boring/bad food because he made his wife do all the cooking while she was suffering from lupus. We thought the bad food was due to her not feeling well, and this year she was feeling really good, so we got a little hopeful.
While dinner was cooking, we go into the living room to watch football. My brother happened to sit in my father-in-law’s seat and he made a scene of it. My brother said sorry, got up from his chair, and found another seat.
Next up was my father-in-law’s wife’s mom’s boyfriend. An elderly man sits in his seat, he walks upstairs and demands him out of his chair. While this poor old man is getting up to move, he makes fun of him not being able to get up.
Fast forward to dinner. My father-in-law smoked the bird – later we found out for 24 hours – and he goes to carve the turkey and takes off a leg and asks for his stepson’s plate and puts the leg on it. Next, he cuts off a nice piece off of the breast and walks over and puts it on his plate. He continues to carve the turkey and put it on a platter for everyone else to get their own.
I learned that day, that my husband’s father is a giant jerk. Thankfully, I had my own turkey in a smoker I put in that morning and was planning another dinner at my house later with my husband’s mom, her husband, and my brother again. The rest of the night went really well and all of the food at my place was delicious.”
Family Feud Thanksgiving Edition
“I have an aunt who is very difficult to get along with and claims to know all about raising children, though she has none of her own. One Thanksgiving when my sister was around 15 years old, my aunt went on to scream at her for not clearing the table on her own after my grandma told her not to, telling her that she was ungrateful and irresponsible.
This aunt is my father’s sister, and my mother was the one to stand up and fight with her for yelling at her daughter. It was a terrible Thanksgiving as my sister left in tears and my mother was angry with my aunt and with my father for not standing up for his daughter.”
Not The Best Time To Have A Sensitive Stomach
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“A few years ago, my nephew wasn’t feeling well and decided to eat way too much food. She threw up all over the dining room table where the family was eating. I spent the next hour outside in the freezing cold trying not to vomit. Apparently, I’m the type of person that can’t see, smell, or hear someone throwing up without getting extremely nauseous.
That Crazy Boyfriend
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“My crazy sort-of boyfriend at the time called and said he was coming over and I told him, no, so he said he was going to come beat me up. I answered the door and told him to leave, and when he didn’t, I threw a bottle at his head.
He finally left with some encouragement from my dad, then called the cops and said I attacked him.”
New Thanksgiving Tradition?
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“My in-laws are terrible cooks, and my mother-in-law is easily stressed. To avoid the stress, she cooked everything two weeks ago. She froze all the food then reheated in the microwave just before eating. We’re talking leathery ham pieces soaking in pools of fat, bland turkey with messed up texture from being frozen, mashed potatoes with chunky globs of cream cheese and cream of mushroom straight from the can spooned on top of green beans with onions thrown on top, no mixing, no heating in the oven. Other meals have consisted of expired ingredients and on-the-edge rotten produce. We ‘took a walk’ and went to the gas station to eat a hot dog.”
House Of Bubbles
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“I burned water and flooded the entire house with bubbles.
It was the first Thanksgiving I had ever cooked and what made it worse was that my future in-laws were coming over. They are both extremely high-powered business people. I’ve seen them broker over hundred-million-dollar deals without batting an eye. Both of them are hardcore ring fighters in the American business world. They know what they like, and they know what they don’t like. They never hold back on their opinions. Suffice it to say, I was terrified and running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
I tried to cook and prepare everything in one day, which was a mistake. Their plane landed and my future-spouse went to go pick them up while I watched the food cook. I decided that all the dirty cooking dishes needed to be washed before they arrived and began loading the dishwasher. Unfortunately, I had no dish-tabs and decided to use dish soap. My mother told me that it could only be used in extreme circumstances and really wasn’t made for the dishwasher. Looking back, I believe a dime-sized amount would have sufficed, but I was panicking and just squeezed the bottle liberally. Ten minutes later, I started noticing a film of bubbles pouring out of the bottom of the dishwasher. The waves of bubbles poured out over the kitchen floor. In my panic, I turned away from the stove, where I was boiling water for pasta and assessed the situation. Opening the dishwasher, more bubbles poured out and across the floor! The jets hadn’t stopped completely when I opened the door and sprayed some of the bubbles onto the ceiling.
