Thanksgiving Day is the true beginning of the holiday season, accompanied by family, friends, and a delicious feast that only comes around once every 365 days. It’s certainly worth commemorating the day of gratitude (which falls on November 25 this year, FYI!)—and stuffing your face with all the turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie that your stomach can handle—with a Friends binge-watching session, of course.
With a highly anticipated reunion special in the works, the hit ’90s sitcom still has a loyal fan base 16 years after its last episode aired. Throughout its 10 seasons, Friends celebrated the holiday with viewers, blessing us with a memorable Thanksgiving Day episode each year. Whether or not you know the episodes by heart, our list quickly refreshes you of the gang’s different storylines. From Monica’s broken wedding china to the Geller Cup to Rachel’s Thanksgiving Trifle dessert, there wasn’t a Friends Thanksgiving Day episode that didn’t make us laugh. So, grab your fat pants—or your grilled cheese and bag of Funyuns, if you’re Chandler—and enjoy this definitive ranking of 10 seasons of Friends’ Turkey Day episodes.
Season 2, Episode 8: “The One with the List”
Best Home Moment: While it’s tough to watch Rachel with a broken heart, we can’t help but be envious of her wallowing spot—the girls’ unbelievable window seat. We’d sit there and mope to U2, too.
Season 9, Episode 8: “The One with Rachel’s Other Sister”
Best Home Moment: We bet you know someone who can relate to Monica’s stress about using her fancy plates. Hopefully, that person never has to deal with her husband breaking them all.
Season 10, Episode 8: “The One with the Late Thanksgiving”
Best Home Moment: We love the ingenuity of Monica keeping her friends out of the apartment by using the chain on the door, mostly because it allows for Joey’s to slip his head in and try to stare the Bings down.
Season 7, Episode 8: “The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs”
Best Home Moment: When Monica goes over to Ross’ apartment to pick up the pies she’s been baking there, she wonders to Chandler, “Ross’ apartment is nice, why don’t we ever hang out here?” And she’s right—we can’t stop thinking about how Ross could never afford that spacious of a living room in New York City and never actually have people over.
Season 1, Episode 9: “The One Where Underdog Gets Away”
Best Home Moment: When the girls get locked out of their apartment after everyone goes to the roof to watch Underdog float away, the guys come to the rescue… kind of. They just have to work their way through a drawer of a zillion keys—which honestly—we all can relate to.
Season 3, Episode 9: “The One with the Football”
Best Home Moment: Since most of this episode takes place outside the apartment, there wasn’t much to choose from for this category, so we’re going with the inclusion of a classic kitchen timer as the football game’s clock.
Season 4, Episode 8: “The One With Chandler In A Box”
Best Home Moment: Joey, still furious at Chandler, says he’s going to return all the fancy new furniture that Chandler bought out of guilt. Thankfully, he doesn’t go through with it, and that butter yellow couch will make us jealous for seasons to come.
Season 8, Episode 9: “The One With The Rumor”
Best Home Moment: Though it’s been there for several seasons, this episode gives a shining moment to the sconces on Monica’s kitchen wall. At one point when Will (Pitt) sees Rachel, he grasps the sconces with rage and says, “My two greatest enemies, Ross—Rachel Green and complex carbohydrates.”
Season 6, Episode 9: “The One Where Ross Got High”
Best Home Moment: While we don’t actually see this moment, our favorite home-related mention is when Ross and Monica are fighting by telling long-held secrets to their parents, one after another. Ross mentions that “Hurricane Gloria didn’t break the porch swing, Monica did.” Perhaps if they’d had one of these porch swings, it would have survived.
Season 5, Episode 8: “The One with All the Thanksgivings”
Best Home Moment: Usually we see the gang gathered around Monica’s kitchen table, but this year, they make us all kinds of jealous by getting cozy with dessert around the coffee table. I mean, the chair Rachel is sitting in looks PERFECT for a post-turkey nap.
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