Family dynamics can be complicated, and no Thanksgiving meal would be complete without some type of family drama. Arguments over just about anything and everything seem to be par for the course. Here Redditors give a no holds barred look at how their Thanksgivings were ruined. Their stories will leave one wondering, “Are the holidays over yet”?
1. Done With Dinner
Thanksgiving at my grandma's house was supposed to start at 5 PM. I was planning on going to my friend's Thanksgiving, which was starting at 3 PM for a bit, but the times would have conflicted, so I decided not to go to his house at all and just go to my grandma's house. The day before, I told my aunt, who was planning the whole Thanksgiving, that I would be there at 5 PM, and the last thing she said was, "Sounds great see you tomorrow"!
I texted my brother at 4:30 PM asking to make sure it was still starting at 5 PM and that he was going. His answer made me want to scream. He said that they were already done and would be leaving soon. They started two and a half hours early, and no one told me. Everyone there had my phone number, and no one thought to text me.
2. This Thanksgiving Needed A Hard Reboot
My nephew was apparently grounded, despite us being told he was ungrounded. So, my mother let him on the computer in front of his parents, who said nothing. The fight began when my mother asked my nephew where the computer was. My sister-in-law started yelling that he wasn't supposed to be on the computer, to which my mother told her not to yell at her in her house. That just made things worse.
Then, my sister-in-law started yelling about how my mother was telling her how to raise my nephew and demanded that my sister and my nephew put their shoes on so they could leave. After about forty minutes of yelling from almost everyone, my sister was in the kitchen, finishing up the meal, my nephew was in my room, playing Minecraft on my Xbox, and my sister-in-law was in their car "napping", or rather, pouting.
I took off and was blocks away, dog-sitting for a few minutes to get away from the Thanksgiving craziness. Six hours after they left, they returned and told my nephew that he couldn't spend the night, which was stupid. There was no reason to emotionally distress the child any more than he already was.
3. Worming Her Way Back
I was having Thanksgiving with my uncle, his partner, and their friends. They are nice people, but he invited one of my cousins, who estranged herself from the family because she got together with this guy. She told us all to take a hike. Now that they’re broken up, she’s trying to wean herself back into the family like nothing happened because she was lonely.
It was a big mistake. She paraded around the house criticizing and nitpicking all the decor in each room, saying how she would do it. One of my uncle’s friends told her to shut up, and everyone went silent. The turkey hadn’t even come out of the oven yet.
4. The Cycle Never Ends
It's the same thing every year. I wake up on Thanksgiving knowing that a fight will break out at some point. My mother always points the blame before it even hits 9 AM and says we're all ungrateful because she's making the whole dinner when she doesn’t even let us help. I then go to my room to avoid it all, and that apparently makes me even more ungrateful.
My father gets mad, takes her side, and everything turns into gaslighting. Soon everyone is in tears, no one will eat at the table, and we're all in separate rooms and not talking for the rest of the day! Happy Thanksgiving! It’s rinse and repeat on every holiday, vacation, etc.
5. Parental Provisions
My dad is one of those people who thinks everyone owes him something. I started calling him every Thanksgiving after he and my mom divorced about five years back. Then, one year, three weeks before Thanksgiving, my dad told me that I have been using him since I was a child for things that he provided me as a parent. Things like money for college, expenses when I was in high school for activities, etc.
I haven't talked to him since that conversation, and my annual Thanksgiving phone call wasn’t about to happen. I realized there is no obligation personally to call him. To be told that I used him for things a parent provides for their kid is pretty terrible and low.
6. Thanksgiving Outing
My sister, who is a lesbian, decided to test the water of the family’s reaction by outing me as gay. Instead of freaking out—considering they’re super religious—they got mad at her for not letting me come out on my own terms and when I was ready. That was a shock, but this mess was just beginning. Then, my sister came out, and they didn’t believe her.
They said that she just wanted attention, and the situation spiraled from there. My sister then called and video-chatted with her girlfriend just to prove her point. Most of my family said they were “disappointed with her life choices” but still loved and supported her anyways. After that, the focus shifted to me again.
I got in trouble for knowing my sister was a lesbian the whole time and not outing her. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was like, “What? You just yelled at my sister for this, and now I am in trouble for not doing it”? I got more heat for being gay than my sister did since I was the only male with our family's last name, so I was expected to pass it on.
Most of my family was surprised because I am “straight passing”. I say this, but they only know the stereotypes they see in the media. Surprisingly, my religious grandma was the one who defended me and just accepted me regardless. The rest of the family still needed to come around to my sister and me. My oldest sister is the only straight one out of my siblings and me.
7. Pick The Problem
My in-laws have a Christmas gift exchange every year, and Thanksgiving is when we draw names out of a bag for our giftee. This year, my husband’s grandmother decided that instead of leaving it to chance, she would pick who gets who. She also did this without anyone’s knowledge. This caused an outburst from my husband’s cousin (her granddaughter), as well as some other disgruntled family members.
Mini arguments started breaking out, and eventually, personal jabs were being made. I think only two people cried, but we got out of there soon after. As for my family, there was no arguing, but my sister brought her crack-addicted boyfriend to dinner. He was clearly high. My dad made him introduce himself to everyone individually—about 20 of us—and he had a hard time staying focused while trying to say his name. It was so painful to watch.
