what would you do if you received this letter

[Kurby]

first off - no i did not receive this letter. i was looking at that awkward family photos website and found this.

i can't believe this women had the nerve to demand all this

so what would you do if you were invited to a christmas or thanksgiving dinner and received this letter

i'm also wondering what the writer of the letter is actually doing for this dinner except host it since she's demanding everyone else bring everything needed including serving utensils.




From: Marney

As you all know a fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner does not make itself. I need to ask each of you to help by bringing something to complete the meal. I truly appreciate your offers to assist with the meal preparation.

Now, while I do have quite a sense of humor and joke around all the time, I COULD NOT BE MORE SERIOUS when I am providing you with your Thanksgiving instructions and orders. I am very particular, so please perform your task EXACTLY as I have requested and read your portion very carefully. If I ask you to bring your offering in a container that has a lid, bring your offering in a container WITH A LID, NOT ALUMINUM FOIL! If I ask you to bring a serving spoon for your dish, BRING A SERVING SPOON, NOT A SOUP SPOON! And please do not forget anything.

All food that is to be cooked should already be prepared, bring it hot and ready to serve, warm or room temp. These are your ONLY THREE options. Anything meant to be served cold should, of course, already be cold.

HJB—Dinner wine

The Mike ***** Family
1. Turnips in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. Please do not fill the casserole all the way up to the top, it gets too messy. I know this may come as a bit of a surprise to you, but most of us hate turnips so don’t feel like you a have to feed an army.
2. Two half gallons of ice cream, one must be VANILLA, I don’t care what the other one is. No store brands please. I did see an ad this morning for Hagan Daz Peppermint Bark Ice Cream, yum!! (no pressure here, though).
3. Toppings for the ice cream.
4. A case of bottled water, NOT gallons, any brand is ok.

The Bob ***** Family
1. Green beans or asparagus (not both) in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. If you are making the green beans, please prepare FOUR pounds, if you are making asparagus please prepare FIVE pounds. It is up to you how you wish to prepare them, no soupy sauces, no cheese (you know how Mike is), a light sprinkling of toasted nuts, or pancetta, or some EVOO would be a nice way to jazz them up.
2. A case of beer of your choice (I have Coors Light and Corona) or a bottle of clos du bois chardonnay (you will have to let me know which you will bring prior to 11/22).

The Lisa ***** Family
1. Lisa as a married woman you are now required to contribute at the adult level. You can bring an hors d’ouvres. A few helpful hints/suggestions. Keep it very light, and non-filling, NO COCKTAIL SAUCE, no beans of any kind. I think your best bet would be a platter of fresh veggies and dip. Not a huge platter mind you (i.e., not the plastic platter from the supermarket).

The Michelle ****** Family
1. Stuffing in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please make the stuffing sans meat.
2. 2.5-3 qts. of mashed squash in a casserole with a lid and serving spoon
3. Proscuitto pin wheel - please stick to the recipe, no need to bring a plate.
4. A pie knife

The June ***** Family
1. 15 LBS of mashed potatoes in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please do not use the over-size blue serving dish you used last year. Because you are making such a large batch you can do one of two things: put half the mash in a regulation size casserole with lid and put the other half in a plastic container and we can just replenish with that or use two regulation size casserole dishes with lids. Only one serving spoon is needed.
2. A bottle of clos du bois chardonnay

The Amy **** Family (why do I even bother she will never read this)
1. A pumpkin pie in a pie dish (please use my silver palate recipe) no knife needed.
2. An apple pie in a pie dish, you can use your own recipe, no knife needed.

Looking forward to the 28th!!

 

[luvmy3]

If I recieved a letter like that, I'd call everyone who is instructed to bring something and invite them to my house instead

 

[mumom95]

This is a joke right?

I'm a planner, and especially at big meals like this it's nice to know specifically what people are bringing, so you don't end up with 5 different types of potatoes and no vegetables. But beyond suggesting to people: you bring a starch, you bring a vegetable, you bring drinks, I would NEVER tell someone exactly what they had to bring, how they had to prepare it, and what to bring it in.

If I got a letter like that, I would bring something completely different than what I was told, in a completely different container than it was supposed to be, and just sit back with a glass of wine and watch the hostess go nuts.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Hopefully that is a joke, but if it is real, I would be politely declining dinner. It's one thing to ask that a dinner like that be potluck (particularly if it is a lot of family friends), but making such specific and unrealistic demands is a bit much!

