Everyone is usually prepared for Thanksgiving right? Or at least when hosting Christmas, Easter, etc. You start off with having a wonderful clean house. With decor everywhere and a stunning aroma floating around. Smiles on everyone's faces, laughter in each room, maybe a sports game playing in the background on a nice shiny tv. Simple for anybody to achieve right? Well as predicted, not for me.

My name’s Claire Davis and the first thing anybody would say about me is that I am a clumsy, unorganized, chaotic girl. Yeah not the finest label for someone, huh. Regarding appearance, I’m a skinny, twenty-three year old brunette, with freckles all over my pale like vampire skin. I live with Liz, my best friend since high school and chillest person I’ve ever met, in a small cozy apartment in Northville, Michigan. I’m also an active college student that gets no time at all and can't even clean her own place. Well enough about me let's get to the unfortunate event that is about to wake me up from my peaceful sleep in 3….2….1-

Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!

Ugh what now stupid phone? I wrenched myself out of the mass of fluffy pillows I was in and grabbed the phone laying on my bedside table. I turned the electronic on and hissed at the sudden brightness beaming on my face while scanning it. My eyes widened. 13 missed calls from MOM it read. Shoot. I quickly called her back, not even thinking about the reason why. I turned my head to read the clock as the phone was ringing. 8:30 what does this crazy lady want? I readjusted my blanket to cover my freezing bare shoulders until finally someone answered.

“Mom is this you, are you okay?” I croaked.
“Oh, sweetie you finally called back!” she cheered, “How are you?”
“Doing great Mom, really tired though,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes, “But why are you calling me at eight in the morning!”
“Well, we sorta have a problem,” she sighed, “apparently Uncle Bob’s kitchen is getting remodeled.”
“So what's the problem?” I questioned.
“The problem is that now we can't go to Bob’s place,” she informed me, “But we’ve already fixed that dilemma!”
“Well then why are you calling me about this?” I question yet again.
“Oh because the solution was that we decide to now have Thanksgiving dinner at your place!” She announced, “good that we fixed this anyway since it is today!”

I froze. Thanksgiving’s today? And she wants me to host it? I turned my head to look at my calendar on the wall. Yep, she was right. The turkey day was today.

“Hello?” She asked “You still there?”
“You want ME to host Thanksgiving!” I hollered.
“Yes, your father and I think you’d do a great job,” she said calmly, unfazed by my sudden outrage.
“What, bu-” I began.
“No “buts” honey, you have to do this” she argued “so I’ll see you tonight! Love ya and bye!”

Click…

I sat their with my mouth gaped opened. Suddenly their was a loud knock on my bedroom door making my baby blue walls shake as well as succeeding in breaking my clouded mind out of a trance.

“Are you okay Claire?” shouted the cranky voice behind the door.

It was Liz. The knocks continued and that’s when realization hit me. How was I going to do this in 10 hours? Should I ask Liz for help? Do we have enough room? Millions of questions were racing through my head.

“I’m coming in Claire!” threatened Liz.

The door opened up to reveal Liz in her gray sweats, and blue NASA t-shirt, with her short black hair everywhere like overgrown grass.

“What were you yelling about?” Liz questioned.

Guess I’ll tell her. Well here goes my stressful adventure today.Yay.

“Um,” I mumbled “I sorta now have to host Thanksgiving here.”
“Really,” Liz thought as she ran her hand through her charcoal hair.
“Yeah,” I groaned.

Silence

“So,” I hesitated, “What are you do-”
“I’ll help” Liz stated.
“How’d you know I wa-” I began.

“Claire you always get yourself into problems, so I know your tactics in getting help” Liz butted-in, “ And it doesn’t matter anyway, my parents live in New York so I was going to stay here no matter what and do nothing except watch Netflix.”

I stared in awe at her.

“Thank you so much Elizabeth!” I jumped out of my moderate size bed and tackled her into a hug. “What would I do without you?”
“You’d probably be on the streets or worse in your mother’s basement” She joked.

We just stood there chuckling at how crazy my mother could be. Like she is the reason we are in this.

“Okay, stop with the chit and chattering, it’s time to start working!” Liz insisted, “Put some work clothes on and I’ll meet you in the livingroom.”

We parted ways and went to get changed. Swiftly I switched my pajamas to some simple black leggings and an oversized orange tie-dye shirt which I tied up. As I popped my hair in a pony an idea popped into my head. “Let's get my brother into this” I thought with a devilish smirk. I grabbed my phone and texted my brother to come over as quick as he could because it’s an emergency. You could call this an emergency, right? Almost instantly he responded with “be there in fifteen”. “Yes!” I screamed in my head while punching my fists into the air probably looking stupid.

“Hey Liz!” I yelled, “got some extra hands by tricking my brother!”

No answer.

