Tis the season of thanksgiving and we are all grateful for our many blessings. Despite all the effort and goodwill that goes into preparing for the day, for some people, there are definite things that obliterate their holiday cheer. Whether it be things that others do or don’t do, or certain food items that show up on the table, their day goes into a tailspin and they get cross, angry, miserable, or all of the above with a swiftness.
Below we have compiled a list of 5 reader-submitted things that have brought their Thanksgiving day cheer to a screeching halt.
- People who bring too many guests: Being invited to attend Thanksgiving dinner at someone’s home, or being invited by someone who is a guest is a privilege. Yes, even if it is to a relative’s home. With it being a holiday on which emphases are placed on family, togetherness, gratitude, and sharing, the urge to invite others to tag along with you is understandable. But while the day represents all the aforementioned good attributes, there is one no one really acknowledges. It is also a day of gross excesses. One hostess related the story of how she had a much larger than anticipated turnout due to some invitees bringing other people unannounced; consequently, she had just enough food for everyone, and this caused major consternation amongst some guests who were deprived of their take-home plate. Yes, people did vex because while they were no doubt able to eat dem belly full, there wasn’t enough food for them to pack up and carry home. Yuh think people are easy?
- Speaking of the infamous take-home plate. One major faux pas submitted involved people who will pack up everything they can fit, even you if you’re not careful into YOUR tupperware, but leave the salad untouched. I have to admit, I too have been irked by the salad-avoidant dinner guests, especially at bar-b-qs, but apparently on Thanksgiving day its all about the turkey, the fish, the jerk pork, and everything else. Salad to take home? Ain’t nobody got time for that.
- You really want to get some people out tomorrow? Show up two hours early, dressed to kill, then promptly choose the most un-sat-on couch, sofa, or chair in the house and cock-up like you are our queen. No, not Portia, the other one, William and Harry’s grandmother. This was expressed as another faux pas, and one so serious that something of this magnitude risks the ruination of the entire meal and day. According to the submission, “all the food weh cook already might end up taste bad the way dah ting deh vex mi”. But why? Apparently, thanksgiving day, while being a day of substance and humility, is also a major day for showing off. And people showing up early, expecting to be catered to, dressed to kill, while the host and hostess are in the kitchen in their yard clothes, sweating like mistress Annie Palmer is upstairs is considered to be in very poor taste. So, please, if you’re making an appearance at a home other than your own on Thanksgiving, please verify dinnertime, and if you show up early (which can be even late when it comes to us) and dinner isn’t ready; don’t bother to pull off no stushness, just jump in and make yourself useful as directed. Don’t try run een and commandeer the people dem thanksgiving dinner. Or begin any sentences with “den how come….”
- I cannot imagine this, but, apparently someone, somewhere in time has committed this egregious act: using their personal eating implements (haffi say implement, because even when fork mandatory, some people (aka the very craven among us) nah go forsake dem spoon) to retrieve food from the serving dish/platter. Can you imagine that? Especially when it’s something you and your belly hi-fived about when you saw it on the table? And cousin Donovan decides to use the fork he’d been using to unceremoniously stuff turkey breast into his mouth to dig around in the jerk chicken platter looking for the biggest piece. Lawd have mercy.
- This one touched me to my core. Do not RSVP and then not show up. A friend of mine told me how one year his mom decided to host Thanksgiving dinner, he spent over $400.00 on food as they were expecting about 25 relatives who lived out of town. Long story short, none of them showed up. No one called to say they weren’t coming. That has to be one of the most tactless deeds ever. Moral of the story: if you’ve rsvp’ed and had a change of plans, please be gracious enough to inform your host/hostess of your impending absence.
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I know I said five, but I’d be remiss to omit these from the list.
- Do not, under any circumstances, offer any feedback on the food. No feedback. Compliments yes, feedback, no. Not “it tastes good but it kinda fresh”, or “I always add a little extra blablabla in mine”, or, ” I don’t really like it like this, I prefer it …” tis neither the time nor place and really, no one cares. The host/hostess thought enough of you to invite you directly or indirectly into their home on a special day. You are not a Zagat employee, nor are you Anthony Bourdain, kibba yuh mouth and smile and nod.
- Do not nyam and leff. Yes, you absolutely have to pass over whoever yard, because to miss is to diss; but don’t diss the home at which you began your Thanksgiving tour by eating and running. It don’t look good.
- Do not complain, even internally to yourself, about having to eat off paper or plastic dinnerware, especially when you know you use them at home every day. Nuff said.
