Thanksgiving is an important holiday in America. Pew reports that 91% of Americans said in 2024 that they will be celebrating Thanksgiving – that includes large majorities in all major demographics. It’s the time for the whole family to get together and say how thankful they are for each other.
On paper, it sounds wonderful and idyllic. However, the reality is sometimes much more bleak. This list is about those times: the times when the turkey wasn’t perfect, when family members did something embarrassing, or people had to celebrate Thanksgiving solo. So, check out what kind of disappointments folks have had during their recent Thanksgivings!
#1 I Work At An Old Folks Home. This Is The Visitor Parking On Thanksgiving Day
Image credits: WhiskeyCloudsBackup
#2 Happy Thanksgiving, Heres A Turkey I Forgot To Thaw, Annnd Apparently My Dog Saw A Mouse And Now He Won’t Get Off The Counter…. Oh And I’m Working Tonight Too
Image credits: imgur.com
#3 Our Thanksgiving Day Catastrophe
Image credits: imgur.com
For some, Thanksgiving is a pleasant few days with family they haven’t seen for a long time. For others, it’s like the Thanksgiving episode of The Bear, “Seven Fishes”: an onslaught of anxiety from all directions. The most common fears are that the meal won’t be perfect and that family members will want to cut each other’s throats by the end of the evening.
Yet these two worries can be completely manageable. As a perfectionist myself, especially when it comes to cooking and baking, I can relate to the people for whom the turkey is never cooked well enough and the mashed potatoes aren’t the creamiest to their potential. And, as far as family goes, the key is not to talk about politics.
#4 Was Super Pumped To Smoked A Turkey For Thanksgiving. Only Now Am I Able To Be Ok With Sharing The Pictures Of This Abomination. I’m Not Sure What Went Wrong
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#5 Parents Are Getting Divorced, Don’t Want To Deal With Who Is Going Where. Happy Thanksgiving
Image credits: AlienCabbie
#6 That Time My BF’s Lovely Family Invited Me To Join Them For The Holiday And I Proceeded To Demolish The Dessert I Was Trying To Impress Them With. Happy Thanksgiving, Fools!
Image credits: kristinafeyerherm
Those hosting Thanksgiving this year might already have every step planned—there are only a few days left, after all! Experts claim that the very start of Thanksgiving dinner should be a month before: that’s when you go over the guest list, find the recipes, and get any gear that will be necessary for your meal.
According to Martha Stewart, the actual food preparation should be a week before. That’s when you clean out your fridge to make room for the turkey and thaw the turkey itself. A week before Thanksgiving is also when you should prepare the brine and finish your shopping list for sides. Those who want homemade pies might also make pie dough and freeze it up to a month in advance.
#7 Got A Cake For Thanksgiving, Didn’t See It Until We Got Home
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#8 I Am Really Crying Right Now Cause First Year That I Am In Charge Of The Lasagna And I Dropped It I Think Imma Stay Home
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#9 Whole Family Were No-Shows. This Was Our Thanksgiving For 3
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Today is actually the perfect day to prep your veggies and make dips, relishes, and dressings. Did you know you can peel your potatoes two days in advance and keep them submerged in water so they don’t brown until the day of? Try out that trick! As for dressings and relishes, they’ll only get better once they sit for a few days in the fridge.
#10 My Friend Writes “Apparently I Bought A Brining Bag Instead Of A Baking Bag”
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#11 Gone For Vacation For 5 Days. Came Back To Find This Leaking In Our Basement Guest Bedroom. My Wife’s Family Is Coming For Thanksgiving In 2 Days
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#12 Green Bean Casserole Anyone?
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Then, the star of the evening—the mighty turkey. To cook the kind of turkey we often see in pictures in cooking magazines—roasted brown and crisped skinned—is quite a feat. As food scientist Nathan Myhrvold explained to NPR, that’s because different body parts of the turkey don’t cook the same way.
#13 I’m Visiting Home And Some Relatives Need Their OS Reinstalled
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#14 Came To Visit The Right Wing In-Laws For Thanksgiving And Got To Stay In The “American Room”
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#15 Grandparents House Caught Fire While They Were Away For Thanksgiving
Image credits: MKatze
“The breast meat will dry out if you cook it at the same temperature that you need to cook the thighs to have them be done,” Myhrvold says. The breast meat might also just be dry by nature. For the skin to turn brown and crispy, you need to cook it at least at 175 degrees Celsius.
