Feasting on some Thanksgiving follies with Friends

A week from today, Thanksgiving will be upon us with folks gathering together to eat and engage with one another. Hopefully, the worst argument that day will be over what to watch on TV;football or Macy's parade? (I vote parade!)

One thing that most people do agree on in that category are Thanksgiving episodes from the nineties classic sitcom Friends. While some are better than others, those hilarious holiday get togethers could always be counted on to serve up the laughs.

To get into the Turkey Day mood, I have assembled a merry meal of Friends clips that should whet your comedy appetite and perhaps inspire a little binge watching before the big day:

TURKEY TIME WITH JOEY: When comes to an appreciative dinner guest for Thanksgiving, Joey Tribbini is your man. He's ready to start chowing down, wearing his good turkey pants and reliable for cleaning his plate more than once.

However, his prankster whims sometimes clash with meal time as the one where Joey put a whole turkey on his head in order to scare Chandler. The only person he really terrified was Monica, who wanted to get that bird in the oven without Joey's head being the stuffing:

POTATO PARTY: Speaking of Monica, you have to give the poor gal her due here. While she may be very controlling and set in her ways about most things, she is always the one doing the cooking on Thanksgiving and even chefs like her would like a little time off on that particular occasion!

The first year that Monica started making Thanksgiving dinner for everyone, she was given not one, not two but three different requests for different preparations of potatoes! Personally, I feel that lumpy mashed potatoes are the worst(not sorry,Ross!) and tater tots are fine but I have to draw the line at adding peas and onions(sorry,Phoebe):

 PRECIOUS PLATES: When it comes to the time that Monica was asked to use her good wedding gift plates on Thanksgiving, I'm kind of with Chandler on that one. What good are dishes that you're never going to put out for the purpose they were intended for?

However, I can completely understand Monica's concern over using them for the first time with this bunch. While giving Joey a "special" plate at dinner was a good move, clearing those delicate plates before Rachel and her sister went at it was quite the thrill ride indeed:

SWEETS TO THE NOT SO SWEET: To be fair, there was that one where Rachel helped out in the kitchen on Thanksgiving to try her hand at making an English trifle for dessert.

Unfortunately, that after dinner treat was memorable for all of the wrong reasons. Due to a mix-up with the cookbook she was using, Rachel did a mash-up between two staples of English cusine. a trifle and a shepard's pie.

That combo is something that not even the hardiest contender on Chopped would attempt. However, at least the guests assembled did their best not to hurt her feelings and one of them did actually like it(Joey, of course!):

Many feel that these Thanksgiving episodes of Friends lead to the modern day tradition of Friendsgiving(although that actual term wasn't in regular use until 2007, long after the show was over and done with). Regardless of that, it's hard to deny that these yearly riffs on celebrating the holiday in a non traditional way did possibly assist in making that concept a bit more mainstream.

Whether or not Friends can be seen as the root of Friendsgiving doesn't really matter. The whole point of both of those annual events is that Thanksgiving is a holiday to be shared with those you love, friend or family(by choice as well as by blood). It's not important what you eat, where you're at or who is at the table-what counts is being thankful for being together. That's a lesson we all need to learn and/or relearn these days with the help of our mutual Friends: