For most of us, Thanksgiving memories are full of warm family gatherings, spending precious time together and celebrating a day of giving thanks to the Lord for all our many blessings. For others, it may be a painful time without those warm and fuzzies that many of us take for granted.
And then, there are those very humorous stories of Thanksgivings gone bad and those are probably the ones that you remember the most. I can’t think of a time that our family had a really bad Thanksgiving or a disastrous one either, but while listening recently to a Moody Christian radio broadcast of Midday Connection (love listening to this, btw), callers were calling in recounting funny Thanksgiving stories and sharing them with all of us listeners.
And I was driving around, laughing out loud at some of them.
So, enjoy these picture perfect snapshots from magazines of what a perfect Thanksgiving table might look like. I didn’t really grow up with anything really fancy on our table. It was filled with love and lots of food and a simple tablescape. Actually the food was always the tablescape. 🙂 We didn’t do a lot of fancy at our house. 
(Above 3 pics from Better Homes and Gardens)
How about you? Did your table look like this or was it a bit more simple, like my family had?
These are some beautiful examples of Thanksgiving tables to be proud of. Wouldn’t you love to be sitting here?
At a place setting this special.
Giving Thanks!
(Above 4 pics from Country Living online)
Now, this is a great idea for serving. A plant stand complete with clay pots to hold all the utensils. Of course, you’d want to be sure they were nice and clean for this use.
So, let me share that very funny story I heard on Midday Connection with you. This caller relayed the story that they usually deep-fried their turkey every Thanksgiving (maybe in the South, we sure have loved our fried turkeys?!) and so the husband had just taken the fried turkey out of the fryer and placed it on a metal draining rack on top of some newspaper on the asphalt driveway.
He went inside for just a minute to retrieve something, when the in-laws arrived. They promptly ran over the turkey, jamming it underneath the car. The husband came back outside and had to direct them in backing up their car to get it off the turkey, since it was jammed underneath.
They cut the tire marks off and I’m sure the gouges too and ate the good parts of the bird for dinner!
Isn’t that hilarious??
I can’t say we have ever had anything quite that disastrous happen, but that one sure cracked me up.
How about you? Do you have any turkey disasters to share or any other funny Thanksgiving stories?
We’d love to hear them! C’mon and share.
I’m linking up with Debra over at Bungalow today, who is having a Thanksgiving party. Go on over and join in the fun and add your own Thanksgiving story.
funny story
obviously from my side of the water I have no stories, but I have often wished we celebrated thanksgiving, always thought it such a nice tradition
Sarah
That was a funny story!!! I don’t have any turkey disasters. But I watched the outakes from one of Martha Stewart’s Thanksgiving specials & she dumped a turkey out of the pan onto the floor. So that made me feel better about everything. If Martha Stewart can do something like that, we shouldn’t feel bad if it happens to us.
Very lovely tablescapes, Rhoda. We didn’t do fancy at our house either. The table was filled with food, the room was filled with love and laughter. Perfect! Personally, I don’t care for a lot of stuff all over the table; in the wrong hands, it looks too contrived, too artificial, too much like a retail store or catalog instead of a comfortable, loving home. (Some people’s Christmas decor looks very commercial instead of home-like, too.) Give me loved ones gathered around and I’m happy.
These are all gorgeous, but my fave is the rustic table with the red accents. I loooooove me some red, lol! I became a follower, would love to have you stop by sometime!!
Blessings,
Cara
Oh, my gosh, that’s hilarious about the car running over the turkey. I’ve never had fried turkey, but I’d love to try it sometime (without the tire marks, thanks!).
Love these photos. Such beautiful tables for Thanksgiving! We’re traveling to my in-laws’ for the holiday, so I won’t have a chance to do anything festive with my own table.
I love that last table setting with flower pots and stand…how precious is that! I love it! (This sounds terrible but…) My family uses sturdy paper plates and plastic cups to make clean up easier. I don’t think we have ever used pretty china. My Mom and Dad have always hosted all the holidays and cook all the food themselves. My sister and I don’t like traditional Thanksgiving food, so we usually have steaks, potatoes & salad instead.
