The last thing anyone wants to deal with on Thanksgiving is 'family drama'. However, for some families, it's unavoidable. These people air out the family drama that went down on Thanksgiving. Content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Selfish Son
“My mother was in her early 70s. She called my brothers and me a week before Thanksgiving to talk about dinner. I was the first she called (youngest of three brothers). She sounded tired, so I told her to not stress about dinner and I recommended that instead of the traditional dinner (turkey, ham, etc, etc) she could just prep a lasagna. She already had sauce in the freezer. Low key, easy peasy. She thought it was a great idea. So did I.
My mom didn’t have to work hard over turkey, ham, and all the fixings. Let’s just enjoy family time. No stress right?
Cut a week later. I showed up at my mom’s. She made the traditional dinner and the lasagna. She made both. I was super confused. Turns out, my older brother who was 42 years old at the time told her Thanksgiving was for turkey and tradition, not lasagna. At this point, I was surprised and disappointed that she had to do more work, and the whole point was less.
So, this brother of mine showed up last without his girlfriend, and he only had one of three kids with him. We were all jolly until he walked in. We asked him where his girlfriend was, he said she couldn’t eat lasagna, it gave her heartburns, so she stayed home with the other kids.
He saw the lasagna, the traditional supper, and lost his mind. He started shouting about how my mother didn’t tell him she was making the traditional supper. He told my mom she made it and didn’t tell him and mumbled many inappropriate things. Eventually, he stormed out, with his kid in tow.
My mom started losing it and crying. He closed the door, but she stormed out after him and was screaming his name to come back in from the balcony. But he just didn’t even look back, instead, he packed his kid in the car, and left. She walked back in sobbing. That look broke all of our hearts. A lot of consoling was done that night. Lots of leftovers and I was glad I had my eating pants on.
His 73-year-old mother worked hard over a meal to accommodate his selfish demands and lack of understanding that she was older and more tired, and he basically took it on her. Never apologized.
It hasn’t been the same in my family since then. To this day, he still believes he did nothing wrong.”
“Don’t Be Heartless”
“This was years ago when electric ice cream makers were relatively new or at least the affordable ones were new. So for Thanksgiving, my wife’s family decided that rather than have people bake dessert, after dinner, we would all instead make homemade ice cream.
We used good ingredients and made some really high-quality ice cream. It was fun and all of the kids enjoyed it a lot.
But when we were done making the ice cream, my wife’s aunt put the ice cream aside and proceeded to pull out some store-brand ice cream to serve the kids. They explained that the homemade ice cream was only for the adults, the kids just got store-bought ice cream because ‘they can’t appreciate the good stuff anyway.’
Maybe that was true. But regardless, the kids really wanted to eat the homemade stuff simply because they made it themselves. They were really put out, some tears were shed.
I spoke up and said, ‘Don’t be heartless. Let the kids have the stuff they made, give them at least a little bit. I mean, in my family, the kids are the focus on holidays. It’s about the enjoyment we get by seeing them so happy.’
Anyway, my wife’s aunts refused to listen, and then gave me an attitude about how ‘you don’t understand, you don’t have kids.’
I replied, ‘Yeah but I was a kid and I know how terrible I would feel-‘ but they immediately put their foot down.
They said, ‘No.’ And how there wasn’t enough to go around and the kids had to eat the other ice cream.
They continued, ‘If you want them to have some so badly, then you can share your portion with them.’
I said, ‘Alright then. Okie dokie, that’s what I’ll do.’
So when I went to serve myself, I got a big salad bowl and filled it all the way to the top, grabbed six spoons, and then went and sat at the kids’ table and we all just pigged out on my ‘portion.’
There was hardly any left, so what did the adults have to do? Pull the other ice cream out of the fridge and eat that instead, sulking and at the same time trying to maintain their dignity.
It was pretty much angry silence for the next hour until we left.
I was worried my wife was going to be ticked and tell me off once we got in the car, but instead, she laughed and told me she loved me.”
He Wanted To Drive Some 30 Miles Away And For What?!
“My step-dad wanted to use his day off to drive out to an airport some 30 miles from home that he’d just gotten gate codes for from his work on a local airport. Why? To steal a bunch of fencing that was clearly set aside for a replacement project. Apparently, he needed my mom and me to help.
