One more time: Marney's Thanksgiving Letter

In case you haven’t seen it, or if you want to see it again, here is the notorious “Marney’s” Thanksgiving Letter/Specific Orders to the Family Regarding What to Bring and How to Cook and Serve It:

(All names have been changed, of course.)

What a passive-aggressive fictional bitch. The way it plays out in my head, Amy dumps the gravy boat in her crotch.

Wow… that’s fiction, right?? Please? Tell me that person does not actually exist?!

What’s the origin of this?! :eek:

Knock knock

Who’s there?

Control freak. Now you say, “control freak who?”

FOAF territory.

I am so stealing this.

“regulation size casserole dish”???

I’m surprised that snopes doesn’t have anything about this.

somebody posted it on Awkward Family Photos a few years ago and they post it again every Thanksgiving. I’m sure the originator is somewhere in the archives on that site.

There is a link to the original blog at the bottom of this page:

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2010/11/24/happy-thanksgiving-from-afp/

And here is the letter reprinted on a dish:

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2011/11/18/limited-edition-marney-dish/

No kidding! But I suspect the blogger who posted her “friend’s” story either wrote it herself, or rewrote a letter she herself received, and exaggerated much of it for comedic effect.

None of the following is definitive, because, if names can be changed so can dates and product names. However, for what it’s worth, before 2008* (the earliest date of posting found for this item) the 28th of November fell on Thursday in 2002, 1996, 1991, 1985, 1974 and 1968. I’m not including earlier years because “bottled water” and the following items are mentioned:

  1. Hagan Dazs [sic]: Häagen Dazs was founded in 1960. The “Peppermint Bark” flavor appears to have been introduced to the market in 2008 (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-190555488.html) but I can’t be arsed to confirm that.
  2. EVOO: Rachel Ray is credited with developing this term. Since she was born in 1968, the term cannot have been around longer than she has.
  3. Coors Light: introduced into the market in 1978.
  4. The first edition of The Silver Palate Cookbook, by Sheila Lunkins, was published in 1982. Link to its recipe for pumpkin pie: http://www.yale.edu/icenter/images/recipe.pdf.

*The 28th did not or will not fall on Thursday in the years 2003 through 2013.

Not a problem. It’s still fun to make fun of “Marney” and her ilk once a year.

Marney may be fictional, but believe you me, there are plenty of real-life people just like her.

Nothing says that they were at a Thanksgiving dinner that was held on the 28th as a Thanksgiving Day. It’s entirely possible they met on the 28th to have Thanksgiving dinner, but it wasn’t on a Thursday, if they were able to meet on the weekend instead.

ALSO…nothing says they had to see each other on Thanksgiving Day. Most of my family all comes in on Wednesday, not Thursday. So “see you on the 28th” could refer to the Wedneday prior.

Bazinga!!

The first time I read this I thought the name was Marley.

Musta been a dyslexic moment.

Our Marley would never be that way on Thanksgiving.

He would just ban all of us.

For about 20 minutes.

[QUOTE=ericworthington]
Nothing says that they were at a Thanksgiving dinner that was held on the 28th as a Thanksgiving Day. {snip}
[/QUOTE]

“Bazinga!” my Great-aunt Fanny! I already said the person who first posted this story could have changed/added any number of details of the story. I was just pointing out how unlikely was the story as told.

I truly do not want to ruin anyone’s enjoyment of the story. I am sure people like “Marney” exist and they have issued ultimata/demands like the ones in this story. My point was that this specific story is probably just that: a story, a “FOAF” tale, and not accurate reportage of a specific event.

May your Thanksgiving be what you want it to be, and completely Marney-free!