What was your biggest Thanksgiving disaster - and how could you have prevented it?
816990
It was the first Thanksgiving after my husband and I started dating.  He drove three hours to spend the holiday weekend with me so I wanted to impress him with a home cooked meal.  I waited until leaving work Wednesday night to go the the grocery store and in the mad push of people, I reached in the bin and grabbed a turkey.  The next afternoon, I placed my turkey in a sink full of water to thaw and began on my side dishes.  After he arrived and we had a drink, he ventured into the kitchen at which point I noticed he was peering down into the sink and frowning.  I asked if something was wrong with the turkey and he said "Yeah . . . it's a duck."  \n\nTo my horror, I had picked up a duck and never noticed that this long narrow bird was not a fat round turkey.  I attempted to roast it and while it had a nice flavor, we quickly realized there isn't much meat on a duck.  In addition, my gravy was burnt, my potatoes were salty and the macaroni and cheese was a solid block.  I finally accepted defeat and we ventured out to the local 7-Eleven and had a Thanksgiving hot dog!   \n\nI wouldn't have done a thing to prevent it!!  That night my husband told me he loved me for the first time and we have been together for over twelve years.  He turned out to be an incredible cook and  I have never cooked another Thanksgiving dinner!  And every year we toast our famous Thanksgiving duck!
782626
best-first one with each of my kids worst-when my brother moved out of state and when my mom in law passed away and wasn't with us for turkey day
915499
when i was young, my family would always have a huge christmas eve dinner, italian style, with tons of seafood.  when i was 4 i remember waking up in the middle of the night to see my dad being rolled out on a stretcher; he had gotten food poisoning from the scallops.  most memorable--Dad (while on stretcher): "I think I just crapped my pants."  I found out Santa wasn't real that Christmas, LOL!
781698
In my family, if your late getting to the house, you are stuck doing clean up during the games! For many years, the Packers played the Lions on Thanksgiving. I'm from Wisconsin, so this was a very big deal seeing as how the whole family are Packer Fans.\nWe give thanks and talk of the things we are grateful for. \nWhen I was very young (5-6) my brother who is much older, explained to me that watching the little guy run over the big guy is what life is about. Meaning, that if you put your mind to it, be grateful and thankful for what GOD has given you, you can do anything no matter how small you are.\nThanksgiving is a message, not a meal. I see that message every time I watch a football game, even when my Packers are losing.\nHappy Thanksgiving!
704040
My goodness!  All those people and you're on bed rest?!?!?!\nLet everyone else bring the food, you can do potluck.\nI do have a story.  My nephew's wife was responsible one year for cooking the turkey.  She got up very early in the morning and put it on, fixed other things, then decided she would lay down for a while.  Well, of course she fell asleep, and when she woke up it was almost dinnertime.  The turkey had cooked to leather.  Luckily she is a quick thinker.  She borrowed leftover dark meat from a friend who had done her turkey the day before.  And she went to a restaurant in town and bought a cooked turkey breast.  She cut it up and stuck it on a platter together and came on to dinner at my sister's house.  Told them she had decided to carve it at home.  My mother bragged on how good and tender it was.  She didn't tell my sister (her mother-in-law) about it for years!\nSeriously, let the family help you.  They will understand.  So put your turkey in the oven (don't go to sleep and forget it, though!)\nLet the hubby straighten the house.  Let the others cook and bring a dish.  Then let them all clean up.  While they're at it, they can do the decorating while you supervise from the sofa!\nGood luck to you, and Happy Thanksgiving.
577458
My ex-husband (we had been married 10 years) gave me the surprise Christmas gift of having arranged for me drive 2000 miles to spend the rest of the holiday with my grandmother. It was very inconvenient for me to actually take the trip, and way out of our budget at the time, but his own grandparents had recently died, and I imagined this had something to do with his strange gift ... he had already called Gramma and told her to expect me and all. So I went. \n\nThrough the entire trip, my husband wasn't answering the phone or returning my calls. His parents also couldn't be reached. You can imagine how little either Gramma or I enjoyed the visit with me being worried sick. So I turned around and headed home through a blizzard.\n\nI arrived home after 40 hours of straight driving to find my husband in OUR bed with a teenager, and about $3000 in credit card bills from their "honeymoon" in DisneyWorld.\n\nTo this day, he complains to our friends that I "didn't have to be such a bitch" about that. 'Tis better to have loved and lost than to be stuck with the dumb psycho bastard for another 20 years.
