Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday great for giving thanks and spending time with friends and family BUT sitting down to dinner with the whole fam can sometimes lead to some rather tense conversation. Maybe someone brings up some family drama, maybe a relative inquires about your grades, maybe someone brings up the election, maybe the dog pees on the carpet, maybe someone eloped the day before Thanksgiving -- whatever it is, sometimes Thanksgiving can be tricky. To avoid any less than desirable Thanksgiving banter here is a list of family friendly topics you can always bring up to change the subject and avoid crisis.
1. The Weather
While bringing up the weather is not the most subtle or interesting subject change, it's easy to remember and will always work if you find yourself in a conversation emergency and can't think of anything else to say. Keep it simple.
2. Compliment the Food
"Thank God Trump won the Election!" *Awkward silence* "Wow Grandma!!!!!! These mashed potatoes sure are great!"
3. Sports
This one only works if you actually know things about sports. If you're like me and you don't actually know anything about sports just bring up Simone Biles or something. Everyone loves Simone Biles.
4. Tell the story of the First Thanksgiving
You will definitely get some weird looks for this one, but trust me it'll take up a large portion of conversation time if you drag it out long enough. Talk about the first harvest and the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. If you're feeling really ambitious throw the Mayflower in there. Really emphasize the true meaning of thanksgiving and then you can tactfully segue into:
5. Ask everyone what they are thankful for
If someone says "I'm thankful that global warming isn't real" immediately revert back to numbers 1-3.
6. Bring up a recent achievement of one of you family members.
Avoid talking about bad stuff! Celebrate the success of your family!
7. Christmas/The Upcoming Holiday of Your Choice
Everyone loves the holiday season! Talk about how excited you are to decorate the house or eat cookies or throw a party!!
8. Compliment someone's sweater
"Aunt Betty what a nice sweater you have on! Where in the world did you get it?!?"
9. Bring up the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Comment on how much you enjoy watching it every year. Ask your siblings what their favorite part was. If you're not a parade person that's fine just bring up that you're looking forward to watching "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving"
10. "Will you pass the rolls?"
This is less of a conversation starter but more of an awkward silence filler. For emergency use only.
