As much as you love Thanksgiving, you have to admit the road to delicious sides and pumpkin pies is paved with crazy travel mishaps, awkward conversations with people you are not 100 percent sure how you are related to, and at least one eardrum-shattering fight over whether the family is watching the parade or a football game. The one thing that makes it all better (besides the pie)? Friends Thanksgiving episodes.
You know you watch the Friends Thanksgiving episodes every single year and they remind you why the holiday is worth all the time and energy you put into celebrating it. From the epic Geller touch football game to the year Joey lapped up Rachel's horror show of a trifle, the gang tackled the good, the bad, and the messy parts of Thanksgiving. It is only fitting then that you carry a little Friends wisdom wherever you go. I have gathered together 11 Friends Thanksgiving quotes that are guaranteed to help you keep your sanity intact through every squabble with your own friends over turkey basting and the humiliation of your mom seating you at the kids table even though you are an actual twentysomething adult.
Remember, whatever you're going through, your TV Friends have done it all too. Allow Joey, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Ross to be your Thanksgiving Yodas.
1. "Set Another Place For Thanksgiving. My Entire Family Thinks I Have VD."
Hey, you may have some Thanksgiving disasters in your past, but at least you have never experienced the pain of becoming the face of VD on Thanksgiving. Joey got paid for the ad campaign, but he also had to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and Funyuns at Monica and Rachel's apartment instead of whatever deliciousness his mom whipped up at home.
2. "That Turkey Has To Feed Twenty People At My Parents' House And They're Not Going To Eat It Off Your Head!"
Joey's turkey on the head prank went terribly awry, but honestly, it is the Friends gift that just never stops giving. Monica may have been outraged, but Joey with a turkey on his head is my go to visualization when I need laugh.
3. “It’s Thanksgiving And We Should Not Want To Be Together, Together!”
Rachel's words of wisdom, which I am fairly certain sum up the feelings of families and friends across the United States every Thanksgiving.
4. "You Can't Have Thanksgiving Without Turkey. That's Like Fourth Of July Without Apple Pie, Or Friday With No Two Pizzas."
I suspect no one actually likes turkey, but like Joey, I agree tradition is tradition... just don't ask me to eat the whole bird.
5. "It Wouldn’t Be Thanksgiving Without A Little Emotional Scarring."
Whether you're dating your ex's son like Monica or stuck in the middle of an epic sibling rivalry, you know young Michael Vartan spoke the truth that is universally acknowledged by everyone: Thanksgiving will leave you emotionally compromised whether you like it or not.
6. "What's Not To Like? Custard, Good. Jam, Good. Meat, Good!"
Eating your friend's trifle/shepherd's pie hybrid is the true meaning of Thanksgiving.
7. "Okay Guys, I Have Exactly 28 Minutes Before I Have To Baste Again."
Thanksgiving is about having your priorities in order. For Monica it goes basting, friends, family, and winning back a troll nailed to a two by four.
8. "What Is With Everyone Today? It's Thanksgiving Not Truth Day!"
It's just not Thanksgiving until a long kept family secret is exposed in the middle of dessert... or your bestie shoves a marshmallow up your nose, whichever comes first.
9. "They've Ruined Cranberry Day!"
Don't let anyone ruin your cranberry day, and guard your moist-maker with your life. You don't mess with other people's Thanksgiving food, guys. That's just a life fact.
10. "Look At Her Holding Those Yams. Those Are Our Two Worst Enemies, Ross — Rachel Green And Complex Carbohydrates."
You know nothing, Brad Pitt. Both Rachel and yams are wonderful. I have to give him props for the killer line though.
11. "I Guess What I'm Trying To Say Is I'm Very Thankful That All Your Thanksgivings Sucked."
No matter what happens on Thanksgiving, the important thing is you and your friends and family are together — and once they go home you can have a Friends marathon.
May your Thanksgiving be full of well-constructed trifles and no accidental toe beheadings, everyone!
Images: NBC; Giphy (11)
