Thanksgiving Aberration; Detour for Positive Outcome

 This happened in 1977 or so. My best friend called me very upset on Thanksgiving morning. Her oven had died. She was gasping as she talked, frantic. 

It seems as she was baking something for their Thanksgiving dinner and her oven died. Of course, mine was in use and would be for a long time that Thanksgiving. Her turkey would be very late getting done--like never. 

I commisserated with her and finally hit upon a solution. My husband was the minister and her husband was the head elder of our church and we were were good friends. The other glue that kept us close was that she had four children in the same time frame I had my three. We were pregnant at the same time with our last and with her daughter born 6 weeks before my daughter. Three of our children were in the same grades in the same elementary school. They were together in Sunday School and other activities around town. 

I told her to have her husband take the roasting pan with the turkey to the church basement and use the oven in the church kitchen. She was so happy to find a solution. Her husband had a key to the church, so no one else had to be bothered on Thanksgiving Day. She wondered if the church members would care, but felt better since the suggestion came from the minister's wife. As I remember it, her planned dinner was not delayed by more than 30 minutes. Her mother was visiting, so this was important.

All went well that day for all of us. I would have been sick thinking of her problem and trying to solve it  by using my oven. I suppose we could have cooked both turkeys, mine and hers, in the same oven but one after the other. That was what was in my head when I thought of the church oven. 

Not all Thanksgivings happen as planned.

Do you have a story of a Thanksgiving aberration? Maybe a dropped turkey or pie? Please share your story and details...lol.