He eventually settled in and was sparking up conversations with my cousins, and they obliged. Funny thing was that of all the people in the room he had picked to talk to, he picked the substance counselor and the law enforcement agent.
8. The Last Supper
My mother was really sick in 2008. I was turning 25 and had a younger brother and sister. I had lost both of my grandparents on my mom's side to cancer a few years prior. My mom had to watch as her parents slowly lost their lives. It destroyed her not having her mother around as they were very close. My mom was in and out of the hospital for six months from the summer to the fall of that year.
During a couple of instances, her blood was septic. She recovered, but the doctors continued to run tests on her. One day, I stopped by the hospital to check on her, and the doctor was in the room when I walked in. He told her she had cancer, and chemo had a chance to save her, but it would mean she would be dealing with it for the unforeseen future.
My mom told me she wasn't going to do any treatment. She said that no matter what, she was going to be home for the holidays and that I couldn't tell anyone what the doctor had said.
I never told anyone, she left the hospital like it was any other day. Thanksgiving came, and she gave a speech before the meal about how she loved everyone, and she began to cry.
I knew why, but everyone else just thought it was that she felt blessed. Shortly after Christmas, she passed. She got her last wish to spend the holidays with the family. After she passed, the doctor told everyone cancer was the cause. I never said a word to anyone then and haven't to this day.
9. Was It Something She Ate?
My step-grandma pooped herself at the table, and someone made an offhand comment about the food causing it. My step-aunt took it to heart and started crying. Her husband started yelling at people who didn't even do anything. The entire situation became very unpleasant and uncomfortable very fast. Hence, everyone was sitting awkwardly watching football with the muffled sobs of my step-aunt in the background.
10. Time To Go
My girlfriend's dad was a staunch Fox News guy who couldn’t go two seconds without mentioning something about politics or "stupid snowflakes". So, we played a family game of Apples to Apples, and the word “honorable” came up. Someone played the card Martin Luther King Jr., and the guy threw all the cards off the table, started cursing, and flipped his lid in front of the kids. At that point, I was definitely ready to go home.
11. As Miserable As Sin
My dad hit my sister for “using the Lord’s name in vain”. He left the house for 20 minutes, then came back and acted as if nothing had happened. He then decided that we had to talk about the ins and outs of his living will. He spent about an hour trying to convince my sister and me that my mom was the sole cause of their divorce and that her family is “prone to going crazy”. I think I’ll start the fight at Christmas by announcing that I’m moving in with my boyfriend to “live in sin” just for fun.
12. Trash-Talking Turkeys
Thanksgiving was almost canceled because my stepbrother was a piece of garbage. He was being a total jerk, so my stepdad got mad. When my mom got home, he was rude to her, ripping groceries out of her hands, and could have hurt her. He also told her to shut up and just was an overall imbecile. As a result, my mom slept at her sister’s house and will be staying there again for another night so she can go shopping with them.
Apparently, she told my stepdad to tell his kid not to speak with her because she will lose her mind. I'm not speaking with either of them—my stepdad or stepbrother—because they're both equally trash, and I can't look at them. I'm going to go to my boyfriend's after this and have some good loving, then go eat edibles and sleep.
13. Not A Happy Bunny
We didn’t have a full-fledged fight on Thanksgiving, but rather a pretty heated argument. My sister and I got into it about whether animals feel emotions—I think they do, but she says no— what defines animal emotions, if we can even truly understand them, if they experience morality, etc. This arose because I was holding her pet bunny and asked if he looked content with me.
Eventually, almost the whole family got involved. It wasn't physical or hateful, but it toed the line. There were scientific papers were referenced, and questions about people's dietary choices were brought up.
14. Grudge Match
My fiancé asked my mom why she hates her. My fiancé wasn’t tipsy or anything, she just didn't sleep well because she was fretting over making great food for Thanksgiving and, as a result, lost her filter. My mom replied that two years prior, when they first met, my fiancé had implied that farmers were dumb. My fiancé apologized, but my mom didn’t accept her apology, and my sisters got involved.
It turned into a full-on screaming match—everyone was involved except for me and my brother-in-law. We went to play ESPN NFL 2K5. Then, we suddenly heard a crash and went downstairs to see what was going on. My oldest sister got a bloody ear from my youngest sister chucking a jam jar because my youngest sister was still mad about something from 2006.
15. Lying Low
It wasn’t so much of a family fight but rather an indiscretion. My mom decided to announce my autism to the whole table when I went upstairs to use the bathroom. While I was in the bathroom, I could hear her in the other room telling them. It was extremely embarrassing and unnecessary to talk about. I didn’t come out for the remainder of the dinner. When I confronted her about it, she lied. That made me realize that my mom is a liar and made me wonder how often she doesn’t tell the truth.
16. Dinner Was Cooked
My grandmother was in the hospital following a brain tumor removal. She had a minor setback, so she wasn’t released from the hospital in time for Thanksgiving. My cousins decided to cook dinner. Well, my oldest cousin didn’t read the weight of the ham and only cooked it for an hour and a half—it was still bleeding. My sister cooked the fettuccine with frozen cocktail shrimp. Then, they—the chefs—were all mad because no one wanted to eat that mess of a Thanksgiving dinner.
