Hey Pandas, What Was Your Worst Thanksgiving Debacle? (Closed)

Celebrations bring out the best and the worst in people. This time, share your worst debacle stories.

A skunk got into the house by the cat door, and one of my cats chased it all over the living room, dining room, and kitchen…spraying the whole time. All my furniture, including my piano, all of my Navajo rugs, even the art on the walls, were dripping with skunk spray. It was 3:00 in the morning, and 20 people were coming for dinner that night..

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Final score:

32points

Powerful Katrinka

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Old Roadie 1 year ago

Summer evening. Porch swing. Daughter is engrossed in a book when she felt tiny paws on the swing. Of course, she gave absent minded skritches. Moments pass. Hm. Kitty has really matted hair. Looks down...it's a wild skunk. Nearly strangled on a scream and skunk raised its tail, startled. Skritches! Yes. More skritches. Skunk was enjoying this spa day, acting like a kitten on catnip. Daughter, not so much. Hours pass, or maybe minutes. Time drags when there is a skunk at your feet. Finally, skunk wanders over to the cat food bowl, eats all the food, splashes in the water, and waddles off. It barely cleared the corner when my daughter exploded in a scream, hit the back door running, screamed all the way to the shower, and jumped in fully clothed. Her hubby and sons were in the sofa watching a game, nearly shat themselves as she screamed through house. Ran to bathroom where she stammered out her encounter with wild skunk. They're still laughing.

10points

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Tested positive for COVID! Silver lining? A whole day of binging Netflix, napping, and eating.

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Final score:

28points

Rose Mattax

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Susan Green 1 year ago (edited)

Sounds fantastic. Except for getting Covid of course.

9points

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My wife's sister and her husband were always late to family gatherings.
One year at Thanksgiving, it was approaching dinner time at her mom and dads, and they had not shown up yet. We called, and sis replied, hubby is just getting out of the shower, I am finishing my deviled eggs, and we will be on our way.
Well, an hour later, we started our meal without them. They showed up, got out of their car, set a large box next to it, and came in.
Well sis had to explain: "I knew you were all in a hurry for us, so I put the eggs (in their shells) in the microwave to cook them, and went to help my husband choose clothes. I came back to this" and pointed at their microwave they had brought along. With a dozen, cooked, exploded and burned eggs in it, and a smell that you could smell from many feet away.
I wish I had pictures of a yellow black coating on the door of the microwave, and an indescribable sulfur smell.
From then on, we let her bring desserts as their contribution to the family Thanksgiving meal.

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Final score:

23points

Rick Olson

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Erica Knapp 1 year ago

Hysterical! But why bring the microwave?? 🤣

11points

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Bro-in-law said, in front of his new wife, he preferred my pumpkin pie to hers. Ain't been invited back since. Wait, is that a debacle or a lucky escape :-D

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Final score:

19points

Leo Domitrix

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Old Roadie 1 year ago

That guy is not getting pie for a while. In any sense of the word. Ahem.

7points

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The Thanksgiving after my ex tried to kill me 2 months earlier. Had my mil cause she had already been living with us. Early alzheimers, she just sat on my daughter's couch and peed in her diaper. Worst holiday ever.

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Final score:

19points

Donna Brown

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BeepBeepBoopBoop 1 year ago

uh- that's a lot to take in. I hope everything is better now! ❤️

12points

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My cat died and I spent the whole day crying

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Final score:

18points

Silre (she/her)

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Pheline 1 year ago

Oh! I would too.

4points

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Mine would have to be when I was about 5 years old. true to form my Uncle did his celebrating early and when it came time for the football games he was plastered, drunk off his a*s for non Americans. So much so that he mooned the entire family when his teamed scored. Should have seen my Mothers's, Aunt's faces was priceless. Never saw much of that Uncle again as a matter of fact.

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Final score:

17points

I can't comment anymore

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Shyla Bouche 1 year ago

Seems you saw enough of him then to last a lifetime.

14points

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Had an allergic reaction to pecans, thanksgiving 2006. Since then, I’ve been stuck with that allergy.

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Final score:

17points

MZ (she/they/he)

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BeepBeepBoopBoop 1 year ago

dang I feel this... I'm allergic to a lot of things, although not like majorly lol. Funnily enough, I'm allergic to pecan trees but not pecans. (I'm allergic to enough nuts plus I don't even like them, so never testing that one)

5points

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Stomach bug this year. No Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family because it wouldn't stay down.