“Liz?” I yelled again while walking to the stairway. I ran down the steep steps surprisingly not tripping because of my unlucky spirit. I spot Liz standing at the bottom of the rugged steps with no color in her face. Weird. I hesitantly slowed my process down the steps and turned to see what she was looking at. Oh we are doomed. The house was a mess! You’d think I invited a bunch of elephants to a party last night. Pillows were everywhere, dishes stacked as tall as the eiffel tower, popcorn around the couch, and there was this stench of rotten food that you could literally taste in your mouth..

“This is going to take awhile,” I groaned. Suddenly Liz grabbed my head and earthy brown eyes met sky blue ones.

“We can do this Claire!” she exclaimed, “I believe in us!” She let go of my head and ran to our speaker and connected her phone. One of our favorite playlists started playing and instantly my smile grew. Liz was surprisingly dancing while beginning to do the dishes. “How does this lady have this much energy” I wondered. I shook my head. “Might as well get started” I thought as I started to straighten up the sloppy, chaotic living room.

Band! Bang! Bang!

“Shoot!” Liz gasped, grasping the glass dish. “What the heck was that?”
“Probably my brother” I smirked “Tricked him into helping us.”
“Smart!” She yelled at me as I went to get the door.

There he was, Tony Davis. My annoying, stupid older brother by two years, and as usual he was wearing his bright red, raggedy hoodie, with midnight blue jeans.

“Are you okay Claire?” He immediately asked. When my sandy like face appeared.
“Oh yeah about that,” I confessed, rubbing the back of my neck. “I am perfectly fine, but… I might’ve tricked you into coming over just to help me with cleaning.” I closed my eyes waiting for his response.
“That’s okay,” He declared, “I’ll help.”

Wait what? Why is everybody agreeing with me today?

“Why” I asked.
“Well maybe I want to help my lil sis with her big ol problem” he teased in a baby voice and chuckled, making his dark, brown hair shake. “And Mum told me what happened anyway so I know what I’m getting myself into.”
“Okay then,” I admitted, very dumbfounded, “Liz is already in the kitchen so if you could start cleaning the bathrooms that’d be great.”

Tony nodded in acknowledgement and went to get the cleaning supplies. 

“And don't you dare start flirting with Liz again,” I yelled after him, “you already know she is not interested in you at all.”

I heard a loud snort along with a crash and shook my head. “What have I gotten myself into?” I wondered.

Two hours soon passed while cleaning. I marveled at the spotless window I just fixed but disappointment hung on my face when I turned to see yet another dirty window. Liz was taking a break and making sandwiches for us and Tony was finishing setting up the foldable table. “We’re almost done don’t worry Claire,” I reassured myself.

CRASH!

Hunching my back, I groaned and stared at the dusty ceiling. What now!

“God dang it!” Tony cursed.

Quickly I ran to see what happened.

“We . . . We need a new table,” Tony squeaked when he spotted me, guilt written all over his face.

There he was with pieces of metal and screws spread around him.

“What?” I blurted, “how is this even possible?”
“No clue,” He answered, “All I know is that only magic could fix this table now. Rest in peace Mr. Table.”

I mentally slapped my face. “Then I’m going to head out and get a new table,” I piped, “Liz you coming?”

“Totally!” she yelled, “just grab your sandwich to eat in the car!”

“Okay!” I agreed and pointed at my helpless brother. “You Tony, are picking this scrap metal up and finishing the rest of the kitchen, and please while you’re at it clean the fridge.”
“Fine,” Tony grumbled.

I turned to go to put my shoes on but stopped in my tracks when I heard my brother snicker.

“What now?” I questioned him in irritation.

“You sure you don’t need to pick up anything else?” He hinted, a taunting look in his eyes.
“Nope, I think I’ve gotten everything” I confirmed.

“Do you have the main thing, the only thing that completes a thanksgiving dinner, the only thing that completes TURKEY day?” He challenged with a smirk.

I froze. My face went pale. I forgot to get the most important thing about the day. The bird. The turkey! I ran to my computer and quickly searched up what place sold a turkey.

“You can get one at Walmart” Tony advised.

“Thank you!” I blurted while slipping on my shoes and running to get Liz and the sandwich. “Come on Liz we have to go!”

“Coming!” She echoed.

Grabbing our coats, we ran together towards the car and quickly hopped in.

“To Walmart we go!”

We drove to the closest Walmart in Northville. Unfortunately though that’s fifteen minutes away. Finally we made it. While sprinting towards the door I gave directions on what to get.

“Liz, you get the table and I think we need themed napkins as well,” I directed, ‘I’ll go get the turkey and some other food we might need.”
“Got it!” she informed.

We high fived each other before spreading out amongst the crowd. “Girl power!” We yelled.

