Holiday Recipes Gone Completely Wrong

It's everyone's worst nightmare: You've spent days prepping a Pinterest-worthy holiday meal complete with all the fixings, including a dessert that would impress Martha Stewart, when disaster strikes. The turkey looks suspiciously like jerky. The marshmallow topping on the sweet potatoes just burst into flames. The gingerbread men look more like murderous monsters than sweet treats. Dinner is RUINED.

But thanks to social media we know we're not alone when it comes to holiday food fails. Knowing that there are others out there who can commiserate with you on your dropped pie and charcoal-crusted ham is comforting. And who knows? Maybe next year you'll be ready to laugh about your less-than-perfect meal. In the meantime, you can laugh at these others. 'Tis the season to be jolly, after all.

The best thing about this was that someone was taking a picture instead of helping.

You could always pass those crunchy bits off as incredibly crisp celery.

Anyone who hasn't burned the rolls at least once deserves a medal. This is a yearly occurrence in most homes. 

You know it's officially a #fail when you can't even tell what it was supposed to be in the first place. 

One might assume that canned cranberry sauce was fail-proof. One would be wrong...

Maybe they could call this a Christmas shrub instead.

Remember, unless you are using a Ronco rotisserie oven you should not, in fact, "set it and forget it."

Just a bit more pepper and these mashed potatoes will be perfection. Whoops. 

Attempting miniature pies just means that you have the possibility of more than one pie fail. 

Important holiday dinner public service announcement: Check the pepper shaker top BEFORE using. 

Do the presence of the spoon and plate here mean that this person turned a fail into a win by scooping their sweet potatoes off the floor and serving them anyway?

Believe it or not, you're looking at a ham here.

Bad things happen when you try to get too creative with cranberry sauce. 

Just pretend that you totally meant to do this and call it "yams flambé." If you can get it to the table still aflame, even better.

One giant cookie is better than a few small ones, right?

This is apparently what happens when you leave a pre-roasted turkey, complete with oiled skin, in the oven too long. So much for shortcuts.

The red eyes on these snowmen are slightly unnerving. 

There seems to be an inordinate amount of Pyrex casualties during the holidays. 

Step one to scaring your children senseless this Christmas: Make terrifying gingerbread cookies. Check.

The story goes that after this turkey was carved, it didn't look like a turkey anymore. So Mom made a whole chicken to plop in the middle. Problem solved? Bonus points for the celery garnish. 

Based on the innumerable burned sweet potato posts out there, it needs to be said: marshmallows burn, people! Do not walk away from the broiler.

Reheating ham proves once again to be trickier than expected. 

Let this be a lesson to you: Nothing good ever comes from royal icing.