I was 13 or so at the time, starting to develop my own ideas about the world, so I objected, frequently. This angered him greatly because I was refusing to help, so he told me I could walk home. He got in the truck and started driving away. My mom refused to get in with him, so she was walking with me. We walked for a good hour, or so, enough time to get back to the main road, at which time he showed back up. I was tired of walking by this point, knowing Thanksgiving was tomorrow, so I was ready to throw in the towel. My mom wasn’t having it, though. I get much of my backbone from her.
This time, my sister was in the car with him, I assume my step-dad brought her along as leverage. It wasn’t helping.
About this time, while the truck was pulled over and my step-dad was shouting at us to get in the truck, a station wagon pulled up and asked if we were all right or if we needed help. My mom said yes pretty quickly and got me over there. I got in the back seat with my mom and a very happy dog.
That dog became my security blanket for the rest of the night as I had a near breakdown about experiencing true abuse and knowing my mom had to deal with this more often than me.
In the morning, my step-dad was called and given the address, since we made our point. He got there, turned out he knew the lady who helped us, they were old biker buddies.
We headed home, packed our stuff, and flew out to Texas to Grandma’s house.”
Friendsgiving
“One time, my roommates and I hosted a Friendsgiving. A lot of people brought Moscato. So much Moscato that we actually ran out of counter space for it and started leaving it on the porch. After dinner, when people were already getting pretty tipsy, my coworker showed up with one of those huge blue water cooler jugs filled with home-brewed Moscato his dad had made. It wasn’t very good, but once we all polished off the original 60 or so bottles (seriously, there were like 40 people at this shindig, and not one person came in without at least one bottle), we broke into the jug.
The next morning, I woke in my own bed with two of my friends and emerged to a scene of carnage. People were passed out on the couch, on the floor, and one dude I’d gone to high school with and not seen in years curled up sleeping in a chair. I didn’t even remember seeing him the night before. There were half-eaten pies that looked like people had taken handfuls straight out of them, crusty dishes on every surface, broken glass, bottles and stains on the floor, and half-smoked joints put out in bottle caps. Yet, that jug still had a good couple of gallons of the home-brewed in it.”
Prank Gone Wrong
“My aunt had a brain aneurysm about a decade ago. She almost died but made it through surgery. But because of this, she is different mentally and is classified as mentally handicapped. Two years ago, our whole family was going to do one of those mannequin challenge videos. She was a bit confused when we explained what we were going to do but her understanding was to just stay still no matter what. During the video, she just sat on the couch with her eyes closed. After it, we were all talking and she hadn’t moved so we told her it was over and she could get up now but she didn’t move a muscle. We kept saying her name and her son went up to her and yelled her name and she still didn’t move. We got a little alarmed and we, of course, thought the worst so we were shaking her, poking her, all sorts of stuff and she still didn’t react at all.
Her son started crying and told someone to call 911. About half the family was either crying, screaming, or freaking out.
Then out of nowhere she jumped up and screamed, ‘AHAHA I got you all!’
We were shocked but also ticked off at her because we had to tell the 911 operator that it was a stupid prank and to not send an ambulance. I guess she thought it was part of the game or she thought it was funny to mess with us like that but it was tough on her son. He spent 10 minutes outside regrouping himself.
We barely talked to her that night. I feel kind of bad for her because she may not have understood the trauma she was causing us and we basically shunned her that night.”
Psycho Uncle
“My uncle and grandfather don’t have a good relationship but were tolerating each other because of Thanksgiving. My uncle was cooking lasagna and my grandfather decided to help, so he grated the cheese. He did this in another room because the kitchen was full of other people cooking.
We have a big Thanksgiving, maybe 15 to 20 people who love to eat. I had brought in the cheese and everything was going fine.
Flash forward to dinner time when the food was coming out. And as tradition dictates, we always start with lasagna.
My grandfather made some joke like, ‘I know you hate me, but at least I’m grate.’
But my uncle didn’t find the joke funny. It actually had a negative effect on him. He literally went into a rage and was yelling at everyone because we didn’t tell him he was using ‘tainted’ cheese.
Then said, ‘Who the heck care?!’ and proceeded to flip the table all the food was on.
