It was a chilly November afternoon, and Landon, Kamdyn, and Jack were all huddled in the warm kitchen, watching the turkey roast in the oven. The smell of the turkey cooking, buttery stuffing, and pies filled the room with delight, and everyone was already sneaking bites of whatever they could. Laughter and conversation filled the room with pleasure as they were playing Madden 25 in the living room.

Kamdyn had decided he’d be the “head chef” this year. He’d spend the last few weeks hyping up the “legendary” turkey recipe, promising it would be the best thing each of us ever tasted. Jack kept reminding him about last year’s disaster, when Kamdyn accidentally caught the oven on fire trying to make the bread, but Kamdyn brushed it off.

“This year will be perfect. Just wait and see guys!”

Just as they’d settled into a match of Fortnite together, they heard a strange noise from the kitchen. Landon, who seemed to hear everything, jumped up. “Did you guys hear that? It sounded like the oven… popped.”

The three of them raced to the kitchen and peeked through the oven window. Inside, the turkey had somehow puffed up into a weird, lumpy shape, looking more like a football than a fine cooked bird.

“Oh no,” Kamdyn exclaimed . “Did I… did I forget to take the controller off the turkey. It must have exploded while in the turkey?”

Landon and Jack burst out laughing, nearly falling over.

“Kamdyn! You promised us this year would be perfect!” Landon gasped, holding his stomach from laughing so hard.

Jack could barely catch his breath. “Guess we’ll be eating turkey-flavored plastic tonight!” Even though Kamdyn looked embarrassed, they just couldn’t stop laughing. Kamdyn tried to fix the turkey, but every time he poked at it, it made a squishy sound that set everyone off again. They decided to turn the turkey into a huge joke.

By the time the rest of the family gathered around the table, Kamdyn’s failed turkey was sitting in the middle of it, covered in herbs and garnishes to hide the worst of the burn marks. Landon and Jack could hold back their laughs as Kamdyn tried to introduce it with a straight face, “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: The finest turkey… with pieces of controller.”

Everyone cracked up, toasting to a Thanksgiving that would be remembered for a long time. They all shared stories of past holiday fails, and by the end of the night, Kamdyn’s turkey mishap became just another tale for the family to laugh about. It turned out to be the best Thanksgiving yet: good food, good company, and a lot of laughs.