My most memorable Thanksgiving

I have eaten Thanksgiving dinner at least 64 times in my life but I never had a Thanksgiving like the one I had in 1982.  My parents had moved to Poteau, Oklahoma about 150 miles from my home.  Myself and my two 12 year old's were there along with my brother Mike and my older brother and his then 11 year old daughter came as well.  In addition to all the human beings we brought our dog and my niece's hamster.  It was quite the menagerie.  

Well, my mother was in charge of the meal, as usual, and I was trying to do my duty as the cook's helper.  My mom would get rather frazzled when she was cooking for an army and especially as important a meal as Thanksgiving.  So I knew it was best to wait until I got my orders before just diving in to help.  

Well, the turkey had been in the oven since breakfast but I noticed there was no roasted turkey smell wafting through the house but my mom seemed to have things under control and who was I to intervene.   So I got the table set and everything was ready for the main act when my mother let out a scream that her turkey was still raw...........it seems the oven was broken the whole time.  

So with my mother in tears and somehow making this all my father's fault for moving her to Poteau in the first place my older brother quickly got the phone book to see if there was anyplace open where he could get a Thanksgiving dinner.  The Black Angus Restaurant was open and Butch immediately drove there and purchased a Thanksgiving dinner for 12.  Help was on the way.....that us until my brother (who is anything but agile) managed to spill the entire meal in the car complete with giblet gravy. While he was in the car trying to scrape the meal off the seats and floor board another scream was heard only this time from a younger set of pipes.  It seems my dog ate my niece's hamster or at the very least mauled it to death.

A considerable amount of time lapsed before we were all gathered around the table eating dinner.  The offending dog banished to the back yard and the rest of us trying to pick around the floor mat fuzz for the best turkey pieces.