My grandfather called him outside to settle the score, which resulted in two grown men fist fighting in the backyard, culminating with my grandad getting thrown into the pond we lived off of, and slicing his leg on a jagged rock that he landed on. The rest of us ordered Chinese food and kicked my uncle out. My grandfather refused the hospital because he had a little too much ‘holiday joy’ in him at the time.
Surprising my uncle hasn’t come back for the holidays in years now.”
Grandma’s Infamous Banana Pudding
“As a child, my grandmother would make banana pudding for Thanksgiving. It was homemade custard and meringue, the whole works. Every year, there were pudding wars. My mom and her brother would outdo themselves trying to keep the other from getting the pudding.
My uncle broke into our house one year to steal it, but my grandma took to making a decoy pudding and hiding the real stuff. But one year was different. That year took the cake.
My grandma refused to make the beloved pudding. My great aunt stepped in and offered to make it. When she showed up to the house, my mom took the entire tray of pudding from her hands and ran into my grandmother’s bedroom screaming at my younger cousin to get her a spoon. She locked herself into my grandmother’s bedroom with every intention of eating herself sick on that banana pudding. Unfortunately, my great aunt can’t cook.
The result of this was that instead of smooth, creamy custard, the pudding had bits of scrambled egg yolk in it. This happens if you try to heat the custard too fast and don’t continuously stir as it’s cooking. Only moments after locking herself in the room, my mom returned, disappointed, and ate her turkey in sullen silence.”
Bad News
“Every year we had Thanksgiving at my grandparent’s house. One year everyone was there but one aunt. She was outside in her car refusing to come in. Turns out she had taken out a credit card in my cousin’s name while the said cousin was in the navy. The cousin found out on the drive over while opening her mail. My aunt had racked up more than 10K in debt for my cousin.
My cousin did not pay, her father made her mother pay her back using part of her retirement. Seems this was just one of the first signs my aunt was not in her right mind anymore. My cousin did not want to press charges but was able to get her credit back up with some work after the debt was played off by her mother. There were a couple of other things my aunt had done but nothing like this. Unfortunately, she was literally out of her mind and only got worse. That Thanksgiving was one of the last ones where our family got together like that. My uncle, aunt, and cousin never came back after that one. They did visit again at other times, but my aunt was medicated and not like herself anymore.”
“All Because Of Turkey “
“I dislike turkey and my mother told me I didn’t have to eat it and made me something else. Keep in mind that I was in third grade, I think. She knew it upset me as a child to eat it.
My father wouldn’t have it and demanded that I eat it and went to throw out my food. He reached for his belt and had trouble taking it off so I locked myself in my room and hid in the corner.
He and my mom were fighting for a while and he was taking it out on me. After my mom made him leave, I was crying at the table eating the food my mom made for me.
My sisters both looked at me as my dad slammed the door and said, ‘Thanks…You just ruined Thanksgiving.’
They blamed my mom for years over the divorce too.
To this day, I never eat turkey on Thanksgiving and always get a good pizza for myself. They’ve done other things to me over the years and isolated me for a long time until I broke all ties with all of them. If one of them had a funeral, I wouldn’t go.
All because of turkey.”
Oh No! What Happened To Grandma?!
“My grandmother didn’t like my dad very much, and she picked a fight with him so he decided that he was going home.
When my grandmother realized my stepmom (her daughter) was going to take my dad’s side and go home too, she started to yell a lot. Then as a last-ditch effort, dramatically clutched her chest and collapsed very carefully. It was outside and I guess she didn’t want to bump her head or muss her clothes.
My dad offered to call 911, but my grandfather said it wasn’t necessary. When grandmother realized no one was taking her seriously, she opened her eyes, allowed grandfather to help her up, and went inside with him while fake sobbing.
It was very surreal. And her husband was so embarrassed.
Aside from the fake heart attack, normally she was quite nice, but she had her moments. She really wasn’t happy that her daughter had grown up and had a life. Holidays usually brought out the worst in her, which was weird because she loved cooking and celebrating.”
Yeah, She Wasn’t Invited Back To Thanksgiving Dinner Again
“My aunt got so wasted that started to take off all her clothes. Then she ran down the street with nothing on after hitting on my cousin’s boyfriend. And her kids saw it all. They were all under the age of 12. She then cried the whole next day because everyone was mad at her. I called CPS because she tried driving under the influence with the kids.
