One year, an aunt was taking the turkey out of the roaster and getting it ready to carve, and a big wad of skin/fat flew across her kitchen. It left a grease stain on the wall paper for years to come.

There's always something that goes amiss. I think it keeps us humble!

Twelve family members (cousins, siblings, kids and three dogs) had a multi-day Thanksgiving retreat up in the North Woods. My cousin and his wife own the property, building a dream "cabin" gradually. They started with what's now the lower level, so we had four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two kitchens.

Another pie baking cousin and I baked pies in the downstairs kitchen. I made the crust ahead, and my niece and nephew helped roll it out. I made the apple pie filling and brought stuff for the pumpkin pie, so while the kids were rolling we made the fillings. My sister-in-law brought a gluten free crust. I brought extra pumpkin and evaporated milk, so my cousin made more filling. The colors weren't the same, but she used different spices than the combo I'd brought for the first pie. (Disclaimer: we both loathe pumpkin pie.) We had to fit three pies in one oven. The apple pie was pretty deep and didn't fit on the lower shelf. I didn't realize the oven had a heating element on top, too, so the lattice crust my cousin worked so hard on started to burn before we could put foil over it.

Every crumb of the apple pie went, but we know the pumpkin pies weren't very good because there were leftovers. I think all of the sugar accidentally got put into one of the pies since one was described as "really sweet" and the other wasn't sweet enough. Oops! (Hey we were working in a strange kitchen with kids and a new recipe.)

Fortunately, the chocolate almond toffee I made with another cousin (in the upstairs kitchen) turned out perfectly.

So what if the pumpkin pies were awful – the company was amazing.