Thanksgiving is an important holiday in America. Bench reports that 91% of Americans said in 2024 they would celebrate Thanksgiving – which includes large majorities in all major demographic groups. It’s a time for the whole family to come together and tell each other how grateful they are for each other.

On paper, it sounds wonderful and idyllic. However, the reality is sometimes much darker. This list is about those times: the times when the turkey wasn’t perfect, when family members did something embarrassing, or when people had to celebrate. Thanksgiving solo. So, find out what kind of disappointments people had during their recent Thanksgivings!

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For some, Thanksgiving It’s a nice few days with family that they haven’t seen in a long time. For others, it’s like the Thanksgiving episode of The bear, “Seven Fishes”: an onslaught of anxiety coming 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 at the end of the evening.

However, these two concerns can be quite manageable. As a perfectionist myself, especially when it comes to cooking and baking, I can relate to those for whom the turkey is never cooked well enough and the mash potatoes are not the creamiest of their potential. And when it comes to family, the main thing is not to talk about politics.

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Those planning Thanksgiving this year may have already planned every step: there are only a few days left, after all! Experts say that from the beginning Thanksgiving Dinner should be a month before: this is when you go through the guest list, find the recipes and collect all the materials that will be needed for your meal.

According to Martha Stewartthe actual preparation of the food must take place a week before. This is when you clean out your refrigerator to make room for the turkey and defrost the turkey itself. A week before Thanksgiving is also the time to prepare the brine and finish your shopping list for side dishes. Those who want homemade pies can also make pie crust and freeze it up to a month in advance.

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Today is actually the perfect day to prep your veggies and make dips, relishes, and salad dressings. Did you know that you can peel your potatoes two days in advance and keep them submerged in water so they don’t brown until the next day? Try this tip! As for dressings and condiments, they will only improve after a few days in the refrigerator.

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Then, the star of the evening: the mighty turkey. Cooking the kind of turkey you often see in photos in cooking magazines – roasted and crispy-skinned – is quite a feat. As food scientist Nathan Myhrvold explained to NPRThis is because different parts of the turkey’s body do not cook the same way.

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“Breast meat will dry out if you cook it to the same temperature you need to cook the thighs to get them done,” says Myhrvold. Breast meat can also be dry in nature. For the skin to turn brown and crispy, you need to cook it to at least 175 degrees Celsius.

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What he recommends doing so that the breast does not become dry is injection brining. When you brine a turkey by dipping it in salt water, it makes the meat tighter but does the same to the skin. Instead of crispy, it becomes rubbery. Myhrvold says he takes a brine syringe, fills it with brine and stabs the turkey. “You’ll probably put about a cup in the turkey,” he says.

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To make the skin even crispier, Myhrvold recommends storing the turkey in the refrigerator uncovered for at least three full days. This dries the skin even more. Then, after three days, you take it out of the refrigerator and rub it with any neutral oil: canola, sunflower, etc. However, if your turkey still doesn’t look like it came out of a magazine, don’t worry. Myhrvold says a common food photography tip is to use brown shoe polish. Uh!

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What if food isn’t your concern this Thanksgiving and the big night out with some family members is what you’re dreading? 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 establish a “no politics” rule, turn off the news and distract themselves with board games.

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Clinical Psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry said Today, these families should be looking for opportunities to connect. This can take the form of question card games or simply open-ended questions to your family members such as: “Have you seen this movie?” and “What was your favorite part?”

“We all glow when someone expresses interest in us, and when you bring out a person’s thoughts and feelings, you create a connection and deepen your understanding of each other,” she explained.

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What about your Thanksgiving, Pandas? Have you ever eaten doozies like these? Share with us in the comments. And let us know your plans for this year: are you hosting, are you a guest, or are you skipping Thanksgiving altogether? If you want to see more disappointing Thanksgiving photos, you can do so here, here, hereAnd here.

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It wasn’t dinner, but my aunt invited us to her and her family’s house (who were out of state) for Thanksgiving, and everything was 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 insisted, we didn’t bring anything. Dinner was good and overall it was a very good Thanksgiving. Well, about a month later we received a letter from this aunt proclaiming that we now owe her $75 to cover the cost of the meal. My parents were furious, because we had just spent a lot of money to go down to see her, and we had even offered to lighten her load by bringing her some dishes. They wouldn’t even be this angry if it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t tell anyone when she gave out invitations.

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The family members didn’t bring anything to Thanksgiving dinner, took plates and plates of things home, and are having a Thanksgiving dinner today, but didn’t invite OP and their family. This is what was left of their dinner.

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I did some last minute shopping to get through Thanksgiving day. The store was out of cheaper garlic powder, so I bought the more expensive organic powder…in a glass container. When I went to put it away after one use, I accidentally dropped it, breaking it and knocking the whole thing over.

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I was finishing up the dishes before preparing our big Thanksgiving meal today. One of my vintage Muppets glasses broke with my hand in it. Luckily no stitches, just glue. But my husband had to take over my share of the cooking.

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Coming home from Thanksgiving lunch, we discovered that our well pump was catastrophically broken and was gushing water into the pump room. 2nd time in 3 months. Of course, the two agents I know are away for the holidays.

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