A few weeks later, she got wasted again at the same house by the pool. She lost balance when she stepped into the pool filter. She first hit the pool but caught herself with the hand that was holding the glass bottle. The shards of glass bottle ended up inside of her cheek and neck. After hitting the ground and passing out, she rolled into the pool and would’ve died if others hadn’t fished her out. She is still a big-time drinker.
She’s not invited to Thanksgiving anymore because she now does crack.”
They Were Given A Bill
“My aunt invited us all over to her and her family’s house, which was out of state for Thanksgiving, and it was all going to be provided by them. So our family decided to go and offered to bring something, anything just as a thank you. But my aunt persisted we didn’t bring anything.
The dinner was good, and it was an overall very great Thanksgiving.
Well, about a month later, we got a letter from that aunt proclaiming that we now owed her 75 bucks to cover the cost of the meal. My parents were furious, as we had just spent a lot of money to go down and see her, and had even offered to lighten her load by bringing some of our own dishes. They wouldn’t even be so mad if it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t even tell anyone about this when she was giving invitations.”
“My Sister Came Running Home Crying”
“My aunt, who had been married multiple times and was generally known to have been a flirt, nastily told my sister she was going to purgatory for living with her fiancé before marriage. She berated her for a few minutes about sinning and whatnot while they were at my grandmother’s house cooking.
We live in the middle of nowhere and our houses are divided by small pastures. So it didn’t take long before my sister came running home crying. My dad jumped three fences to go kick them out of my grandmother’s house. It was quite the scene for the neighbors with the yelling and whatnot. We took all of our turkeys across the pasture to the other aunt’s house and they had pizza while they packed their bags to go home.
They never came back for a holiday dinner.”
“It Was Also Their Anniversary Weekend”
“I was at my wife’s uncle’s house for Thanksgiving, and his wife decided right after dinner to play their wedding video. It was also their anniversary weekend, so it made sense.
She looked for a half hour to find the videotape. Once she found it, she gathered the whole dinner party (25-ish people) to the backroom area and played the video. It was right as she was walking down the aisle, and midway down the aisle, the video went fuzzy. Then it cut to Dale Earnhardt’s funeral.
Uncle Joe used that tape to record Dale Earnhardt’s funeral. Granted it was in small-town Michigan where the NASCAR track is, but still. Everyone froze in complete shock.
It felt like I was in a sitcom but it was real life.”
ER Visit
“When I was eight or nine, an actual family fight broke out on Thanksgiving. We had to call the cops and everything. My grandpa got a fine, while my uncle and my step grandmother’s oldest daughter was arrested.
Before my uncle and grandpa passed away, we wouldn’t let them live it down. It was glorious. When I say fight, I mean people on the floor throwing punches. We never went back to my grandpa’s for Thanksgiving after that, until one year we did go back, but it was a huge mistake.
My aunt gave us all food poisoning. My mom was literally dragging my brother and me into the ER because of how bad the food poisoning was. I have not eaten anything she has cooked since.”
The Aunt Who Stole Thanksgiving
“My aunt always brought several large Tupperware containers and would begin packing up food for herself immediately after everyone had filled their plate. If you thought you might want seconds, you had to take them the first time because there was often nothing left after she’d filled her containers. Of course, if you did that, she’d make a snide comment about how much food you were eating. I don’t recall ever seeing her sit down with a plate to eat with us, she was always in the kitchen packing up the food that she hadn’t paid for or prepared.
Her daughter (28 at the time) wouldn’t speak to anyone and fed the shrimp hors d’oeuvres to the cats.
They’re no longer invited.”
Mother-In-Law Or Monster-In-Law
“My mother-in-law (MIL) announced halfway through dinner that she was taking the rest of the turkey home. The turkey we bought and cooked.
Before she left, she ran to the bathroom and left smelling like she poopy diaper.
My sister-in-law went into the bathroom and was in there forever. She came out and asked who was in there before her.
I answered, ‘Your mother.’
She said, ‘Oh… that was the most disgusting thing I ever saw. Don’t worry, I cleaned it up.’
To this day, my MIL refuses to say what she saw but the bathroom was spotless.”