17. Overstepping Boundaries
My sister wore a crop top to Thanksgiving, and right in front of her, my grandma and cousin were talking about how trashy crop tops were. Then, the same sister didn't want to give my creepy uncle a hug. He's creepy because ever since I can remember, he would always demand kisses, hugs, and to rub his nieces’ backs. It's very off-putting.
So, he started ranting about how much better it was back when people were not ever offended by "nice men just wanting hugs". That turned into a whole conversation about how stupid it is that women have boundaries now. My grandmother even chimed in with, "Back in my day, men would pinch our [rears] in elevators, and we just thought it was funny".
My creepy uncle replied, "People just don't know how to laugh off a joke". I then yelled, "Sorry women don't find harassment funny anymore! That must be so hard for you"! When he left, he DEMANDED I give him a hug, and I refused, to which he decided to rub my shoulders. I told him to take a hike and not to touch me. He left hurt, and I left mad.
18. Reliving Old Wounds
My mother started talking about how she didn’t want any of us taking care of her if she started getting Alzheimer's or dementia and wanted to get put in a home. I jokingly said that wasn't going to happen because they'd take her savings, house, assets, etc. Then, she came back with her “taking the easy way out with Ambien and booze”.
Well, my wife's mother had taken her life seven years prior with Ambien during the first week of December, so that comment was fresh for her, especially with it being that time of year. She started to get upset, so I changed the topic. I asked my very Republican father, "Don't you think the [Trump] impeachment is going great"?
19. Lost But Not Forgotten
My dad forgot to mention a baby lost from a miscarriage/stillbirth during the remembrance section of the Thanksgiving prayer. The mother took this personally. I understand she was upset, but despite my dad apologizing, she took to Facebook and Instagram, telling everyone that her stillborn child was forgotten in the prayer.
She even put it on a hashtag and said that it was the worst Thanksgiving ever, that no one apologized, and that she left ASAP because she was so upset and didn't eat when in reality, she stayed and ate. I felt really bad for her. I understand that she is mentally ill and hasn't gotten the help she needs, but it seems like she takes every family occasion to create an opportunity to tell us how we forgot her baby in some way.
20. A Surf N’ Turf Thanksgiving
After years of bad family Thanksgiving experiences, where my father-in-law would start fights and we would get repeated calls from Grandma telling us what a bad time we all had, it reached a head two years ago. I got diagnosed with melanoma earlier in the week, and the inlaws made a lame excuse to bail on the dinner my wife prepared while in tears.
My daughter then dropped a tack into her older sister's mouth while waiting for dinner, which she swallowed by reflex, so we never even got to eat that dinner. We spent the evening in the ER. They gave her some expensive X-rays and then just gave us a box of latex gloves and told us to look for it on the exit side. My daughter pooped out the tack four days later.
I had a successful surgery a month later for my melanoma, and we vowed to go to Hawaii for the following Thanksgiving. We went to Maui, and it was wonderful. So when this year’s Thanksgiving came around, we went to Kona. I sat on the lanai waiting for our turkey to be finished so we could have a nice little quiet meal together next to the surf.
21. Political Drama
When I was about 19 or 20, the first time I met my step-uncle’s elderly mother at the Thanksgiving table, she turned to me and right away said, "You're a democrat, aren't you"? Ug, this wasn't going to be good. At the time, I was registered as an independent, but despite my stammering denial, she still loaded up an imaginary shotgun, pointed it at me, and fired, mouthing the sound of it blasting me.
That scene was followed later by announcing that we should all go around saying something that we were thankful for. We all murmured in approval as she volunteered, "I will go first. I'M THANKFUL OBAMA—" Finally, after the meal, she announced she had been hearing about more of “them” around lately. She turned to me and asked if there are any of those "odd ducks" at my university. Thankfully others cut her off that time before she launched in about gay people, and I ground my teeth down to dust.
22. Bearers Of Bad News
One year, my kid asked for us to go around and say what we are thankful for. Her father and I were getting a divorce but hadn’t told her yet. We hadn’t been spending much family time together at that point, although we never did a lot of family things before anyway. It was just the three of us, and she asked me to go first.
So, I said I was thankful to have such a wonderful daughter and that we had food to celebrate the holiday with. She then asked if I was thankful for Daddy, and I said, “Yeah, I guess”. At that point, it was hard to hide our disdain for one another and realized we had to tell her but were waiting until after Christmas. My comment then set things off on how I don't appreciate everything he does.
Our daughter, not trying to make it worse, said, “But Mommy does all the hard work around here”. That was the WRONG thing to say. It made him even more upset, not only towards me but towards her too. He slammed down his silverware, slid his plate across the table, and said he was leaving to go to a friend's house. My daughter and I just looked at one another and shrugged because we didn't feel as though we'd done something that warranted his response.
He left around 2:30 PM and didn’t see him for the rest of the day. I did get a text from his friend asking if everything was okay and that my husband was drinking heavily. He said if my husband kept drinking at that rate, he would make sure he got a safe ride home, as he wouldn’t let him drive home trashed. I told him he better hide his keys until it was time for him to leave.
