At this point, the turkey is pretty much the only thing that makes us think of Thanksgiving, which is sad because we usually think of food. But at any big family gathering, it’s hard to keep everyone calm and friendly long enough to say “thank you.”
A woman shared the tragic tale of a ruined Thanksgiving dinner after her daughter’s boyfriend stole the turkey. A year later, she shared an update to the whole story that was unfortunately just as sad. People on the Internet tried to help and leave nice messages for OP, who had to deal with a truly awful family gathering.
Thanksgiving is usually one of our favorite holidays It’s a time for family, friends, and of course – lots and lots of delicious food But there was one year where our Thanksgiving celebrations didn’t go as planned, all because a turkey went missing.
It was the day before Thanksgiving and everything seemed to be going smoothly. My wife had spent all week planning and preparing different dishes and sides. The pies were made the table was set and the house was cleaned from top to bottom. All that was left was to cook the 20-pound turkey we had picked out just a few days before.
We took the frozen bird out and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning I went to take it out so we could get it in the oven early. But when I opened the fridge I was shocked to find the turkey was gone. Just the night before, that turkey had been front and center on the bottom shelf. But now, it had seemed to disappear into thin air.
I called my wife into the kitchen to make sure I wasn’t just imagining things. She was just as confused and shocked as I was. We searched all over – in the pantry, under the sink, in the garage fridge. But that turkey was nowhere to be found.
At first, we thought maybe one of us had absentmindedly moved it somewhere else while cooking. But after searching the entire house we knew that wasn’t the case. We racked our brains, but couldn’t think of any logical explanation.
That’s when we remembered our neighbors had come over the night before to drop off a pie for dessert. We rarely locked the front door when friends stopped by, and they knew they were welcome to come in instead of ringing the bell. Could it be that our turkey thief had been right under our noses the whole time?
I’ll admit, we were furious. That turkey cost nearly $50 and was the centerpiece of our family’s Thanksgiving meal. To think someone we trusted could sneak into our fridge and steal it was almost unbelievable.
We didn’t want to outright accuse our neighbors without being sure, so we simply gave them a call saying we seemed to have misplaced the turkey and were they sure they didn’t remember seeing it when they came by. When we heard the nervousness and stuttering on the other end, we knew they were caught red-handed.
After some back and forth, they finally admitted that their own turkey had burned earlier that week. And upon seeing ours thawing in the fridge, they couldn’t resist taking it home with them. It was a complete betrayal of trust, not to mention illegal since it was basically stealing. But being the holiday season, we decided not to press charges.
However, we made it abundantly clear that they were no longer welcome in our home after pulling such a dishonest stunt. They offered to buy us a new turkey, but the damage was already done. We ordered a last minute replacement, but it just wasn’t the same special turkey we had hand-picked ourselves earlier that week.
In the end, we still tried our best to enjoy our Thanksgiving. We ate the replacement turkey, spent time together as a family, and counted our blessings, even though the day didn’t go quite as planned. Our neighbor’s behavior was upsetting, but we didn’t want them to completely ruin our holiday spirit.
To this day, we still take extra precautions around the holidays. Expensive or sentimental items are hidden away or locked up if guests are coming over. And we certainly don’t keep a spare key hidden outside for surprise visitors anymore. We learned our lesson about trusting others a little too much during this scam of a Thanksgiving. But we did get quite a story out of it to share for years to come!
Chris exhibited some indicators of being antisocial
While we don’t have all the evidence, it would appear that “Chris” exhibits many signs of truly antisocial behavior. Theft is a pretty clear one, exacerbated by the fact that he would later taunt other family members about it. However, stealing an entire turkey out of the oven is almost impressive, as it’s not exactly a small dish. It’s a multi-pound bird that is no doubt very hot to the touch, difficult to carry, and harder to maneuver.
We don’t have any proof of what “Chris” did later, but he seems to have a grudge against the world and has gone out of his way many times to make someone’s day worse. There were many dishes he could have easily stolen if we wanted food. Instead, he tried to take the hardest to move things to ruin the party for everyone else.
People mess up their turkey every year, the breach of trust was the main tragedy
That being said, most people might think it’s weird to have Thanksgiving without a turkey. Some people might read OP’s story and wonder why it was so important, since Thanksgiving usually means there is enough food to last for weeks. For most people, Thanksgiving is the only time of the year they will actually take the time to roast and prepare the huge bird.
Trust has been broken, and OP’s daughter seems to be going along with this young man’s clearly illegal ideas. This is the real tragedy. It is always very hard when a child breaks your trust because you were the first person they ever trusted. Even worse, “Mary” does not seem to understand that this fellow is, by and large, bad news. Another update from OP (see below) showed that not much had changed even after a year.