Cleaning up bubbles is not like cleaning up water. Towels don’t like to soak them up, it was a very long process. Somewhere in the process of cleaning up the bubbles and running up and down the stairs to fetch more absorbent materials, I remembered the pot I left on the stove. A horrible black and smoky stench, greeted me about the same time and the fire alarm above the stove was chirping. The water had boiled away and the pot was dry as a bone and super hot, the material it was made out of started to crack and left a horrible smell wafting up in the kitchen.
It was a truly stressful experience.”
Should’ve Cooled It On The Celebrating
“My grandma was having Thanksgiving at her house. I was out of school for the holiday, but both of my parents had to work, so I was staying with her and ‘helping’ with the food. I was also sneaking sips of her beverage when she wasn’t looking.
While I did okay with the beverage I had before Thanksgiving, the one she had on Thanksgiving did not sit well. I ended up barfing on my plate (and my blind great-grandmother) at the table in front of the whole family.”
“Worst Thanksgiving To Date”
“I made a 12-hour trip last night for Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving may be the worst. My brother attempted suicide and lives on the West coast. My mom works, so my dad had to fly out the night before, and one other brother couldn’t make it.
So, it ended up just being just my dog and me (after a 12-hour drive) and my younger brother on Thanksgiving and a handful of relatives the next day. My suicidal brother is still alive and sedated, but this might actually be the worst Thanksgiving in our family to date.”
There’s No Place Like Home For The Holidays
“My aunt (a nurse) unknowingly brought home a virus. I’m convinced this bug was some kind of military experiment because, within a week of the meal, nearly everyone in attendance became violently ill with vomiting and diarrhea. I was so sick I nearly had to be hospitalized.”
It’s Gettin’ Hot In Here
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“My mom was making extra stuffing to go with the meals, so she had packed it into these ‘oven bags.’ The bag had apparently gotten too close to the edge of the oven and it started smoking.
Long story short, smoke detectors were set off and an automatic call to the fire department was dispatched. My parents have since deactivated that service feature.”
At Least She Had A Back-Up Plan
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“Last year, my in-laws were doing the whole nine yards, but because I don’t really like my sister-in-law’s cooking, I told her I was going to bring an extra turkey just in case. I almost burned my oven/apartment in the process of cooking the turkey. Long story short, the aluminum pot in which I put in the turkey to cook had a hole in it and as the turkey was cooking the oil, seasoning from the turkey was dripping in the oven, and I didn’t realize because I was busy running around the house and doing the laundry downstairs.
As I walked up to my kitchen, there was smoke fuming everywhere, and the whole family began coughing like crazy. I went to check on the turkey. The foil I had put to cover the turkey for over-browning caught on fire due to the turkey grease. The turkey breast side was black. At that point, I was over the whole thing. I then spent three hours cleaning the mess and making the whole chicken that I had as a backup plan.”
The Struggle Is Real
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“One year, we lost power during a snowstorm on Thanksgiving day. My dad pulled the top shelf off of the grill, put the turkey in the foil on the grill, and put it on a low flame. Hurriedly, we tried side dishes on the grill while the turkey was resting.
They were nothing fancy, just the basic sides. I shoveled the deck a few times. We ended up eating dinner by emergency candlelight.”
“All The Fixing To Avoid Bad Food And Family Drama”
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“My in-laws are terrible cooks. Last year, I did a huge Thanksgiving with all the fixings to avoid bad food, and the family drama that came with it convinced me never to do it again, even though I enjoyed cooking a huge meal. So this year, my brother-in-law asked me three days before Thanksgiving if I’d be nice enough to cook again. Nope, sorry.
But he insisted we still have a gathering even though each of the mother-in-law’s kids had already planned their own meals. So we all came over to his house where he prepared us all frozen pizzas and fries.
Yep. Our big family meal was watching him cook frozen pizza and fries. He kept opening the oven every minute to check if the pizza was done, so it took ages. It was cheap pizza, too. Gross.”