I also said I'd rather he not come home at all tonight since our little one was already in bed, and I don't want to have to deal with him in a boozed-up rage. Before bed, though, our little girl was upset that she caused her daddy to leave and not come home. I told her that he just wanted to spend some time with his friend and she didn't do or say anything wrong. She wasn't trying to make him feel upset.
Then, she asked to call him before bed to say good night, but he didn't answer, so I told her to leave him a message to say good night. I also had her text him to say good night and that she loves him. I feel as though I tried, but I wasn't going to have her feel bad because she really wasn't being malicious with her comment. It was the first time we'd gotten into an argument in front of her, and it sucked. We would definitely have to tell her very soon.
23. Double The Dinners, Double The Headaches
One of my aunts on my mom's side usually hosts Thanksgiving early, at around 2:30 PM, then we go to Thanksgiving dinner at 6:00 PM at an uncle on my dad's side. My mom's sister divorced and remarried a wonderful man that had shared custody of five kids. She had four kids of her own. That meant they had nine kids between the ages of 11 and 17 between them.
Both of their exes had the kids until Sunday, so they went on vacation. Since my aunt's new husband's family wasn’t coming, there were only five people interested in Thanksgiving. None of them wanted to make food, so they got Chinese takeout. This apparently brought an entirely different aunt to tears, even though she didn't contribute anything.
My dad's side was literally falling apart because my grandparents were both nearly 100, entirely blind, and had pretty severe Alzheimer's and dementia. All of them had different opinions on what they should do about it but were too headstrong to agree on what to do. One of my aunt's husbands essentially takes care of them.
Apparently, my grandpa didn't recognize his own children, and my grandmother was thoroughly confused by the great-grandkids and forgot where she was multiple times. This upset many people, and it started a shouting match in the front yard where nothing got accomplished. I was glad I didn’t go to either get-together.
24. Playing Musical Cars
I was asked three times within 12 hours to move my car in the driveway so somebody else could either park, leave, or fit. The fourth time, my brother asked me to move my car so he could pull his car out of the garage and smoke some weed with his friends in there. I refused and said, “I’m not moving my car anymore, and I’m blocked in by two others”.
My brother called me names and told my parents. My dad, cousin, and I all had to go outside in the rain and move our cars so my brother could be happy. I parked across the street, further down the road, and walked in the rain back to my house.
25. Potluck Puker
There wasn’t a fight per se, but I felt like I ruined Thanksgiving for everyone because I was sick. We had a work potluck, and I think I got food poisoning. I woke up at 4:30 AM and knew something was horribly wrong. I ended up throwing up in the hallway because I couldn’t get to the bathroom in time. I woke my parents up. My mom cleaned it while I took a shower to get the puke out of my hair, and slept until two in the afternoon.
I tried to eat some of my mom’s appetizers, but my stomach started hurting, so I went to lie back down. My mom knew I wouldn’t be eating, but she wanted me to sit with her and dad. I couldn’t even do it. The smell made it all worse. So there I was, crying because I couldn’t spend time with my family and because I had disappointed my mother. My mom worked so hard to make a nice meal, and I couldn’t enjoy it at all.
26. Whisky-A-Go-Go-Gone
My father-in-law drank the last bit of whisky I had been saving without asking. When I got married, I gave all the groomsmen and myself a very nice bottle of the stuff. It was something we could enjoy at home after the wedding, and whenever one of us wanted a special drink as a reminder of that moment in time we all got together. It was special to me since I lived five hours away from the closest one of them.
We all had just made our dinner plates. I saw my father-in-law grab the random bottle of hooch and thought nothing of it at the time. I came back later to have a special drink of the stuff, and it was all gone. I hadn’t consumed any of it in over eight months and was just waiting for a time and moment I felt like drinking it. The jerk drank it without even asking. The sad thing was that I had a new bottle of the same stuff right in front of my wedding bottle.
27. Turkey Day With The Trumpies
My fiancé's grandfather greeted me by coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. He also called me “babe” a lot. This was all unusual but likely a direct result of my losing weight and getting a more flattering haircut. I turned 30, and he was 85. I was very uncomfortable the entire time. They were also hyper-conservative Southerners, and my fiancé and I aren't.
So, while we avoided politics because we knew they didn't agree—nor would they ever—they didn't share that mindset and put all their "build that wall" mugs out on display and praised Trump at every turn. I was hoping for a politics-free holiday. They did have ABC on instead of Fox News though, which was unexpected. I was grateful for that but wished they just put on a movie instead.
28. Along For The Ride
My mother-in-law ticked off my husband in the morning, nagging about his sleeping habits that were due to his chest pains and aches and wouldn’t stop. He had enough and told her he was opting out of visiting an extended family’s Thanksgiving dinner or eating with us all together and was choosing to stay home. My mother-in-law then asked me if I was going.
I went for damage control and also coerced my sister-in-law to bring her car because my mother-in-law had a track record of keeping people captive when she was the sole driver. We left exactly two hours after arriving and eating, came home, and wound down. Another hour later, my mother-in-law called me. She wanted me to help her Google any nearby Walmarts.
She was looking for a location that might still have available in stock one of the super discounted 50-inch Smart TVs that were listed in a flyer she saw at the dinner. She and my father-in-law came home empty-handed almost three hours later. So glad we took a second car.
