Your family’s holiday dinners always end with everyone at each other’s throats. This year you’re determined to keep a low profile, but your patience is being put to the test.

Posted in Thanksgiving on Nov 24, 2023

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✍️ 38 stories

“You Can't Make This Stuff Up” by Patricia Merewether

Submitted to Contest #226

Not many people can say they led their own Thanksgiving Day parade. The lead vehicle was a sheriff's squad car, I rode the back of said car wearing my grandfather's big yellow rain slicker over my underpants. That's all. I Learned later that a State police car, an EMT bus, a fire truck, three pickups, and a tractor followed. Now, this is on a very desolate road with miles and miles of flat farmland, post-harvest so all those lights and sirens (trucks and cars of volunteer firefighters who had portable flashing red lights) put on quite a show...

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“The Thanksgiving Nightmare” by The Sherise Effect

Submitted to Contest #226

Thanksgiving (not Christmas) is usually the only time of the year that the Spaghetti Family gathers. Family members travel from near and far for family togetherness, which is often counted as their annual family reunion. A family member hosts, and their home is jammed packed like a can of sardines. As imagined, tensions are thick, and personal space is not an option. Every year, this results in the Spaghetti Family’s soap opera of everyone at each other’s throats and the hosts’ home looking like a tornado hit it. Never hosting holiday dinner...

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“Putting a Damper on Thanksgiving” by Jennifer Stowell

Submitted to Contest #226

I have never understood holidays. The concept of putting a large group of family members together in one place for hours has always led to arguments, tears, swearing and loud slamming of doors and cabinets. I am often told how smart I am, but I guess I’m not intelligent enough to see the significance of such a gathering. I’ve heard my mom say, “We don’t choose our family, but we do have to put up with them,” or my dad say, “Next year, we go on a vacation instead of catering to these people.” Yet, every Thanksgiving, the same group enters our...

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“Family Dynamics” by Pam Cole

Submitted to Contest #226

Family Dynamics“Your brother asked us up for Christmas” Mum said on the phone with not too much enthusiasm.“How lovely,” I cringed as I answered her, thinking of past family gatherings that didn’t end well.“What did you tell him?”“Thanks ““No commitment yet? ““What are you doing?” She asked. I knew I was put on the spot and sighed to myself“I guess we will go wherever you go” wishing the opposite. My parents lived three hours away so going to my brother’s is about an hou...

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“Chaos Grows, but thankfulness flows” by Keana Sky

Submitted to Contest #226

I was already exhausted and then my mother had to add more and more drama through the night. I was fed up I had brought my 3 children to celebrate the holiday and she just would not give me the time of day. She talked to everyone but me. I could feel my anger boiling, NO-- my brain shouted NO. This year I was going to be the one to keep the peace. About 2 turkeys and 3 little gingerbread houses later I was walking down the hallway to acquire my coat so I could go smoke a cigarette to clear my head. I came upon an argument in the hallway...gr...

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“Thanksgiving at Great Aunt Kathleen's” by Elisabeth Tanev

Submitted to Contest #226

[Trigger warning: miscarriage, abortion, cheater] I felt the grating of the corner of my front bumper against the curb as I pulled up to my Great Aunt Kathleen’s at 5:24pm. My dead father’s disapproval hung over me as I assessed the fresh scab on my car body and I marinated in the familiar, ever-present feeling of guilt, this time heightened by my late arrival. I heard him say from the grave, “unless you’re 10 minutes early, you’re late”. Even though I knew set up would still be happening now as several crockpots had yet to find plugs and ...

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“Tradition's in the eye of the beholder - sometimes along with a little gravy” by Barbara Nosek

Submitted to Contest #226

Sensitive content - languageTradition's in the eye of the beholder – sometimes along with a bit of gravyWould we have had a chance this year if Rory and Darla hadn’t been invited to our Thanksgiving Day table? We’ll never know. Because the vows we solemnly took last year are now right down the commode, and the mashed potatoes clinging precariously to the wall put quite an exclamation point on our failure.To be clear, every year this holiday gathering in our home sees arguments, confrontations, accusations, and more, fueled no doubt by our tr...

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“Thankful for the Nerve” by John Caldwell

Submitted to Contest #226

I sat on the couch and waited for the family to arrive. I could hardly watch the television my anxiety was so high. Every time a car went down the road I was peeking out the window. Every time I thought I heard something, it made me jump in my seat. Not that I wasn’t looking forward to them coming, but because something always seemed to happen every year at thanksgiving. My Mom had worked very hard for my aunt, uncle and cousins every year, but not this year. She just seemed to sit and stare on her phone in the kitchen while my dad was blu...

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Your family’s holiday dinners always end with everyone at each other’s throats. This year you’re determined to keep a low profile, but your patience is being put to the test.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 38 stories

“You Can't Make This Stuff Up” by Patricia Merewether

“The Thanksgiving Nightmare” by The Sherise Effect

“Putting a Damper on Thanksgiving” by Jennifer Stowell

“Family Dynamics” by Pam Cole

“Chaos Grows, but thankfulness flows” by Keana Sky

“Thanksgiving at Great Aunt Kathleen's” by Elisabeth Tanev

“Tradition's in the eye of the beholder - sometimes along with a little gravy” by Barbara Nosek

“Thankful for the Nerve” by John Caldwell

🌟 Similar prompts

At some point in your story, a character says “You’re better than this…”.

Your character finally gives into a temptation they've been avoiding, and becomes better because of it.

Write a story about somebody trying to rationalize giving into temptation, even though they know they shouldn’t.

Black Friday is the one day of the year where the Devil makes selling your soul a good thing, although there are some bizarre T’s & C’s.

Contest #226

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

189

Contest entries

87

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: