Of the many traditions that exist around Thanksgiving Day in the US, one that only gets better over time is the re-telling (or originating) of dinner disasters. And while they’re not funny at the time (especially if it happens to you) they really become legendary among family and friends.
Some of our favorite sitcoms have the best stories, which we love revisiting every year. We’ll get to those in a bit, but right now we’ll get the ball rolling by telling one of our disaster stories.
It was, of course, our first time hosting the dinner for the family. The first decision to be made was the size of the bird (4 people for dinner, BUT we want leftovers = How many pounds?) and making sure everyone got their favorite side dish. On Thanksgiving Day, with the turkey in the oven, the guests arrive on time and enjoy their favorite beverages while watching whatever football game was on TV. Finally, the turkey was out of the oven and “resting” (Don’t understand why the bird gets to rest; the cook certainly doesn’t!), Dad was called to the kitchen for his customary carving duties.
Left in the kitchen to carve, several minutes went by before the Dad returned to the living room, looked directly at me and asked “Can I see you in here for a minute?”
Uh-oh. This can’t be good. It seems that when Dad was considering his plan of attack, he was unable to find the turkey breast to begin carving. It took a few minutes to consider the golden brown and basted skin of the bird to realize that–it was upside down. Yes, the turkey was cooked upside down, or bottoms up, if you prefer. Our claim? “Well, at least the white meat will be juicy!”.
Crisis averted. Disaster story on the books.
Several years ago, Vanity Fair collected the best of TV show Thanksgivings, and named it Behold, the Most Disastrous Thanksgivings in Sitcom History. They’re all there: Friends, Full House, Cheers, Seinfeld, The Bob Newhart Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and, our personal favorite, WKRP in Cincinnati. Many of these make the rounds on social media this time of year, and they never get old.
And by the way, if you’ve had a real-life holiday disaster you’re in good company: Martha Stewart didn’t have the best holiday the first time she tried either
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Photo by Pro Church Media on Unsplash
