My MIL Brought a Thanksgiving Turkey with My Photo on It — but I Got the Last Laugh

My MIL Gloria crossed a line when she strutted into Thanksgiving with a turkey bearing a photo of my face. Her humiliating “joke” in front of the family was the last straw. But little did Gloria know, I had a plan to turn her stunt into the talk of the town — for all the wrong reasons.

When people talk about their in-laws, they usually mean meddling in mild ways: showing up unannounced, reorganizing your kitchen, or asking too many questions about your life choices.

My mother-in-law, Gloria, was a different breed altogether. She wasn’t a meddler; she was a saboteur.

The first time I met her she smiled warmly, took my hand, and said, “Well, aren’t you just… ordinary? I mean, in a good way. Mark could use a little stability.”

It only got worse from there. Over the years, Gloria’s specialty had become passive-aggressive domination. Compliments that weren’t compliments, advice I didn’t ask for, and little gestures like “correcting” my cooking mid-dish or bringing “extras” to dinners I’d painstakingly planned.

Mark called it love. I called it warfare.

This brings us to Thanksgiving — our Thanksgiving. After years of living in cramped apartments, Mark and I had bought our first house and were hosting for the first time. It was my moment to shine — or at least to make a pie without someone swooping in with “a better recipe.”

I wanted everything perfect. The house smelled of cinnamon and roasted turkey, the dining table was set with real cloth napkins (a splurge), and my apple pie crust was, dare I say, magazine-worthy.

Even my notoriously picky Aunt Claire sniffed approvingly and muttered, “Not bad, Steph.”

For a moment, I thought I’d won the family over. Then Gloria arrived.

Her heels clicking against the driveway announced her presence before I even saw her. A second later, the front door swung open without so much as a knock, and there she was, in all her glory. Gloria never simply entered a room; she occupied it.