29. Let It Go
My mom becomes horrible to the kids in her house around the holidays. We get along fine nowadays since I don't live with her anymore, but she drove my youngest sister to tears before we left for the Thanksgiving meal at my grandma's. I always try to make the holidays good for my sister because our mom really is a raging lunatic around the holidays and living with her is a nightmare because she can't seem to let go of things.
If she starts yelling at you, it is just as likely to be about something that had just happened as it is about something that happened 12 years ago. It's like when she just had me and my brother to deal with, she reached her boiling point, and she hasn’t cooled off ever since. She is passive-aggressive, petty, and judgemental and doesn't give you room to figure things out.
If she tells you to do something that you don't know how to do, and she sees you trying to figure it out, she'll flip on you for not just asking. However, if you ask, she'll make you feel like you're a total moron. There is no right answer with her. I'm pretty sure the only reason we get along is because she's put my brother and me on a pedestal with regard to our sister as an example of how one should act.
But when we were living with her, we couldn't be ourselves because she wouldn't give us room to grow. I love holidays with the family once there is someone else involved. My mom will sort of—or fully—contain her mental and emotional harassment of my sister when we are all around my grandma and our aunt. But when it's just my mom and us, she doesn't even try.
Freepik, master1305
30. Hold Your Horses
My sister's husband went to start plating his food without waiting for everyone to come into the room. I called him out on it and told him to wait for my grandparents and the rest of the 15+ family members. He didn't like being told no and started getting an attitude with my fiancé and me. This isn't the first time he has done something like this at a family gathering.
My fiancé had planned this dinner for my grandparents because they hadn’t had a family Thanksgiving in almost 10 years, and we wanted to fix that. She delegated all duties, gave everyone a job, and did the majority of the cooking herself. It turned out amazing, and we weren’t going to let my sister's husband act that way. But he was even worse than we thought.
My other sister's husband, the one who was raised right, texted me later saying that the guy was talking trash to my NIECES AND NEPHEWS about beating me up, my fiancé, and anyone else who was mad at him. He's really lucky he didn't act on that and is hopefully smart enough to keep himself in check at Christmas.
31. Turkey Day Took A Terrible Turn
My mother-in-law is married to someone with a drinking problem. They’re like a wake-up, start drinking, and be strip dancing in front of the family by 9 PM, kind of alcoholic. We asked her to babysit our then 7-month-old at our house. She kept asking to watch our daughter at her house, but we kept insisting she come to our place.
The day of, she showed up and said she was either taking my daughter with her to her house, or she was going home. So, she went home alone. It all blew over for a while, and she invited us over for Thanksgiving at her place. We agreed since both of us were going to be there with our daughter, and we were planning to leave by her bedtime and before people got too sloshed.
A week before Thanksgiving, her husband texted my husband and told him we were not welcome at their house for Thanksgiving. I was thrilled. A guilt-free way to avoid Thanksgiving with these people! So we planned a quiet Thanksgiving at our house with my mom and her boyfriend. It was a simple small dinner, and we got home early.
It was easy nap times and a good setup for my 9-month-old daughter. It was perfect. Then, we landed in the hospital. My daughter's intestines got twisted up, which took them a few days to figure out, and it required surgery. My husband decided to break the silence with his mom just to let her know what was going on. So he texted her, "Not sure if you already know, but our daughter is in the hospital. This is what's going on...
Her response was even worse than we expected: "How the [heck] am I supposed to know if you don't call me"?! Eventually, she started asking for details about which hospital we were at, the room number, etc. I told my husband that she was absolutely not welcome at the hospital—not that she asked. At that time, my daughter was very, very sick, and they hadn't figured out what was going on yet.
The last thing we needed to add to the mix was a family drama. And if his mom wasn’t going to be there to support us, there was no reason for her to be there at all. Late that night, we got airlifted to a specialized children's hospital. She was kind enough to offer to help with our pets while we were gone and also kind enough to give us a hard time when we asked her to do so.
She folded our laundry full of my underwear without asking if that would be helpful and left all the lights on in the house. We had other people nearby that could help with our pets, but we wanted to make her feel included, so we asked her to take a shift. She then informed us of her plans to visit our daughter at the children's hospital.
She later canceled because of traffic and also let us know she was too "sick" and "stressed" to help with the pets anymore. So, we never actually saw my mother-in-law, but she made Thanksgiving even more stressful for us. My dad and brother stopped by and brought us food and supplies. My mother spent a few days with us in the hospital, helping with any details and letting us cry on her shoulder.
I just felt so bad for my husband. What we thought would be a couple of hours in the hospital for a nasty stomach bug turned into more than five days and major surgery, and yet my husband's mother still managed to make it all about her.
32. Inappropriate Invitation
My father-in-law kept making creepy—he would say endearing—comments about my hair because I had recently cut it short. He would do this every time I would see him because he liked redheads, and he would make these comments in front of his wife, who's had cancer twice and had to go through losing her hair, which she dyes red.
He took it a step further and touched it, playing with it for a solid ten seconds. I was horrified. My husband was out of the room for that whole scenario, and I didn't tell him until we left. My parents-in-law were watching Outlander, which is like Game of Thrones, and jumped on the gratuitous lusty scene bandwagon. So my inlaws were totally, nonchalantly watching that while we offspring were awkwardly looking at our phones.
We then went to see my extended family afterward, and my mom, who thankfully usually skips every family function, actually showed up. She no longer cares for my husband because he doesn't worship the ground she walks on, helps me stand up to her manipulative garbage, and doesn't have a career she approves of. She sat right next to us and kept making subtle digs at him, asking what he did these days.
He always told her the same thing. Then, I asked him to take something out to the car, and he said he would, just not at that exact moment, which was totally cool and not a problem. My mom proceeded to make a joke about how I should have run when I had the chance before marrying him. We both ignored it, so she HAD to point out that neither of us noticed she made a joke. At this point, I was fed up.
I said, "I noticed", to which she replied, "But you didn't laugh." I told her, "Because it wasn't funny". I would never have had the nerve to shut her down like that before my husband came into the picture. She didn’t like that, but she did drop the subject. We noped out of there to make the two-hour drive home not long after that.
It was a shame because I wasn't enjoying seeing my dad and relatives because my mother has this annoying habit of ruining everything when she's around. The upside was my ability to do all of that with a smile on my face because nothing got her madder in recent years than not being able to get a rise out of me.
33. Dined And Dashed
My mother was very busy finishing making food for everyone because they arrived early. My uncle and his family started talking about leaving because there was another Thanksgiving dinner they were going to that had supposedly already finished their food. So, they left the house to go and get their faces stuffed some more.
Then my mom’s dad, my grandpa, decided to leave along with my uncle a few minutes later.
My mom was so happy to have them over because no one else was coming over aside from them, my uncle, and a few others. But when they left, there was hardly anyone there, and she was devastated. She tried so hard not to cry in front of everyone.
She went to the restroom and came back looking as if she had just been in tears. There was so much food for so few people, and we all felt bad because we couldn’t finish it. My little sister was playing with our younger cousins, and she was upset as to why the kids had to leave as well.
34. Stuff It Buddy!
Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is not a big holiday in my family. About four years ago, my mother passed, and this left my father and me alone. As a result, Thanksgiving and many other celebrations are not as big as they used to be. Regardless, I had a friend invite me to her family’s Thanksgiving dinner. Being as my day was empty, and the fact that I don’t eat good food often, I accepted. I’m generally a very shy person, and I don’t like accepting such offers.
I don’t like people feeling bad for me, and going to dinner was a big step for me. So, we showed up at my friend’s grandma’s house, and it all went well for the first couple of hours. I felt very welcomed, but I was tagging along with my friend. She led me into the living room, where her uncle was watching some TV. I wasn’t there to chat up anyone, so I just stayed there and relaxed.
The first thing the guy said was, “Don’t you have your own family to spend Thanksgiving with”? I was at a loss for words. Who flat out says that to a person who they had never met before? The rest of the family was speechless as well. I really didn’t know what to say, so I just mumbled back. There I was, getting over a tremendous loss, and this guy just highlighted my terrible Thanksgiving.
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35. Too Many Great Expectations
My mother's childhood friend invited her to dinner at their house at 8 PM. We were notified about it at 3 PM Thanksgiving Day, and the woman lived about 1hr 45 mins away. My mother expected me to attend. I was a grown woman, I worked, and I was in a very, very difficult university program, taking six classes. I did not have the time to spend six hours with these people out of the blue.
I already dedicated the meager amount of spare time I had during the break to some friends. My mother threw a fit and said, "I just won't go. It's a family thing", and hung up the phone. I still went down to my mother’s house, which was a 45-minute drive to cook a bit and spend a few hours hanging out with her. She didn't help me cook—which she always does—and barely spoke to me.
She worked in her room and refused to work with me in the living room when the dishes were in the oven because "I would have to move all this stuff", referring to a laptop and some papers. She also refused to sit at the table and opted to put on a movie and eat in silence instead. Talk about a waste of time.
36. My Crass Aunt’s Gotta Go
My aunt asked about my brother's tattoo, which was Odin seated on a throne with a large raven. My brother had to explain that Odin is Thor's father in Norse/Viking mythology. My aunt said, seriously and disdainfully, "I don't understand that. I don't watch Game of Thrones". Then, she didn’t understand why the whole table was holding back laughter.
My aunt was arguing with my stepmom and my stepmom's mother that coriander and cilantro are not the same things "because she hates cilantro". She considers herself Martha Stewart and the expert on all cooking and household matters. Then, my parents had a senior rescue dog who had several health issues and was adopted severely overweight.
He was a large breed mastiff mix, and my stepmom had been working diligently to bring his weight down and treat his health issues. My aunt repeatedly called the dog "she" instead of "he" when my stepmom had had him for over two years. My aunt loudly proclaimed, "She's gotten at least twice as big since the last time I was here! What a cow"! I'm sure it went on even after I left for the evening. We all dread family gatherings because of how overbearing, insensitive, and crass she is.
37. Scarred For Life
When I was younger, my family didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving, so I never really had any bad experiences with it. However, one year when I was in college, I decided to spend Thanksgiving with some friends. We all went to a friend's house and had a big Thanksgiving feast. Everything was going great until one of my friends started making fun of another friend's weight.
It just went downhill from there. Eventually, everyone started arguing, and the night ended with my friends and I sleeping on the couch because we didn't want to be around each other. It was a really awful experience, and I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving since then.
38. The Silence Was Deafening
When I was around 20 years old, I was dating a Japanese man and had met his family a few times at their restaurant. They were very conservative. I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was going really well, and then his brother walked in with his girlfriend. She was transitioning from a man, and it was very obvious; she wasn't passing as a woman.
Back then, it wasn't common or talked about. I had actually never seen a man crossdress, and I'm positive his parents hadn't either. Basically, his brother came out that night, and it was super awkward. His parents were extremely polite to her. There wasn't a big scene, just a very quiet, awkward dinner. We left early so they could talk.
39. A Thanksgiving Transition
I had transgender surgery, and no one notified our uncle of that. He already had confused feelings about me because I was pan, and he was pretty darn religious. He had arrived at the Thanksgiving party, which was thrown at my cousin’s house since none of us had a large enough home for everyone. Holidays like Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving were family reunions for us, and our family was quite large.
He had noticed that there was a new man at the party. He must have put two and two together and figured out it was me because he started to make a scene, shouting all sorts of profanities and saying how, “You were a girl. You were meant to stay as such and bring a beautiful baby into our family”! Let’s just say he didn’t stay around for long, nor did he come to any more events.
40. Lost It Over Leftovers
I got home early from my parents' house and fell asleep on the couch, waiting for my boyfriend to come home from his parents. He came home, jumped on me, and told me to wake up and help him unpack all the leftovers he brought home. I got up, put something in the fridge in a sleepy haze and then went back to the couch and started dozing off again, thinking he would join me when he finished.
He didn’t. Instead, he told me I forgot to put the pie in the fridge and held it there for me to put away. Meanwhile, he was four feet from the fridge, so I told him to put it away. I then closed my eyes while he went to the bathroom and bedroom to get changed. I opened my eyes when I heard the bedroom door shut because he went to bed. He was mad at me for not waiting up for him; cue big fight.
41. Turkey Day Tantrum
My one brother had all his electronics taken away. He had them taken away for months and kept asking to borrow mine and my other brother’s. We both said no out of respect for our parents and so we wouldn’t get the items we bought ourselves taken away. My first brother went into my room and took my 3DS while I was helping my parents cook. I found out when I went in and saw my room trashed.
I found him and demanded my stuff back and panicked at the fact that I couldn’t find my Pokemon Heart Gold game, which he carelessly tossed aside to put in whatever game he wanted to play. Meanwhile, he got angry and smashed a hole in the wall in the hallway next to my room. Our parents obviously heard the commotion, and my brother didn’t calm down for almost three hours and was just having a big tantrum.
I had to bring my extended family into a second living room-type area since my parents forced my brother to stay in the living room next to the kitchen so that they could watch him and prevent him from hitting anyone. It totally ruined the whole day. My dad was angry after that and ended up low-key fighting with an aunt and my mom. As for me, I'm going to get a lock for my room to keep my brother out.
42. Tired Of Their Behavior
I was at my girlfriend’s family for Thanksgiving. I worked the graveyard shift six days on and one day off. I was on approximately 90 minutes of sleep, and the family gathering had gone on for more than seven hours. They were discussing events in the coming months, and it had been over an hour after we had finished eating by that point. I excused myself from the conversation and took a nap in the side room.
I woke up to someone yelling at me and making jokes at my expense to take a family picture. It was extremely awkward, and they were intolerant of my very different schedule even though they knew about it. They said things like, “Well, that's your fault for choosing to live that way”. I'm not one to say anything back, but I resent them quite a bit for pressuring me and trying to make me feel bad.
43. Keeping It Simple
When I was a kid, I used to go to my cousin’s house for a big family dinner. My mom's side of the family was almost all in Peru, so we usually spent Thanksgiving locally at the cousin’s house. I hadn’t been back to that family Thanksgiving in years, and my family won't go back because of an argument with my mom a long time ago that escalated into the authorities getting called.
I had to spend the night at my cousin's house and told them and my uncle what had happened back then. As a result, my mom was super embarrassed to see that side of the family. She believed that the whole family thinks of her differently, so we kind of lost contact with them. My family doesn't really go to family functions like that anymore because of my mom’s fear that the rest of the family judges her and our family behind our backs.
I've never really witnessed family drama until recently. My aunt has a big mouth and won't stop telling my mom how to raise me. Another aunt talks trash about me, saying I'm a bad example to my cousin, who I'm extremely close to. So, I spent Thanksgiving with just my mom and dad, and although it wasn't much, sharing that moment with them at the table was very special.
44. PC Vs. Mac
There was a massive uproar about my father-in-law’s next computer choice. He wanted a Dell, and all the moms and daughters wanted him to get a MacBook Pro. He told them that he would spend his money how he wants, picked up his meal, and gave me, the son-in-law, a look that said, "forget this". So, we went and rewatched The Mandalorian and talked about Star Wars conspiracy theories.
We were talking about a lot of cool stuff and really bonded over this pointless argument. I'm pretty sure the tension was coming from my sister-in-law saying they didn't want to make their beds after driving here, they wanted a freshly made bed. They decided to unplug the TV while we were on Chapter 3 until he picked his new computer brand. I had to sit there while they pro and con this ridiculous problem that literally didn’t affect any of the people trying to convince him.
