Last year on Thanksgiving day, as I was taking the turkey out of the oven and carrying it to the table, I accidentally poured boiling hot turkey juice on my foot. That went through my leather shoe and a burnt my little toe.

It was like no pain I had ever felt before. I was screaming and hopping around. I managed to get my shoe and my sock off and put my foot under cold water, which made the pain worse. Then about 15 minutes later, I had a big huge blister filled with yellowish fluid on my toe about the size of a large marble. Not wanting to ruin Thanksgiving dinner for my family, I chose not to go to the doctor that day. I broke the blister and drained the fluid and put ice on it.

The next day another blister was there. I went to the doctor and he said it was infected and chewed me out for not going to the ER immediately, because I had third and second degree burns, the doctor had to peel the top skin off my toe, and he didn't even have to administer an anesthetic because the nerves in my toe where burnt so bad I couldn't feel it. He bandaged my toe, gave me a round of antibiotics and told me to buy some Neosporin. I had to walk with just a sock on that foot and crutches for a few weeks because it was to painful to walk on or put a shoe on it.

Needless to say, I learned to let my husband carry the turkey from the oven to the table.

That is a Thanksgiving disaster I will never forget.

Several years ago, having no family coming for Thanksgiving and having no plans to go elsewhere, we invited another couple to join us for dinner. The female half of that couple stated she had a turkey in the freezer from last year and she would donate that to our meal if I wanted. She also bragged that it had only cost her a couple dollars.

Great! I'd planned on supplying the entire meal but this certainly would help. I drove the 20-mile round trip to their place and picked up the turkey, brought home and defrosted it. I also have a meat pump that I like to use to marinade the bird. I barbecued the turkey in the outdoor grill.

When this other couple showed up my wife had set the table and I had prepared the rest of the meal and carved the turkey. My wife set the food and wine on the table. Dinner went off without a hitch and everything was excellent. But as soon as the meal was over we were notified by the other couple that they had some other plans and they had to rush off and that they would "take our turkey and go." They had house guests arriving and the turkey would come in handy. I was so stunned that all I could do was keep my mouth shut and wrap up the rest of the bird for them to transport home. I had already planned on sharing the whole meal with them because nearly everyone enjoys the leftovers almost as much as the first time around.

Now here we are with all the leftovers from the meal except the main course. I wasn't about to go pick up another turkey and prepare it. Just us two would never be able to finish it. I did purchase an large chicken and baked it to have with the leftovers. It was good but not quite the same.

It wasn't funny at the time but now I laugh about it every Thanksgiving.
Will we ever have this couple over again? Yeah, other than that incident they are pretty nice people.