#16 I Came Back From Thanksgiving To Find That My Landlord Had Revarnished/Painted The Stairs Up To My Apartment. They Are Still Wet, I Was Given No Notice, And There Is Only One Staircase
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#17 My Buddy Attempted To Make A Rotisserie Turkey For Thanksgiving This Year
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#18 Happy Thanksgiving From My Family To Yours
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What he recommends doing so that the breast doesn’t turn out dry is injection brining. When you brine a turkey by submerging it in salty water, it makes the meat juicer but does the same to the skin. Instead of crispy, it then turns rubbery. Myhrvold says he takes a brining syringe, fills it up with brine, and pokes the turkey. “You’ll probably put about a cup into the turkey,” he says.
#19 Saw These Little White Balls In Foil Next To My Wife’s Apple Pie. Thought She Made Candies, Too. Now I’m Looking For A Dentist On Thanksgiving Because I Bit Into About 3 Ceramic Pie Weights
Image credits: JustTom1
#20 Someone Shot My French Door With A Bb Gun Today. Happy Thanksgiving
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#21 Rut Roh. Time For Some New Baking Dishes. Roasted Pecan Fail
Image credits: thelumberjackbarbie
To make the skin even crispier, Myhrvold advises keeping the turkey in the fridge uncovered for at least three whole days. This dries out the skin even more. Then, after three days, you take it out of the fridge and rub it with any neutral oil: canola, sunflower, etc. However, if your turkey still doesn’t look like from a magazine, don’t fret. Myhrvold says a common food photography trick is to use brown shoe polish. Ew!
#22 They Are Supposed To Be Turkeys
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#23 Brand New Dishwasher Bought On Sept 25 Fails On Thanksgiving. Not Pleased
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#24 Happy Thanksgiving!
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What if you’re not worried about food this Thanksgiving and the eminent evening together with certain family members is the thing you dread? Well, you’re not alone, as 59% of Americans are worried about political disagreements causing tension at the Thanksgiving table. Family and relationship experts told Spruce, who conducted the survey, that families should set a “no politics” rule, turn off the news, and distract themselves with board games.
#25 So I Get An Email With Photos From My Girlfriend’s Family’s Thanksgiving
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#26 On My Flight Home For Thanksgiving, This Couple Had Their Window Shade Up And A Kids Show Playing On A Tablet Without Headphones, Both Prior To 7 Am
Image credits: KhakiWearingJake
#27 Someone Slashed My Tire The Night Before I Was Supposed To Drive 3 Hours For Thanksgiving With Family
Image credits: DrWermActualWerm
Clinical psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry told Today that families should look for opportunities to connect. That can come in the form of question card games or simply asking your family members open-ended questions like: “Did you see that movie?” and “What was your favorite part?”
“We all shine when someone conveys interest in us and when you draw out a person’s thoughts and feelings you create a connection and deepen your understanding of the other,” she explained.
#28 First Thanksgiving Fail… Had To Remind Myself Not To Stress Out. It Happens. A Glass Of Wine Helped
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#29 Thanksgiving 101. Take Last Night’s Pizza Out Of The Oven Before Cooking Today’s Casseroles
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#30 School Lunch On Thanksgiving
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What about your Thanksgiving, Pandas? Have you ever had any doozies like these? Share with us in the comments. And let us know your plans for this year: are you hosting, being a guest, or skipping Thanksgiving altogether? If you’re feeling like seeing more disappointing Thanksgiving pics, you can do that here, here, here, and here.
#31 Nobody Showed Up For Thanksgiving
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#32 We Did Eventually Save The Turkey
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#33 Stranded On Thanksgiving. Vw Refused To Look At It So They Could Deny A Loaner
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#34 Not Only Am I Spending This Years Holidays Alone Because My Closest Family Live In A Different State, My Boyfriend And I Broke Up Just A Couple Of Days Ago So I’m At My Lowest. Then I Managed To Burn This Pizza. Hope Everyone’s Thanksgiving Is Going Well
Image credits: PruddentBubble
#35 Sigh. Happy Thanksgiving
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#36 Crashed My Car On The Way Home For Thanksgiving This Morning
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#37 Anyone Want To Try My Nanaimo Bars With Glass Shards?
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#38 Cooked A Thanksgiving Meal From Scratch For My Family & No One Ate It
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#39 We Got A Request From That Aunt Proclaiming That We Now Owed Her $75 To Cover The Cost Of The Thanksgiving Meal
It wasn’t at the dinner, but my aunt invited us all over to her and her families house (which was out of state) for thanksgiving, and it was all going to be provided by them. So our family decided to go and offer to bring something, anything just as a thank you. But she persisted we didn’t bring anything
The dinner was good, and it was an overall very great thanksgiving. Well, sometime about a month later, we got a letter from that aunt proclaiming that we now owe her $75 to cover the cost of the meal. My parents were furious, as we had just spent a lot of money to go down and see her, and had even offered to lighten her load by bringing some of our own dishes. They wouldn’t even be so mad if it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t even tell anyone about this when she was giving invitations.
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#40 Girlfriend’s Little Brother Just Worked His First Thanksgiving Double. This Was The Staff Meal
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#41 So Disappointing
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#42 I Hope You All Enjoy Your Left Over Turkey, Because We Won’t Get To. It Only Took A Total Of 12 Hours To Brine, Prep And Smoke
Family members didn’t bring anything to thanksgiving dinner, took plates and plates of stuff home, and are having a thanksgiving dinner today but didn’t invite OP and their family. This is what was left of their dinner.
Image credits: 3lbowMacar0ni
#43 I Grabbed It Wrong And It Fell
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#44 Jello Thanksgiving, Will Follow Up With How It Tastes
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#45 Happy Thanksgiving?
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#46 So As You All Know, It’s Thanksgiving. After Stuffing My Face, I Bent Down To Pick Up My Cat And Ripped The A*s Right Out Of These
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#47 Happy Thanksgiving Everyone
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#48 Dropped Newly Purchased $6 Garlic Powder
Had some last minute shopping to finish thanksgiving day. The store was sold out of cheaper garlic powder so I bought the more expensive organic one.. in a glass container. When I went to put it away after one use I accidentally dropped it, breaking and spilling all of it.
Image credits: LukeB90
#49 How My Dad Eats Our Cornbread For Thanksgiving
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#50 Whole Family Is Staying At My House The Next Couple Days For Thanksgiving And Our Septic Is Clogged
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#51 Well…thanksgiving Has Started Out Awesome! Grateful The House Didn’t Burn Down
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#52 Found In The Oven After Cooking Thanksgiving Meal. Apparently It Was A Pen
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#53 Swiss That I Just Bought Yesterday, Only To Discover It’s Moldy On Thanksgiving
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#54 My Stove Decided To Take A Vacation Day. On Thanksgiving. With Guests Coming Over In A Few Hours
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#55 On The Way Home From Cracker Barrel, Where I Spent 45 Minutes To Pick Up A Single Thanksgiving Dinner, This Happened
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#56 I’ve Got Another One Y’all
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#57 Thanksgiving Disaster?
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#58 I Think Thanksgiving Has Caused The Baker At My Local Grocery Store To Go Completely Insane
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#59 Happy Thanksgiving, Drunk Neighbor
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#60 This Is What I Get For Doing Dishes
I was finishing up dishes before we made our big Thanksgiving meal today. One of my vintage Muppets glasses shattered with my hand inside. Luckily no stitches, just glue. But my husband had to take over my portion of the cooking.
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#61 Broke My Wrist, Happy Thanksgiving Everyone
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#62 Made A Meat Pie With Leftovers From Thanksgiving. I Think He’s Cute
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#63 My Car Was Key’d Over Thanksgiving Night
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#64 So I Made An Oops. I Forgot They Were In The Oven
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#65 Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s My Pinterest Thanksgiving Fail For The Day
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#66 The Bake Line Is Not The Same As The Grill Line
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#67 Forgot To Take The Turkey Out Of The Deep Freeze Last Night. Now Trying To Thaw It Out. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
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#68 My Mom Works As A Cna At A Hospital, And There Were Supposed To Be Three Other Cnas On Shift Today (Thanksgiving Day)
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#69 This Thanksgiving, Don’t Forget To Use Your Brine Drawer!
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#70 These Pecans Pecan’t
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#71 The Well Sucks This Time
Came home from Thanksgiving lunch to find our well pump had catastrophicly failed and was geysering water into the pump room. 2nd time in 3 months. Of course, both servicers I know are out of town for the holiday.
Image credits: WildHareAcres
