It’s Thanksgiving, and I know you want everything to turn out perfectly. You have that picture of a Norman Rockwell holiday table in mind, with a gorgeously browned bird, mounds of glorious sides, and a spectacular pie to top it off.

Well, here’s my Thanksgiving message for you: If you actually pull off that perfect meal, congratulations. But if you don’t—that’s fine, too! In fact, in a way, it’s even better.

You see, Thanksgiving is all about making memories you’ll treasure forever. And here’s the funny thing: It’s the Thanksgiving disasters that you’ll laugh about for years to come. Nobody will remember the turkey that turned out right, the perfect sweet potatoes, or the terrific kale salad (although they might ask for your recipes). But you’ll be chuckling decades later about the dinners that went spectacularly wrong.

For instance, one of my favorite funny memories is the time I stuffed the turkey and served out a price tag. Yup, it was buried in the stuffing. SO embarrassing! Then there was the time I made "pineapple infusions" and several of my guests over-indulged because they didn’t realize that those treats were loaded with vodka.  The resulting game of “drunk Twister” was truly epic.

This week, I’ve been asking my friends to share their own stories about the crazy Thanksgiving memories that make them smile. Here are some of them:

• “One year, I decided to do my turkey in a cooking bag. As I pulled it out to baste it, the top of the bag hit the heating element and instantly melted onto the turkey, laminating it. When I tried to pull the bag off the turkey, all of the breast skin came off—so now I had a buck-naked turkey instead. And of course, just then, the doorbell rang and it was my company arriving early.”
• “A few years ago, I tried out a new, healthy stuffing recipe. Unfortunately, it came out looking just like barf. Everyone tried to be polite, but nobody wanted to touch it.”
• “I refilled my salt shaker one Thanksgiving morning and didn’t screw the lid on tight enough. Right before dinner, as I was mashing potatoes with my mixer, I started to sprinkle on some salt and the shaker top came off. It fell right into the potatoes, along with all of the salt, and the mixer beater immediately crushed the plastic lid into a million pieces. I had to serve instant mashed potatoes I borrowed from a neighbor.”
• “My husband accidentally set the oven to ‘broil’ instead of ‘bake’ and burned the stuffing to a crisp. It set off all the smoke alarms, and my guests thought the house was on fire.”

All of these Thanksgiving disasters seemed horrific at the time, but now they’re some of my friends’ favorite holiday stories. The perfect Thanksgivings, on the other hand, all just blended together. They were great… but they weren’t memorable.

So relax, and don’t worry about being perfect. If you screw up, you’ll give people something to laugh about. And if you screw up royally, you’ll become the stuff of legend.

Happy Thanksgiving… and here’s to being perfectly imperfect on this wonderful day!

P.S.—Before I go, I want to give a big Thanksgiving shout-out to YOU. The Bone Broth Revolution couldn’t have happened without your amazing support. Your excitement about spreading the word has caused our movement to go viral, encouraging hundreds of thousands of people to lose weight, get healthy, and rediscover the joy of cooking and eating real food.

Together, we’re transforming lives every day. I value you and love you, and I wish you a wonderful, joy-filled Thanksgiving Day. I’m so grateful for your encouragement and positive energy—you are the reason I get up in the morning!