Moms share epic Thanksgiving horror stories
From frozen turkeys to unexpected runs to White Castle, Thanksgiving doesn't always go as planned.
The Star asked theCityMoms, a social network and support group for local moms, to share their Thanksgiving fails, horror stories and disasters! Here are seven not so perfect stories from theCityMoms.
"The first year I spent Thanksgiving with my now in-law's, we went to my father-in-law's house. … He always did a stuffed turkey. He would start it at 6 a.m. so it would be ready in time for lunch. He had a brand new oven and set the timer to go off every two hours to baste the turkey.
"Seven hours later, he was baffled to discover the turkey was still almost completely raw, until he realized that pushing "clear" on his fancy new oven to stop the timer had also turned off the oven. Basically, the turkey had cooked for two hours and then been off all day while he periodically basted. How he didn't notice the lack of heat is beyond me. Needless to say, I always host Thanksgiving now and volunteer to do all the cooking. " — Tiffany M., Fishers mom of one
Spreading holiday cheer to you and yours
"Not giving the turkey enough time to thaw. No matter how many times we've cooked a turkey, this happens every single year." — Melanie A., Castleton mom of two
"The first Thanksgiving we spent at my in-laws after we were married I helped prep and serve food for 20+ people. I ruined my sweet potatoes because I used salt instead of sugar, burned the rolls to a crisp, and then had to clean up ... with not a single person offering to help. Then my husband's aunt literally put cat food in her yogurt dessert. She thought it was Grape Nuts." — Megan L., Noblesville mom of two
"One year I made a beautiful chocolate cranberry torte, an apple tart and a pumpkin molasses pie (to take to my in-laws). Right before we left to drive there, I realized the pie pan I had the pumpkin pie in would not fit in the carrier. In my single dumbest moment ever, I decided I could flip the pie onto a plate and back into the carrier. Yeah. Needless to say, it was smashed. I cried. We didn't take it, so my consolation was eating crushed pie all week." — Joli H., Indianapolis mom of one
"Our first child was born Nov. 1, and we decided not to go to my family's large Thanksgiving festivities in hopes to avoid sickness. Instead, we planned to visit my in-laws who would have a much smaller group. Unfortunately, my brother-in-law ended up in the hospital and my in-laws stayed with him for Thanksgiving. My husband, new daughter, and I were at home Thanksgiving day, but I really wanted some sort of Thanksgiving dinner. We got in the car and drove into town. We were so excited that Bob Evans had a full parking lot ... signaling they were open. Wrong! It was overflow parking for Walmart's Black Friday sale. The only place open was White Castle (which we like), so that was our first Thanksgiving dinner as a family. Every Thanksgiving since, we now take a White Castle Crave Case to my family's Thanksgiving as our own new tradition!" — Linda S., Brownsburg mom of two
"In 2004 I was pregnant for the first time. Normally I love Thanksgiving dinner — and at 28 weeks pregnant I was ecstatic at the thought of all that home-cooked food! On the Wednesday before T-giving, I found out I was already dilating and ended up in the hospital on complete bed rest, an IV of magnesium sulfate and a liquid diet. I had friends kind enough to bring plates to the hospital — not knowing I couldn't have them. My husband and mom ate them ... in my room. I had turkey broth. Three days later my son was born. He'll be 11 this year, and I still remind him how he made me miss out on T-giving dinner." — Stephanie B., Brownsburg mom of four
"My first Thanksgiving after graduating from college, I decided to assist my mom in making a traditional dinner. It had been three years since we'd done this, as I had been away at college and my mom had gotten a divorce and didn't bother cooking a big meal for herself. Well, mom pre-heated her oven, forgetting there was a pizza box with leftover pizza being stored in the oven. Needless to say, the pizza box caught on fire, and my mom ran through the house carrying the box outside with oven mitts." — Ashley A., Indianapolis mom of two