Somehow, Martha Stewart is to blame. 
This is why I don’t understand table manners. Just leave people alone, or get stabbed and like it!
Man that sucks.
What the hell is it with this tradition of falling out at Thanksgiving?!:dubious:
Every family christmas I’ve had (we don’t have Thanksgiving) has been merry and fun with no ill feeling. I don’t get all these threads pitting thanksgiving, and all the implications and even hollywood films about this ‘tradition’?
People don’t complain when they have an enjoyable thanksgiving meal with loved ones who aren’t complete assholes, Lobsang.
My Thanksgiving was wonderful, in case you were wondering. 
Well, see, the problem lies in his form. Instead of stabbing at his relatives, it’d have been much better to take long even slices against the grain.
Oh I’m sure the vast majority of them are. And I am sure my country has it’s fair share of bad family christmases. It just seems like there’s an in-joke about Thanksgiving dinners not going well.
Beats me, but back in 2001 we had something similar occur. Well, nobody got stabbed but the evening, not all that pleasant to begin with, ended with my (somewhat bipolar) brother and his then wife physically pushing my mother and sister out of his house while screaming, unnecessarily, that they should get the eff out right the eff now. Explaining how this situation came to be would take far longer than it is worth; suffice to say it was for reasons so trivial and silly that it beggars belief.
Said brother refused to speak to anyone in the family from then till about six months ago. He’s recently patched things up, more or less, and was scheduled to attend the T-day meal at my sisters place in PA, but frankly I was happy that I was 1500 miles away and breaking bread with friends who were highly unlikely to use the carving knife on anything but the turkey.
They’ll carve up a lot easier if you let them sit for about 45 minutes covered in foil.
Well, I think that people get bitten by the perfection bug for Thanksgiving. Here in America, we have television shows and magazines shouting at us about how to set the perfect table, roast a perfect turkey, make a perfect pie crust from scratch, etc. It doesn’t matter if 364 days a year you eat nothing but frozen dinners, the media would have you believe that on Thanksgiving you can be Martha Stewart. So some people spend way too much money and time planning the “perfect” Thanksgiving dinner. The very first time something goes just the tiniest bit amiss, it puts the host in a foul mood; then, when guests fail to behave according to script, it just gets worse. Often, the matriarch of the family will not hear of someone skipping Thanksgiving dinner at the house because of family conflicts. It just doesn’t matter, dammit. She put all this time, energy and expense into trying to make everything perfect, and everyone is going to damned well be there to see it! So, you see, you have mere mortals trying to elevate themselves and their families to the realm of royalty, and the stage is set for major unpleasnatness.
Not everyone buys into this myth, of course; many of us just plan on cooking dishes we know we can do well, invite people we will be happy to see who will be happy to see each other, and go with the flow. Then we have fun. My in-laws came, in addition to the hubby and I and our three kids (two teenagers and one pre-schooler) and a pleasant time was had by all.
Thanksgiving is the traditional Bad Time to Come Out To Your Relatives.
When someone does a joke about coming out to their entire family followed by much Sturm und Drang, it’s always at Thanksgiving – not Christmas, not a wedding reception, not Kwanzaa – Thanksgiving.
I came out to my extended family on Thanksgiving, too. No heart attacks ensued.