Okay where's the turkey. Turkey. Turkey. Ah ha! There on the direction signs was the meat area. I walked over to the turkeys which were luckily right next to the fruits and vegetables as well. “$14.70 not bad” I thought. I grabbed what I personally thought was the best turkey and continued my shopping.

As I was checking out, I spotted Liz waving to me. I noticed she had the table and a few other things. Yes success! I grabbed my bags and made my way towards her.

“You got the turkey” She questioned.

“Yep!” I chimed.

We walked back to the car and I pondered on whether we’d be able to fit the table in or not. It fit about 8 people so it was pretty big but could at least fold up.

“Okay,” I conveyed, “If we put the table at this angle and open the car door this much it’ll fit. I demonstrated my directions.

YES!

The grey table slide in nice and easily.

“You’re surprisingly smart today Claire,” Liz mentioned, “No offense.”

“None taken,” I smiled.

Us two best friends picked up a few more needed things as we drove back home through the busy streets.

“Okay we have the table,” I noted as I pulled up into the driveway.

“Check.”

“The napkins and silverware?”

“Check.”

“And did we pick up the necessary food?” I worried.

“Check!” Liz affirmed, “We got everything needed!”

“Sweet!”

“Can’t believe the stores were so busy today, like it’s almost 3 o’clock now!” I complained “The lines were so long!”

I picked up the grocery bags and headed up to the door. Slowly, I opened my door and I was starstruck. Lights sparkled in my eyes, immediately a cozy warm feeling flooded through my body, a glowing smile appeared on my face, and my nostrils flared, taking in the pumpkin and apple aroma. All around my house were fairy lights, the fire was burning, and you could hear fall themed music playing in the background. Besides me Liz was in the same situation I was. I steadily continued into my house and set the bags on the shiny counter. “Where is my brother” I thought, puzzled. Then I heard the toilet flush and out walked Tony . . . as well as his yippy, black labrador, named Winter.  

Quickly I tackled him into a bear hug. “You are the best!” I marveled, squeezing him tighter. “Thank you!”

“Anything for my lil sis,” he smiled while patting my head, “It was fun anyway.”

“You are amazing” I promised “I owe you big next time!”

“I’ll remember that!” He grinned, “and I hope you don't mind that I brought Winter, I didn’t want him to be alone all day.”

“No problem at all” I pressed, breaking the hug. “It’s the least I can do after you’ve done so much!”
“Thanks,” Tony responded.

Unfortunately we had to stop the family exchange and start the painful part. The cooking. One by one we brought in the rest of the groceries as well as the bulky table.

“Claire, you put the food in either the pantry or fridge,” Liz requested, “Tony, you’ll start constructing the table, and I’ll get the turkey ready.”

“And we only have 2 to 3 hours left so no slacking off!” I commanded.

We all nodded in recognition and started our jobs. I strolled on over to the bags, my hair bouncing to my restless steps.

“Do we put the cranberry sauce in the fridge or pantry?” I asked Liz.

“In the fridge,” Liz corrected as she turned on the oven to preheat.

“Okay,” I mumbled. I shuffled to the fridge and opened the shiny, shimmery, machine.

“TONY!” I screeched. Heads whipped to my direction. “What . . .  is . . . this?” I cried through gritted teeth. In front of me was a monstrous pile of spoiled food in the fridge.

“What!” Tony argued, “did you expect me to fix that all by myself!”

“No . . . but still!” I shrieked, “ You should have told us!”

Back and forth we bickered and shouted at each other.

“STOP!” Liz protested, “I know we all have some rage in us that we want out but right now is not the right time for another sibling fight.”

“But Liz!” I pleaded, “It was his fault!”

“It doesn't matter right now!” She sighed, “but wh-”

“Wait, do you guys smell that?” Tony interrupted.

I sniffed the air and immediately went into a horrendous cough. The air was suddenly getting very thick and smokey. Wait smoke? Why does it smell like smoke? Smoke usually comes from a fir-.

“FIRE!” screamed Tony. I twisted my head to face the oven which was currently holding a fire in its stomach. On instinct, I grabbed a bowl and sprinted to the sink, filling it up with water. Soon enough the others caught on to what I was doing and followed my lead. Slowly we opened the oven and prepared for impact. The heat burned my eyes and stung my skin as we threw the water at the fiery flames. Quickly, we repeated the action and the fire was out. There, burnt to a crisp was some old banana bread that me and Liz made a few weeks ago but unfortunately forgot to take out. Sighing in relief, we opened the windows and got rid of the singed baked good.

“Okay now that the . . . flaming banana bread is taken care of,” Liz drawled, “We’ll work together and throw out the spoiled food.”

Tony and I both nodded in agreement, still in shock from what just happened.

“At least we know the ovens preheated,” Liz teased, “I’ll just put in the tur-.” Liz stopped. “And the turkey is gone!” She yelled, throwing her arms up in the air. On the chair was a blank, deserted space that the tukey used to be on.