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Final score:

15points

Victoria Anderson

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AliJanx 1 year ago

We had a Christmas like that, one year. Started with my husband on the Sunday b4 Christmas, and went through the house every other day. I got it on Christmas, and then it went back to my husband. I threatened to take me and the kids to the most expensive hotel in town, if he didn't properly isolate!!!

5points

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#10

My family cancelled……

I had all this food and no one to eat it with

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Final score:

15points

infifthposition

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Im_ya_girl (Submission author) 1 year ago

I should clarify, I had my dad and two brothers and grandparents but all my aunts and uncles and cousins cancelled out of the blue

12points

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#11

Last year, my friend made Thanksgiving dinner. Her oven caught fire, and all was ruined.

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Final score:

15points

Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My!

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Old Roadie 1 year ago

Yikes! Hope her house escaped damage. Fire is scary fast. Still recovering from one last December.

6points

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#12

Thanksgiving '07 at my ex husband's cousins house. Let me start by saying I hated his family. I have good manners so every time I was around them I was always quite & polite. Well we get there and everything was made out of a box. All the children took seats at the table so all the adults (there were a lot of them) had to sit on the floor to eat. When others hot up for seconds I noticed that they were serving themselves with the plastic forks they'd just eaten with. Not that I had planned for 2nds it was hard enough to choke down the first time. Finally they ended the evening arguing over the grandparents estate who gets what, the grandmother had passed earlier that year; the grandpa was still alive & there at the dinner.

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Final score:

13points

The Redhead

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Pheline 1 year ago

Unless they wanted to sit on the floor were they unable to tell the children to leave the table? We had a kid’s table and didn’t dream of taking over the dining room and moving the adults to the kitchen.

8points

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#13

Not as bad as the others. 2022. Only 1 in 4 of my kids were here. A lonely one for sure.

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Final score:

12points

Madame Chaos

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Samia Guled 1 year ago

at least one of your kids came! i hope you had a nice thanksgiving!

4points

#14

I have a HUGE extended family, and we used to all gather together for Thanksgiving. We'd always set up a little crafts table, and one year, disaster struck. My older brother decided it would be so fun to make a pool of hot glue on the table, and my younger brother decided it would be fun to stick his hand in it. Flash forward over all the screaming and crying, my younger brother had to go to the hospital with a really bad burn, and the mood was killed a bit. But, he was a smidgen high on whatever they gave him for the pain when he got home, and a high seven year old is really funny.

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Final score:

11points

ClarYachts

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#15

Not mine but it was pretty funny. I'm a dog trainer and I got a call about a beagle a few years back. It was a purebred beagle, typical size and was allowed to run around on the kitchen counters like a cat by its owners who had no control. It was not however allowed on the table. To each their own I guess.

It was Thanksgiving, they had set the table, had begun moving everything over. It jumped up and grabbed the turkey by the leg, taking it down. They saw, yelled at the dog so the dog ran at them baring teeth and barking. The they left it alone, afraid (of the tiny dog)... the dog ended up eating literally the entire turkey then jumping up, knocking gravy everywhere and scooting across the table cloth.

They ate pizz for dinner.

Now the dog is a model citizen :)

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Final score:

10points

Hales

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#16

My family always does this thing called the Saran Wrap Ball (Swb) it originated from my stepmom

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Final score:

9points

AceIsStrange (He/They/Zem)

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BeepBeepBoopBoop 1 year ago

oh isn't that the thing where you get presents inside, and one person pulls off a layer, and it goes in a circle? I thought that was a Christmas tradition normally. If I'm wrong, please explain if love to hear it! But this doesn't sound like a debacle lol

5points

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#17

It wouldn't let me finish, it originated from my stepmoms family but made it's way around. One year it was my aunts turn to make the swb, and all she did was fill it with blank prices of paper

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Final score:

9points

AceIsStrange (He/They/Zem)

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Ryza Tigno 1 year ago

LMAO reminds me of my cousin when we were 8, he did this for Christmas to a neighbour, except instead of Saran wrap, it was just old newspapers, and inside was a 1 inch piece of chocolate

1point

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#18

2018- I overheard my "partner" on the phone with his nephew who’d lived with him and his now ex about 8 years earlier and was abused by the ex. They both were, actually. He was telling nephew about his daughter’s RN pinning and his son-in-law "was going to have the sheriff escort me off the premises" if I showed up. Next he told his nephew that grandma & grandpa invited him and his 2 sons for Christmas "but they don’t want (me)". He was very matter of fact, didn’t bother him that someone I’d never met planned to do that and that his mother despised me.