45. Petty Family Squabbles
At my dad's side's Thanksgiving, my aunt decided she wasn't going to come because she was fighting with my grandmother, who didn't tell her that my other aunt's daughter was having a baby. My first aunt, Aunt S, is a bit petty. She decided that because of this, she wasn't going to come to any of the holiday stuff. Aunt S and my dad are the only two of the five kids who come to Thanksgiving because they're the only ones who still live in the same state.
The other sibling, my Uncle Bill, who was also always there, passed a few years back. We used to have two tables for the entire family at Thanksgiving, but this year, it was only one. It felt weird. On our way home that night, my mom looked at my dad and said, "I'm glad we aren't going to be here for Christmas this year". We were going to celebrate with her family that lived in another state. I can't wait to see what happens between now and then.
46. There Was No Folding Back
This year at Thanksgiving, everyone decided to play a game that I didn’t wanna play at all. You had to make an origami turkey behind your back. The winner would be judged through applause. The moment it started, you could tell this game had no objectivity; it was a popularity contest. So my four brothers and I decided that we would just goof around and support my older brother’s turkey even though it was trash.
We actually got him to the third round simply because all four of us clapping was loud enough to get him into the next round. In the third round, my oldest brother got bored and quit. He gave his turkey away. I was a little annoyed at first but then remembered this was a silly game in the first place. We then went into the other room. Ten minutes later, my grandmother came around the corner, bursting into our conversation.
She said that my father called for us, and none of us responded. We hadn’t heard him. He came into the room, and I decided to make a joke of it, claiming I wouldn’t have voted for his turkey anyway because it was bad, which was true. I had no idea at all that this grown man was incredibly hurt about how we didn’t clap for his origami turkey.
Two days later, we got into an argument about the situation, and I told him it was a dumb thing to be mad about. He was convinced we ignored him. I told him that we definitely did not ignore him and that if he just wanted to be angry, then I would let him, but if he wanted the truth, then he should listen to me. He didn’t want to hear any of it. He went on and on about how we were trying to silently disrespect him. I got snippy because it was such a ridiculous conversation to have.
47. The Forgotten One
My family was hosting Thanksgiving. My parents, brother, and I lived in a different state, and we couldn't afford to visit, so we could not attend. However, my sister still lived close by with her family. As my aunt was telling my mom who was going, she realized that my sister wasn't invited. She sheepishly called my sister and asked what her plans for Thanksgiving were, and sure enough, she was forgotten.
My sister is the kindest person on this planet. I've only seen her really mad a few times, but that was when she was either pregnant, or something was happening with her kids. She went bananas and started yelling at them. Knowing my family, they were probably angry at her, but I'm glad she stuck up for herself.
48. No More Freebies
My aunt, who was notorious for not taking care of her pets, had me take care of her cats as well as try to give her veterinary advice. I assumed it was so she could avoid an actual vet. I told her that her first dog, who was hurt earlier that year, needed X-rays to see what was wrong with his leg. She wouldn’t go because it was “too expensive”. Her other dog had an obvious food allergy and had been head-shaking and toe-licking since we got there.
I told her he has to be seen to have it checked out. Again, she wouldn’t take him, because it’s “expensive”. She’s had two female kittens that I told her needed to be spayed to prevent pregnancy. She won’t because it’s “expensive”. Meanwhile, she had just bought a new BMW. I told her if she kept ignoring my advice and kept expecting free vet care, then she shouldn’t ask me anymore. Don’t ask if you don’t want the truth.
49. The Early Bird Was A Real Worm
It was my fourth Thanksgiving of being a single mom and going to my sister’s with my 73-year-old dad. He showed up at my house three hours early, ready to go. Meanwhile, we had just woken up and had breakfast. We hadn’t even showered yet. He said, “Let's go. I've been up since 5 AM”. We got to my sister’s house, and her granddaughter was there who came early to spend time with them.
So, we got ready to eat because we were all present. However, my kids and I weren’t hungry because we had just eaten breakfast. My dad threw a fit about it, which caused my kids to get upset as to why pappy was upset. That set me off. I downed three glasses of vino. My kids went to the living room and played with the granddaughter.
Everyone else was fine except for my dad, who was still insisting my kids eat and was acting like a jerk about it. I told him to leave it alone and that they would eat when they were hungry. They were 10 and 14, for goodness sake. Then, he started asking me over and over again, “When do you want to leave”? We left and got to my house, and it wasn’t even 4 PM. He told me we made good time. I didn't even really get to talk to anyone. I don’t know why we even went.
50. I Just Can’t Win
I got up early to do all the cooking myself. Then, my brother announced he would be calling out of work and didn’t care if he got fired. I reminded him he would still owe me rent since he lived under my roof, and I would not be cutting him any slack. My mother got upset with me because I was so harsh with my brother. He was 28 years old and only worked a part-time job in retail, and had no other life plans.
When loading up the car to drive in the rain to my aunt’s house, I was again the bad guy for not loading everything in the car myself. THEN at the dinner table, AFTER SAYING GRACE, my mother was texting secret lusty love messages to some rando dude on Facebook. She was having a secret affair with God knows who. My dad was sitting right next to her. He didn’t have Facebook, and he doesn't text either. I really hate the holidays.
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