Close to twenty years ago, I was helping my sister clean up after she hosted Thanksgiving dinner at her home. The electric knife slipped off the counter, and without thinking I grabbed it…by the blade. So, off to the emergency room we went. Here’s the funny part, I am sitting in the waiting room, my hand wrapped up in a towel, the door opens and a man comes out with his hand all wrapped up in a bandage. We made eye contact in that soul mate kind of way, and he softly whispered to me “electric knife?”. I nodded yes. We both started cracking up.
Growing up, the only decoration was the food! That’ll be the same around here for now, unless I use a tablecloth! And where do you put the food if you have all the arrangements? In the other room? On the HUGE buffet? I like being able to all sit down and stay there. (yeah, right, I have three small kids, but still, the idea that I could stay … for a week … and not get hungry!)
Rhody – i dislocated my elbow that one thanksgiving! i considered it a disaster.
Your collection of Thanksgiving stories is priceless. Thanks for doing this. It’s just great! Here is a story told by Barbara Humphreys who lives in the Cape Cod area: “For a Thanksgiving disaster it didn’t get much worse but of course we were thankful to be together and now can look back and laugh about it. What happened was my sister Nancy decided to host Thanksgiving dinner and she was brave to do so since she is known to be the type who doesn’t cook – at all. She asked my other sister for assistance. Among all the other instructions Tricia gave to Nancy was to first wash the turkey to prepare it for stuffing and cooking. Nancy did just that because as we ate the turkey we could taste the soap that she used to WASH the turkey….. We ended up not being able to eat it and just had the other fixings.”
You can also find some terrific Thanksgiving stories (both funny and nostalgic) at http://www.thanksgiving-food-gifts.com/remembering-thanksgiving-memories-of-thanksgiving The one I like is about the kitten.
Sandra
Once when I was about three or four years old, my grandma was in her kitchen cooking Thanksgiving dinner. She had fresh collard greens in her sink washing them and when to baste he Turkey. My grandma’s sister in-law walked into the Kitchen, packed her mouth with snuff, and spit in my grandma’s collard greens. All you could hear was rumbling as my grandma’s fat sister in-law took off running toward the front door. When I looked up, my grandma was chasing her with the ax she used to chop the turkey and ham bones. It wasn’t funny then, but in retrospect, it became the joke of our Thanksgiving dinners.
Rhoda-this is too funny–I would love to have you post this to my Thanksgiving Traditions party-it’s up till Thanksgiving.
Cheri
Thanksgiving 2010 is just around the corner. I hope you’ll be posting more Thanksgiving memories.
Beverly Busher
Carrville, Iowa
http://amzn.to/aV2dQa Funny, touching, memorable short Thanksgiving stories about holiday disasters, family & friends.
Ok I have to confess! I decided to make My favorite Elderly Uncle’s Thanksgiving Dinner.. Something special I had him name off everything he wanted. So off I go cooking up a storm. Everything looked great. I placed the turkey on the oven leaving the gas stove top on low to keep it warm, brought in the pies, made a pitcher of Tea he wanted, Gosh he was a happy man.
Until I smelled something burning! The turkey caught fire, (I left the oven mitt under the pan, so I freaked out and grabbed the tea to put it out! After that he only wanted the pumpkin pie, I said ok.. Here it is. He looked at me like I was out if this world. I asked him.. What is wrong? He said I have never seen a pumpkin pie made with a lid on it ( I made it like a apple pie with the top crust) Heck, I didn’t know this was the first time I ever made a pumpkin pie! Needless to say he’s now pasted away but I’m sure his holiday food is much better that this one was.. Great times! And I learned a few things since then LOL
I have a funny Thankgiving story (about my crazy family get-together last year) that is already written, but it was too long to post here (over 1 page). I also have funny pictures! If you email me, I can send it in a word doc. for your blog.
Thanks!
Celeste Simmons
I love the tablescape with the family pictures and golden yellows.