Later I found out he had his real Thanksgiving with his ex and tried to claim he wasn’t listening to his mom but he did go to his daughter’s pinning with an affair partner.

I hate Thanksgiving.

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Final score:

9points

Pheline

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Old Roadie 1 year ago

It's my hope that neanderthal acquires a socially unacceptable, painfully itchy, hopefully oozing rash on his butt. May you find laughter and unexpected joys every day this year.

4points

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#19

3 days before thanksgiving we found out my mom was allergic to turkey

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Final score:

9points

Slothgirl8000

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Old Roadie 1 year ago

Ham... ham is good! Heck, so is pizza. The whole purpose is just being thankful together.

10points

#20

Years ago, after Thanksgiving dinner, and the mess was cleaned up and the leftovers were put away, I laid down for a well-deserved nap. I woke up to the sounds of a lot of kids in my house and thought nothing of it. It was just my own and their friends. Later all was silent, and I got up from my nap, looking forward to a turkey sandwich and a piece of lemon chiffon pie that my daughter had made just for me. When I got to the kitchen, there was nothing left of anything! Turkey bones and empty dishes! My kids and their friends had eaten every scrap of food that was left-over. Including my lemon chiffon pie! To say I was insane with anger would be putting it mildly.

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Final score:

8points

Elizabeth VanDyke

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#21

All of the Turkey on the floor……………….

Very happy day!

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Final score:

7points

Elizabeth Feldman

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#22

My friend brought his three boyfriends (polyamorous relationship) to dinner and introduced them as his harem. His parents weren't too happy about the fact that their son was gay and poly but my friend's grandfather thought it was the funniest thing ever and laughed about it for a solid five minutes. Grandfathers are bloody awesome

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Final score:

6points

CallaghanLive

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#23

I don't live anywhere near my family, but my mother would always come visit. One year she got sick, so dummy me decided to go be with her. (The only thing I wanted to do was spend the morning with her and talk.) The first red flag was that sister #3 sent me an itinerary for the entire weekend. RF#2 that morning mom and I had to pick up my uncle from the hospital 45min away because sister #3 didn't want to drive the five minutes to pick him up herself. We were all supposed to got over to sister #2's house another hour away from sister #3. Well, by the time mom and I picked up my uncle, he was tired. (Sister #2 never believed that he hated spending time at her house.) So guess what? Mom decided to cancel. I got blamed for ruining everything. Yelled at, no SCREAMED at. Come to find out, my sisters had planned to gang up on me and demand I move back in with my mom to take care of both her and my uncle. Considering the reason I moved in the first place a few years before, was both work related and they kept complaining that I needed to move out of her house. Now mind you, I had just gotten married six months before.

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Final score:

5points

Stacy Bender

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ZeroCapacity 1 year ago

Sounds like a few siblings need to check some entitlement

2points

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#24

My 5 yr cousin gets slightly annoyed when the adults are talking and there is nothing for her to do. So my grandma brought a craft. She never did any thing like that for me when I was that age and I only had a brother to talk to. (My brother and I are 14 and 15, the oldest cousins other than my brother that was at thanksgiving is 5) my grandma chalks this up to keeping all of us sane.

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Final score:

4points

Slothgirl8000

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Old Roadie 1 year ago

Speaking as a great-grandparent, we make mistakes with every generation. Hopefully we grow through them to become better people. Your grandma may be acknowledging those shortcomings as you grew up ... trying to be a better person. At least... I hope she is. Hope she makes it up to you.

5points

#25

This year my son kicked my door in...three times..I currently have no working front door using all my living room and dinning furniture to secure it. He almost kicked in the back breaking the looks and leaving dogs stuck until it could be broke open and now locks don't work and I can't secure my home so here I sit but hey at least the dogs go out back now.
Wonderful life...

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Final score:

3points

Michelle Hill

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Elizabeth VanDyke 1 year ago

Did calling the police ever occur to you? I certainly would have.

