How To Avoid a Thanksgiving #Turkeypocalypse (Special Message from NFL Player Clay Matthews)

There’s no such thing as the perfect Thanksgiving dinner. And I’m okay with that. However, it doesn’t stop me from trying to get everything right on Turkey Day. Not a Thanksgiving goes by that I don’t forget something.

Some years it’s a minor oops like, Oops! I forgot to buy napkins so we’ll have to use paper towels instead. Other years have seen major oops like, Oops! It’s time to put the turkey in the oven and it’s still frozen solid.

I have made all of the following Turkey Day mistakes so you don’t have to. I’m sharing The Fix for some of my worst Thanksgiving Fails.

Thanksgiving Fail:

I didn’t know turkeys came preloaded with a mesh bag of organs. Yeah, those are called giblets. I cooked my very first turkey with the giblets inside. Apparently you are supposed to take them out and do other stuff with them ??? Gross.

The Fix:
Knowledge is power. Turkeys come with giblets – that’s their gizzard, heart, liver and neck. Whether you plan to use the giblets or not, you are supposed to remove them from the turkey before cooking. Check your turkey for giblets. Be brave. Reach in and grab them.

Thanksgiving Fail:
It’s time to cook the turkey, but it’s still frozen because I forgot to take it out of the freezer.

The Fix:
Write a note, set an alarm, do whatever you need to do to remind yourself to get the turkey out of the freezer well ahead of the Big Day. Most frozen turkeys need to thaw 3-4 days in the refrigerator.

Thanksgiving Fail:
I made a 20 lb turkey, dressing, plus 4 other sides, rolls and 2 pies. The guests at our holiday feast included me, my husband, and our 2-year-old son. Talk about having waaaaaay too much food.

The Fix:
Do a little bit of Thanksgiving meal planning. Consider how many people will be eating with you and cook accordingly. It’s okay to make enough for leftovers, just don’t make enough food to get you through to the next year’s Thanksgiving meal.

Thanksgiving Fail:
It’s time to deep fry the turkey. Where’s that heating element thingy we’re supposed to light up?
(Yes, this really happened to us last year. I still feel bad we couldn’t deep fry the turkey and we had to run out to the grocery store and buy a ham. Luckily our family finds stuff like this humorous.)

The Fix:
If you’re in charge of deep-frying the turkey at a location hours from your home, be sure to bring all the equipment you need to do it. Otherwise, there will be no turkey on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Fail:
Where’s your Uncle Jim and Aunt Kathy? (Names changed to protect the innocent.) I thought you said YOU would invite them. I didn’t invite them either. Great. They probably hate us now.

The Fix:
Make a list of everyone you need to contact and invite to Thanksgiving dinner. Mail a formal invitation if you can. The most important thing is to make sure everyone gets invited.

Thanksgiving Fail:
I just looked around and realized that I am the only person left cleaning up the kitchen. Everyone else is watching football and having fun. This is so unfair.

The Fix:
Delegate clean up tasks. Make chores as easy and convenient as possible for everyone when you provide the best cleaning products for the job.

Although the turkey is a key part of our Thanksgiving holiday, there’s another arguably even more important part of our festivities: NFL Thanksgiving Day Football. We can make do without a turkey (as we successfully demonstrated last year), but there’s no way we can make do without our football games!

You don’t want to miss out on this timely message from NFL Player Clay Matthews about how fans can tackle a Turkeypocalypse. Take a look: