Thanksgiving dinner according to the glossies vs. how it really looks. 

We’ve all been to a great many Thanksgiving dinners with parents, extended family, friends, at home, and abroad.  We’re willing to bet these dinners ranged from all-you-can-eat buffet style feasts and formal sit down gatherings to camp stove cooking in the mountains and cross country drives. But according to glossy magazines, our Thanksgivings should be perfect like this:

Um, Martha. You didn’t mention that this was going to be a raw affair. Where’s the turkey?

Ah, cute. We’re having Cornish hen this year.

If you’re a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, a table and turkey like that might fly. But if you’re celebrating Thanksgiving like the rest of us 99%, turkey day is messy, sloppy, disorganized, cluttered, always late, and occasionally vegetarian.

Take a look at the following series of photographs. Featured on the left are idealized Thanksgiving dinners sampled from leading designers, glossies, and Hollywood. On the right are actual people celebrating real life Thanksgivings.

In HGTV land where toddlers sit at tables entertaining themselves with sunflowers vs. real life where they whine, “Is it ready yet?”

A still from Funny People the movie vs. funny people in Akron.

“Oh you thought I was inviting you over to eat?” vs. sitting down to chow down with people that love you.

A table lined with decorative apples vs. a table lined with grandma’s tried and true recipes.

Better Homes and Gardens lighting vs. your mom’s house.

Martha Stewart vegan vs. edible vegetarian.

A Preston Bailey extravaganza vs. food people can really dig into.

Where carbs are not on the menu vs. a side of high fructose corn syrup.

No matter where you end up celebrating this year – whether in a glossy version or not  – we’d like to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!

Images: Martha Stewart; Sweet Paul; HGTV; Snunemaker;  Editor B; Emily Barney; Snunemaker; The Purl Bee; Heather Kaiser; Eddie Ross; Better Homes and Gardens; Eddie Welker; Martha Stewart; Thomas Cizauskas; Lotus Haus/Preston Bailey; Brad Trump; Studio Ten 25; Buxtrosion

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