31 Wild, Shocking, And Petty Reasons Families Fought This Thanksgiving, Including Some So Infuriating That They’re Guaranteed To Make You Scream

Nothing screams holiday spirit like a classic Thanksgiving family showdown — just ask the people of Reddit! This week, user u/Pure-Smile-7329 asked, “So what did your family argue about this year at Thanksgiving?” — and it wasn’t long at all before TONS of responses poured in. So, from hilariously petty to outright scathing*, here’s a roundup of reasons why people argued with their families this holiday:

*In no particular order, might I add!

1. “Who the cat liked most.” —u/DragonBard_Z2. “Someone turned off the oven when the turkey was cooking. We ended up eating 2 hours later than planned. The culprit has yet to come forward.” —u/OnlyLeading Tyler James Williams looking skeptical in a TV scene 3. “My elderly father now makes a weird whistling noise when he breathes. A debate broke out about whether or not it was audible. It was team hearing aid versus team no hearing aid.” —u/Warm-Delivery1418

4. “My uncle pulled the old ‘cut a square right in the middle of the pie’ trick to be funny and mom lost her shit.” —u/Bundabar5. “Arguments over the top 10 guitarists of all time. Most sensitive point of contention was whether Prince made it anywhere in that top 10.” —u/do-eye-dare6. “An entire pie went missing. FIL searched around town for a bakery to make a mince pie. The box was on the table with other pie wrappings but the pie was gone. Nobody saw it. Nobody ate any. The dog denied any knowledge. Accusations of thievery, incompetence, senility, treachery, gluttony and perfidy were flung. A thorough search was conducted, every warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area… The pie remains missing. No clear suspects.” —u/Particular_Ticket_20 Slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream on a plate

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7. “Guys my aunt decided to put raisins in the potato salad… The silence at the table was louder than any screaming match we’ve ever had. It was a hate crime against potatoes.” —u/Camila_Housewife8. “One of my aunts got drunk and started loudly telling me how she wants to feed my pet rats poison to try to teach me that they’re disgusting animals. Needless to say, I locked the rat room up.” —u/JackFrostsKid9. “My mom ordered my sister to finish the mashed potatoes then yelled at her for being in the kitchen, finishing the potatoes.” —u/MissBrokenCapillary10. “Stepmom refused all help offered while preparing the meal and also while doing dishes, and then bitched all evening that nobody helped.” —u/Fun-Personality-8008

11. “First racist comment was before 8:30am.” —u/RyanTheCubsSTH Katy Perry with a shocked expression 12. “Got in a fight with my husband because every time I ask him to take a picture of me, he rolls his eyes. And I ask maybe twice a year. Today me and our daughter looked all dressed up and he fucking rolled his eyes again, took some crooked pictures and I lost my shit. After everything I do on a daily basis, he can’t do this one fucking thing for me.” —u/Character-Signal822913. “My father-in-law insisted that leaving his shotgun on the floor overnight before hunting tomorrow was fine because my 6 y/o and 4 y/o kids wouldn’t be able to load it and that he was leaving early. He literally had it right next to their Lego bin we brought. When I told him it’s basic gun safety to have it locked in a safe he told me I was wrong.” —u/ConcentrateUnique14. “I didn’t get any sleep last night and wanted just a couple minutes to myself while my partner took care of carving up the turkey. He came in angry that I wasn’t serving up everyone’s individual plates with their specific wants and desired measurements; then stomped off and shouted ‘OKAY EVERYONE I GUESS ITS SELF SERVE’ and then he didn’t even join us at the table and try the food I’d just spent 20 hrs in the kitchen preparing.” —u/itsyoursanyway Person with long hair sighs and covers face with hand, appearing frustrated

15. “We argued if cranberry sauce was the only side humans eat once a year because it’s secretly terrible, or because it’s too powerful to be used more often?” —u/AeroDad8916. “Brussel sprouts. And whether it’s okay to insist that the very young children try them once.” —u/CrazyDazyMazy

17. “My partner’s mom and grandmother (separate people) almost got into it over egg yolks. In particular whether partially cooked/overeasy or fully cooked/scrambled were more nutritious. I almost mentioned hard boiled just to set it off.” —u/BoxOfTeeth18. “Are sweet potatoes and yams the same thing was the hot button topic of the night.” —u/Seversaurus19. “My brother thinks that when men get sick it’s ‘more intense.’ The women happily explained that men just have a very low tolerance for discomfort.” —u/leprechaun_dong20. “It got pretty heated on whether Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time.” —u/the-great-crocodile Tom Brady playing football

Andy Lyons / Getty Images

21. “I paid my mom’s gas bill, her neighbors church paid her electric and she dodged a phone call from a potential job?? When I told her I was paying her bills with a credit card, she said ‘DHS woulda paid it in December.’ I uninvited her from Thanksgiving.” —u/Breezenotorioussun22. “Someone said city buses are a bad investment and the people who rely on them ‘should just get a job.’” —u/jamesonnorth23. “My cousin (on disability) started talking about how it’s good that SNAP was canceled because people were spending it on extra-long fake fingernails.” —u/theghostofourprivacy24. “Donald Trump. We had 9 people at the table, and the ratio of loathes-Donnie to loves-Donnie was 8:1.” —u/Annoyed_Heron President Donald Trump seated, gesturing with one finger raised

Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

25. “No arguing, but got a quick ‘heeeeyyyy’ when I told my son that ‘we don’t submit to fascists.’” —u/Ambitious-Second-136

26. “My father-in-law set off 2 fireworks in the mid-afternoon despite a cousin with a migraine and multiple dogs who are afraid of fireworks. When my wife called him out on his selfish behavior, he went on a rant about how freedom gets limited when people complain about things and how he has the right to set off fireworks. He’s a doll to be around.” —u/Afroku27. “Everyone was overstimulated and decided to be bitchy while cleaning up the dishes.” —u/booksandbuilds28. “My mother walked in the door and handed me weight loss supplements.” —u/saphirekey Gabrielle Union reacting with shock 29. “My cousin announced she was pregnant with her boyfriend who most of us were meeting for the first time.” —u/millie_nip30. “My dumbass brother said that no one died of COVID.” —u/Carrie_Underpants/31. And finally, “Thanksgiving turned into a debate over a mysterious ‘beeping’ in the house. Half the family blamed the smoke detector, the other half blamed aging ears. Turns out it was my cousin’s AirTag in the dryer living its best life.” —u/LimeonzincWell then! If you have any wild Thanksgiving stories, feel free to share them in the comments.More on this