2points

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#26

Pineapple Ham came way to sweet, couldn’t eat it

Turkey came way to salty, they practically soaked it in salt, couldnt eat it.

Shattered a glass bowl with mash potatoes inside it

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Final score:

3points

Sushi god

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#27

My grandpa passed out on the floor and was put in the hospital so we didn’t get to have a Thanksgiving until the day after. Luckily he’s okay now!

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Final score:

3points

MarchingBanda786

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#28

One Thanksgiving I and my ex were spending the holiday with our neighbors. I was cooking the turkey and a few other items and decided to make a pecan pie. I was running out of oven space and my neighbors were out for the morning, so I ran over and put the pie in her oven, went home and set alarm.

When I went back, I opened the door and was hit with a gust of hot smoke! The oven got hot enough to burn the pie to a crisp. Completely black, with sad little pecans lying there like dead roaches. Found out later, her oven was broken and would zoom up to "Clean" temperature any time you turned it on. At least I didn't burn the house down, and I'll never go in somebody else's kitchen without permission, ever again.

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Final score:

3points

Jackie Lulu

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#29

A few to choose from, but hands-down favorite: my cousins host Thanksgiving and invited some other relatives for the first time. Necessary note: a two-story house, but the upstairs is strictly personal rooms, meal and gathering on main floor. The 20-something woman drank too much, disappeared upstairs, then came back down very ready to go home...only she couldn't find car keys. We spend at least 45 minutes tearing the main floor apart looking for them before she realizes they've been in her pocket the whole time. Her dad drives her and the rest of their family home. A short time later someone goes upstairs to fetch a sweater, discovers that the guest bath on that floor is covered in vomit - walls, floor, towels, counter. The family was never invited back.

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Final score:

3points

ThisIsMe

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#30

I was making the gravy and I used baking soda instead of corn starch. It bubbled up like crazy and made a huge mess. Also that same Thanksgiving, a candle started my friends art on fire and almost burned the place down.

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Final score:

2points

Michael Pattow

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#31

Split up from my husband a few months ago, officially moved out in september, he didn’t tell his family until just before Thanksgiving. Thing is, his one female cousin with whom I’m super close knew the moment it first happened, and when my brother in law from out of state called her to say he’s coming up for the holiday, she kinda spilled the beans. Let the drama commence.

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Final score:

2points

Lorna Lay

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#32

It was actually the day after Thanksgiving this year, I had an allergic reaction to one of my prescriptions. Spent 9:00pm-6:00am throwing up and pulled a muscle in my back from heaving so hard. Got completely dehydrated and slept most of the next day. Husband took good care of me.

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Final score:

2points

Mrs.King0315

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#33

Helping my aunt put the turkey in the rosting bag and neither of us realized the other didn't have a hand under the bag. Turkey shot through the bottom of the bag, hit the floor, and skidded across the room. It was lucky all th dogs were outside!

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Final score:

2points

Rachael Smith

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CallaghanLive 1 year ago

it wanted to be free

1point

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What do you think ?

Cynthia Lilleboe 1 year ago

My worst Thanksgiving was 2011. Two days before Thanksgiving, our family found out that my Mom's cancer was terminal. None of us were in the mood for a big ordeal, so we just munched on whatever and spent time with Mom.

Jude Kay 1 year ago

I'm sorry. ❤️🙏

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Kady LaHaie 1 year ago

We hosted and the POWER WENT OUT AND STAYED OUT THE ENTIRE WEEKEND. I had a gas oven with battery ignition so I was able to.cook but I had to go ten miles away for jugs of water to bathe and wash ten million dishes.

No Name 1 year ago (edited)

I guess I'm lucky I don't have any bad Thanksgiving memories. We always spent Thanksgiving with my dad's side, which, aside from one small branch, is pretty sane. Christmas, however... suffice it to say my nightmare Christmas was 2011, when I hemorrhaged from my tonsillectomy scabs 5 AM on Xmas morning and spent about 5 hours at 2 different hospitals before they could get a surgeon on call to stitch me up. I even got a bedpan full of my urine fumbled all over me after the second unnecessary pregnancy test of the morning. And I think the total cost to my folks was $4-5000.

Hey Pandas, What Was Your Worst Thanksgiving Debacle? (Closed)

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Ieva Midveryte

Ieva Midveryte