What is your best Thanksgiving memory and your worst Thanksgiving memory?

The best was when the dogs were barking, a baby was screaming, everyone was shouting, my aunt started crying, and my grandfather winks at me, takes another drumstick, and retreats into the living room.

The worst was the time it was only me, my siblings, and my parents.

As crazy as they are, I love my Mom’s big family. All you have to do is take a step back and watch the madness, and it’s better than television.

Worst was the year my grandfather (mother’s dad) died. We spent the day at the hospital with him and then went to my father’s sister’s house for dinner. I ate a little stuffing and a roll and crashed on my cousin’s bed to sleep. I woke up to him shaking my shoulder and telling me I had to get up and go back to the hospital because my grandfather had died.

Best was that same cousin smuggling a Tupperware container of his mother’s Thanksgiving dinner into the ICU for me because I had brain surgery the day before Thanksgiving and he couldn’t stand the thought of me eating hospital turkey.

Best: My family has a history of playing games at get-togethers. When my sisters and my cousins and I were little, our grandfather and uncle would organize penny-auctions. We would each get the same number of pennies, and then our uncle would present a gift-wrapped object to us. We’d bid our pennies on it, not knowing what was inside the gift-wrap. Once you “won” the object, you were allowed to go take a peek inside the gift wrap. If you didn’t like the toy inside, you could come back and try to sell it to one of the other kids, but they were always suspicious, because if you didn’t like it, why would they? This was especially true because there would always be a few terrible objects in the auction, like a roll of toilet paper or something. Even though I was really little when these ended, they are a fond memory for me.

Also, we’d play games at the TG dinner table, like “this is a fork” (if you don’t know it, look it up), “popcorn,” and other sillyness. These days, we keep our games for after dinner. Last year, the game was “Wise and Otherwise”—very fun for any audience.

Worst Thanksgiving (I was 13): My family was with another family at our vacation house on the coast of california, in a relatively remote area. Everyone but me and my friend went out for a walk, while I decided to teach my friend how to rollerblade for the first time. One thing led to another, and she broke her leg about 1/2 a mile from the house. To make a long and tragic story short, the medical clinic nearby was woefully inadequate to do anything but take x-rays and give her a rough splint. Her parents ended up driving her back to the city on Thanksgiving day with her in pain in the backseat the whole time. Needless to say, the accident and my guilt about it ruined the whole weekend!

Best Thanksgiving memory was drinking Hamm’s beer at 10 in the morning and skating Burnside Skatepark under the Burnside bridge in Portland Oregon. Then going and eating Tofurkey with friends.

Worst Thanksgiving stayed up all night doing coke. Showed up at my grandma’s wrecked. Tried not to look or talk to anyone. Couldn’t eat a thing. Grandma was so worried because i normally gorge myself. I pretended I was sick. I was such an asshole then.

My best and worst are one in the same….my father-in-law (who I considered a second father) passed away the day after Thanksgiving. We were all there (all of the kids and all of the grandkids) and he had a great day as it was his birthday….it’s also the worst because I miss him lots…

I can’t pinpoint a single ‘best’ Thanksgiving memory because when we celebrate this holiday each year, it is the one and only time of year where all of my family and extended family get together. We find new things to do each year while also doing many things we’ve done customarily in years past. So, they’re all great and ‘best’ memories for me in that regard.

As far as my worst Thanksgiving memory? My father passed away in August of 2000 after a hard battle with cancer. Not having him there at Thanksgiving 3 months later was a very sad and difficult holiday for us, not to mention Christmas also.

Worst: Eating at a relative’s house, we discovered (after we started eating) that the oven wasn’t working correctly. Raw turkey is really gross.

Best: As a young adult, instead of doing the family thing, I went to my best friend’s house for an Italian thanksgiving. In addition to the regular thanksgiving fare, we had barbecued shrimp wrapped in bacon, mounds of pasta, and lobster. Best food I’ve ever had for thanksgiving. After dinner, we all sat around and drank and smoked weed. It was so relaxed, and very different than my family dynamic – which was unpleasant. I wished I could have done it every year.

Best Thanksgiving: Guess that would be every year when my family comes over and we just have a ball. We all help out in the kitchen, crack jokes, get tipsy, eat good food and listen to alotta good music.

Worst Thanksgiving: One year my uncle and aunt came to visit from Canada and my aunt had a little too much brandy to drink, saying she was “cold.” Next thing you know, she’s puking her guts out in her dinner plate in front of everybody, runs to the sink and throws up in the sink on top the dirty dishes.