848878
I dropped a frozen turkey... that thing was slippery and cold!
865543
When I was around 11 or 12, my aunt volunteered to cook a turkey (her first whole bird) which is not really a Caribbean thing.  To make a long story short, she was so proud of showing off the bird, that it took THREE tries to cut it.  The second try, my cousin and uncle used a brand new electric knife which it shorted out and made the house lights blink.  Then, the hostess brought in a machete (and an army of three) to finally cut the poor thing.  My aunt was embarrassed every Thanksgiving for about 4 to 5years after the incident.  Now,  she's the champ! (And yes, it is a very true story!)
738907
With a moment of silence and think about what might have been had he been allowed to live.  Then commit yourself to doing something worthwhile for your fellow man tomorrow on Thanksgiving instead of just feeding your face.  If you live in a town with a military base, it can be something as simple as having a serviceman share your Thanksgiving dinner.
44392
One Thanksgiving Day, I cooked a complete dinner for my family which included five children and cooked an extra complete dinner for residents of a detox. One freezing winter day, while entering a t-stop (subway)in Boston I noticed several homeless men huddled in a corner. I went to McDonald's and bought them hamburgers, fries, and hot coffee. Both incidents are true. You can pick the nicest one of the two.
937539
Really sad isn't it.  I remember when I was a kid, and going to gramas house, and everyone sitting down around a huge table every sunday and eating dinner.  Now none of my family even get together for thanksgiving anymore.
33846
churches.. at one point our family was so bad we were lucky enough to be one of the families our church brought food to for christmas and thanksgiving..
632549
my best friends little brother was putting up the silverware out of the dishwasher and slipped in a puddle of water that had leaked out of a bowl or something. He landed on the silverware rack and a butcher knife went straight through his heart. He ran outside and died in the front yard.\n\nNOW...me and my kids are SURE to turn sharp utensils blade-down in the dishwasher and are VERY careful not to dump cups or bowls that accumulated water onto the floor.
512434
Many years ago I was going to a party with a buddy of mine. I had to finish work first so He drank a gallon of Bali High wine before We left for the Party. After about an hour no one had seen My drunk buddy and We all started searching for Him. We discovered He was passed out on the toilet and had taken a giant dump but hadn't taken off his underwear. I had the job of pulling up His pants and loading Him into My car to take Him home. Not only was He a smelly mess He then decided to puke up the entire gallon of wine in My car.\nOnce I got Him to His house I honked the horn until His father came out and took Him off My hands. 30 Years later I still call Him STINKY!
950453
A turkey\nBox of mashed potatoes\nBox of stuffing\n2 packets of gravy\ncan of corn\ncan of cranberry sauce\ncan of yams\nmini marshmellows\npumpkin pie & can of whipped cream\ninstant coffee\nhot coder packets\nI always include a cream or fruit pie also, because I do NOT like pumpkin pie & some others don't either...\nI also include the fixins for a green bean casserole & a green salad...  I try to include what "I" would like to feed my family on Thanksgiving & enough to feed a good sized family or at least enough for a couple of days leftovers.  I also throw in a foil roasting pan & box of foil & a gallon of milk.\n\nGood for you for doing this..... GOD BLESS!!!!
952296
Yes, One nice thing about Thanksgiving is the people who break bread with us love us and are with us for that reason,not for your gravy LOL. Also, I bet it`s not as bad as you think.God bless and enjoy your day and friends
116155
Hid under their (brothers) beds, and after they were tucked in for the night I reached up and grabbed a leg and held on... they screeched like little girls.\n\nAlso blew pepper at another brother.. which he thought it was my sister, so he got her back instead..she can't stand pepper even today.\n\nKilled my sisters favorite stuffed animal by giving it a bath in the washing machine... all the insides became outsides.. until our mom performed surgery and restuffed and sewed it. I was so scared she'd hate me..Thank God Mom was able to fix it all.