 

[2BigKIdz]

Wow! She is very organized that's for sure. I wonder why some families were required to bring more than others? Maybe they have more members. I'm sure her family knows how she is and were not surprised by the letter. Honestly, I wish I could do something like that Not the specifics and demands, but be able to ask for people to bring dishes. We end up having my husband's family ever year. I do all of the grocery buying, cooking and also have to have groceries for the week while the out-of-state people are staying with us. It gets to be very expensive.

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

OMG, that's nerving!

I always ask what I can bring, but I'm never given such detailed instructions. Wow!

 

[S. C.]

 

[Kurby]

totally agree - potluck is one thing. asking to bring a meat dish, veggie dish, dessert etc but that went way overboard.

my aunt and uncle hosted our christmas dinner all my life and never once asked for a donation, for anyone to bring food or drinks or anything they just did it on their own. towards the end of my uncles life my other aunt brough the dessert and within the last few years i suggest potluck but that didn't go over well (my aunt say no we would never ask anyone to bring the food)

now that my uncle passed away we go out for christmas - no one cooks, cleans or prepares anything (well the chefs do but not us )

 

[Just Jan]

This is a joke right?

I'm a planner, and especially at big meals like this it's nice to know specifically what people are bringing, so you don't end up with 5 different types of potatoes and no vegetables. But beyond suggesting to people: you bring a starch, you bring a vegetable, you bring drinks, I would NEVER tell someone exactly what they had to bring, how they had to prepare it, and what to bring it in.

If I got a letter like that, I would bring something completely different than what I was told, in a completely different container than it was supposed to be, and just sit back with a glass of wine and watch the hostess go nuts.

Oh I think we could be long lost twins lol

 

[mousetravel]

That letter is so ridiculous, it is laughable. No way would I go to Thanksgiving dinner, or any other dinner with this lady!

 

[barkley]

the author lost me at "regulation size casserole". whose regulations? why dont the people bringing other than the mashed potatos have to follow the regulations about casserole dishes??????? is there some kind of mashed potato regulatory board involved that may level a sanction against an offender???????/


(hey-we passed on a thanksgiving invite once when we found it tacky for the host to TELL us we HAD to bring an obscure brand of over priced off season flavored cheesecake that as far as we could determine could only be purchased from one store in the entire region that the host apparantly felt was too far away from his home for his convenience to purchase on his own-1 hour each way-forget the fact that it would have entailed us to travel 3 hours each way from our house).

 

[ORMom2Four]

Did Kate Gosslin (of Jon & Kate) write that letter?

 

[Stacerita]

All I can say is wow.

 

[Imzadi]

I'm assuming the families involved know quite well that this person is anal-retentive in the least and at worst, can be a nightmare beotch the rest of the day if things aren't done to her liking. So while people here may have said they purposely would bring something different, probably people cringe at the idea of this woman being off her rocker the whole day if they do something like forget the serving utensil. Holidays are hard enough without a perfectionist, controlling nutcase. It also sounds like she never forgets a transgression, i.e. the over-size blue casserole from the year before.

It sounds like they've all been to Thanksgiving there before. The letter writer is probably cooking the turkey, so she feels she can tell everyone else what to cook and bring. I'll bet there have been past holidays where someone brought something really lame that no one ate, so this year she's TELLING them what to bring.

Like, it sounds like family number one has brought the turnips before. (She didn't tell them how to cook it.) But, they probably brought 15 lbs. of it on the same holiday that the mashed potato family only brought 2 lbs of that and everyone barely got potatoes.

I thought it funny how she told one family to bring the pie knife, instead of the actual person bringing pie. She already knows the pie person won't read the letter, but she expects her to actually bake the pie. Lady, that gal is BUYING a pie.

God forbid the mash potato family accidentally brings two serving utensils.

Someone ought to tell the letter writer to go to the dollar store and load up on $1 serving utensils.

Notice she said, "Looking forward to the 28th!!" She's probably the only one.

 

[ginna74]

why don't she just cook.....

um.. I would say.. ummmm no I'm not cooking your food your way lol ... I know I know not being a part of the family thing..

 

[Planogirl]

That letter has to be a joke. If I received it I'd be calling the person who wrote it.

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

"Hi, Marley? I'm going to ahead and skip your Gestapo style Thanksgiving. But no thanks anyways."

 

[NMAmy]

the author lost me at "regulation size casserole". whose regulations? why dont the people bringing other than the mashed potatos have to follow the regulations about casserole dishes??????? is there some kind of mashed potato regulatory board involved that may level a sanction against an offender???????/

That's the part that made me laugh. I have no idea if any of my casserole dishes are actually "regulation size." I have no plans to find out, either. I'd be declining this invitation. I can't imagine how tense that meal must be.

 

[L107ANGEL]

I was trying to organize a nice meal