I groaned while dragging my hands across my face. “What. The. Heck!” I yelled, “Why are so many problems getting in our way today!” Stress was written all over my ghostly face.

“How about this.” Tony offered, trying to stay calm, “I’ll help clean the fridge, Liz you should join me, and Claire, you take a breather and search for the turkey, it has to be somewhere.”

I didn’t even respond and immediately started my search. As the distance from the kitchen decreased, my thoughts started coming back together. “Okay there are only a few rooms on the first floor, it couldn’t have gotten far” I thought. Instantaneously I skimmed throughout the rooms and my surroundings for the lost bird. No where. The turkey was officially gone. No I can’t give up! I stopped my way over to my two helpers who were scooping the spoiled food into a humongous garbage bag with grossed out faces and scrunched up noses. I’ll ask if maybe they misplaced the turkey or accidently picked it up and set it do-. I stopped in my tracks, and stared curiously at the cracked opened door next to the rancid kitchen. “Wasn’t the guestroom door closed?” I questioned myself. Quietly, and ignoring the others loud complaints, I went to the door and peeked my head inside.

“No way!” I shouted in disbelief. “You guys have to see this!”

The two ran over and stood in awe at the sight. Winter was laying down, his soft black fur ruffled, and big brown puppy eyes staring sadly at the unopened turkey.

“But . . . how?” Tony puzzled, but then shrugged it off, “nevermind, this dog can be crazy sometimes, at least we found the turkey!”

“And we cleaned the rest of the fridge!” Liz cheered, “So let’s cook this wild turkey!”

With the corrupted food gone and the smokey taste of fire out of the house we finally started cooking. As I finished mixing up the salad, and the last meal to prepare, I sighed in relief. “Gosh we did it, we cooked a dinner for 20,” I thought, “I wondered what other goals we could make?”. Putting the salad bowl in the fridge and avoiding Liz’s body swaying to the beat of the music, I daydreamed about what lay ahead of me.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Jumping out of my mind I grabbed my phone. Mom. I glanced at the ticking clock. It was 5:24. I sighed as I answered the call.

“Hi mom!” I greeted, “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m great hun!” She started, “I just wanted to call you to say your father and I will be there in ten, as well as your aunts, uncles, and cousins!”

“Okay mom,” I responded, “I’ll see you in a few, love ya.”

“Love you too!” She beamed.

Click.

“They’ll be here in ten!” I cautioned everybody.

“OKAY!” both yelled back in unison

Quickly, I spent the rest of my time setting up the cushions. Finally I heard the first booming knock of the night. “Coming!” I shouted as I shuffled to the door. There they were. My parents the ones who gave this crazy day and depended on me to host today. I already knew my mom would be in her puffy coat, making her curly brown locks wild and my father in his Christmas sweater with messy medium-brown hair, even though it’s not even December yet. A nervous feeling shook me as I opened the door but almost at once that feeling was swept away with confidence when I saw their ocean blue eyes looking everywhere except me. Their eyes reflected their pride in me and no glimmer of doubt showed beneath them.

“Claire this is incredible!” my father gasped, probably noticing his favorite spot on the couch was tidy, and elegant.

“How’d you do this?” questioned my mother.

“Well I didn’t do this by myself,” I declared as I motioned to Liz and Tony who just walked into the room. “Without them I’d probably be dead!” I chuckled, rubbing my arm.

We exchange hugs and I took their coats and set them in the closet. While admiring everything around them, they slowly made their way into the house. I sprinted to the tv and turned on the sports channel for my father as he sat down on the shiny couch. My mother stood by while Tony got her a glass of fresh water. We chatted till we heard yet another knock by the front of the house. Soon we were greeted by all of my aunts, cousins, and uncles, and millions of hugs and kisses were passed. We laughed and updated everyone about our lives until I finally heard the timer for the turkey.

“Okay everybody!’ I coached, “Could everyone head to the table please!”

With Tony’s help we sliced the roasted, mouth-watering, turkey and advised everyone that they could start grabbing their food. Shortly everybody was seated with their unbelievable dinner in front of them.

Amen.

We sang grace and ended it quickly because nobody could hide their desire to dig in. Honestly, you could probably hear our laughs from almost a mile away. I chuckled to myself when I realized how far I had actually gotten today. “I can’t believe I made this cheerful, hilarious, cozy evening happen,” I thought. I smiled. “At least it’s finally over,” I sighed in relief and closed my eyes. Though it was short lived when I heard my name being said.

“So Claire,” one of my uncles asked me in his gruffy voice, “What happened to you today?”

I giggled, “you sure you want to know?” I glanced over towards Liz and Tony and smiled. “It’s a long story.”
“Go for it!” He insisted. Everyone’s eyes switched to me.

“Well,” I began, “It all started with a very surprising phone call….”