Turkey Day is coming! In honor of the season, we’re sharing some of our fondest Thanksgiving memories.

“When I was 26, I decided to host Thanksgiving for my mother, sister and my sister’s fiancé in my new apartment. Mom came to help me get things ready. I put the turkey in the refrigerator to thaw, but on Thanksgiving morning it was still frozen solid! Mom to the rescue – she ran cold water into my bath tub and we set the turkey (still in the wrapper, at least) in there to ‘speed thaw.’ At one point it occurred to her that we should remove the neck and giblets to help speed the process, so she pulled out a wooden spoon to pry them out. Imagine our shock when the spoon broke off inside the turkey, and the bag with the giblets inside flew across the room, hitting the wall! Dinner did turn out all right in the end, but I was mortified at the thought of the turkey in my tub and giblets on my wall. It was years before I shared the full story with my sister, too!”
— Linda

“One of my favorite Thanksgiving memories comes from when my family visited my aunt and uncle. They lived in a rural area, and the power went out when a mild storm came through. The turkey was the main concern, because it had only been in the oven a couple of hours. My enterprising dad and uncle set to work firing up the charcoal barbecue, and as the turkey kept cooking, we gathered around the candlelit table, talked, told family stories and had the best time. The lights finally came on again, but we let the turkey finish on the BBQ. Though dinner was a little late that year, it was one of the tastiest birds, and best times as a family, we’d ever had.” — Cheryl

“Early in our marriage, my husband and I decided to host Thanksgiving dinner for about ten guests. We were both fond of sake (Japanese rice wine), so when my husband suggested we cook the turkey with sake in a brown paper bag I was all for it. We’d started the turkey and were preparing the rest of the meal when our young daughter suddenly sang out, “Mommy, why is there a fire in the oven?” Sure enough, there was a bonfire going strong in the oven. My husband let loose with the fire extinguisher, and that was the end of our ‘sake turkey’! Now what would we do?

Moments later, the phone rang – a friend had called to wish us “Happy Thanksgiving.” Yeah, right – I told her what had happened, and begged her for advice on how to salvage the situation. As it happened, she and her husband had an extra, 28-pound turkey going on the grill! In no time at all, they came by with the bird and all the trimmings. My guests were pretty surprised to see a home-cooked meal delivered right to the house! Since then, the “sake turkey” has become a part of our family’s lexicon.” — Susan

“It was tradition in our house for my father to carve the turkey – and he and I had a little tradition of our own to go along with it. I would pause in helping my mother, and stand next to him while he carved the bird (when I was small, I stood on a stool), watching carefully as he made the first cut. Invariably, he would touch the fork to the turkey – then leap back, yelling ‘gobble gobble gobble!’ as loudly as he could. I also pretended to be deeply offended by this show of insensitivity toward the poor turkey, saying, ‘Daaaaaad!’ in as stern a voice as I could manage. Secretly, though, I would have been disappointed if he’d omitted the ritual, which I’m sure he knew very well!”
— Jenn