Hosting events is a lot of work; there's a house to be cleaned, food to be prepped, and a lot of general setup that needs to be taken care of. When it's family, it's even more so to do—it's probably a good idea to hide the things your family won't approve of and save yourself the judgment. Family hosting schedules help to ease the burden of any one person having to host too often, and the reality is that for a member of the family to drop from hosting duties places a disproportionate amount of…

As Thanksgiving approaches, countless family members across the country are clenching their jaws and growing more and more tense about the logistical and social pressures of impending family gatherings. Here, we have a 38-year-old woman who has been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for her 20-person extended family every year for the majority of the last decade. She used to enjoy these hosting responsibilities, but as time went on, she became resentful of the complete lack of support she received fr…

This family is having a major argument over what to eat for a holiday meal ! Each family has their own unique traditions and menus for their holidays. For many people, the meat depends on the holiday: for some, ham is reserved for Easter, while cooking a big turkey is reserved for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You've got to have a lot of side dishes too: many people eat mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread, cranberry sauce, collard greens, sweet yams, beans, or myriad other dishes. That way, e…

This SIL went out of her way to use the wrong “tablecloth.”

Nothing creates treasured memories faster than someone ruining a Thanksgiving turkey in front of the whole family. Hosting Thanksgiving is a big job. Even if you assign some relatives a food to bring, you suddenly realize, “Uh oh… I'm the one who has to make the turkey.” When you're cooking a giant turkey like that, there are specific rules you need to follow. It needs to defrost, be stuffed and basted, then put in the oven for a certain amount of hours, depending on the weight. I can't speak f…

There is no such thing as Thanksgiving without a little family drama. It's part of what makes this Holiday so memorable. I'll always remember the year a family member wasn't allowed to leave the hotel room because they were under the weather. Then, there's that time someone spilled a side dish all over my hair. And who could forget the time no one wanted to ask the old lady in the room if she had changed out of her onesie at all the whole weekend? This kind of family tension is perhaps the most…

Each family has at least one cherished memory of the time someone botched Thanksgiving dinner really badly. You know the kind of story: an aunt promises to bake the turkey , and roasts it for 6 hours… in a cold oven. Or maybe you had a dad who was so proud of his fresh apple pie, only to immediately drop it on the floor, where the dog then ate it. These Thanksgiving memories are often infuriating in the moment, and then become hilarious family memories as soon as the fam eaten their proper holi…

One of those moments when you have no one to blame but yourself... but decide to blame someone else anyways… Most people have the ability to admit that they made a mistake and own up to their own failings. Mind you, it's not something that's easy to do; the ol' ego has a particular aversion to acknowledging any wrongdoing or fault. Most of us can push past the ego gremlin and own our mistakes, but there are certain entitled and narcissistic people on this planet who, if you asked them, would te…

Something tells me this family is going to be ordering takeout this Thursday...

It's a scientific fact that 3 day work weeks feel like 13 days long.

Thanksgiving is on its way, which means so are Thanksgiving fails!