Jennifer Turner was all set to enjoy Christmas dinner with her fiance Jesse’s family when disaster struck with only hours to go.
They called Jesse’s mother Colleen to wish her a merry Christmas. But Colleen said the day wouldn’t be so merry this year.
Coverage of Christmas on Globalnews.ca:
She had put a 20-pound turkey in the fridge, readying a dinner for nine people.
There was a waft of sour air when she opened it again.
“I guess she didn’t set the fridge properly,” Turner told Global News.
“So basically the default setting was all messed up and the turkey completely spoiled.”
This was around noon.
With the clock ticking before dinner time, Colleen went around to a few stores to see if anything was open on Christmas.
She found nothing.
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Colleen resolved to cook up some chicken breasts for dinner.
Turner had another idea. She turned to a Facebook group known as “Ladner’s Landing,” which boasts about 3,800 members.
It’s a place that “all of Ladner is a part of,” Turner said.
She issued a distress call:
“SOS! My family had a turkey mishap! Does anyone know where I can get a turkey to feed eight adults this evening?!”
“That’s when people started commenting like crazy,” Turner said.
One store, Jarry’s Market, volunteered to open so they could have a fresh Christmas turkey. People offered frozen turkeys, too.
But it was about 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. at this point — and that didn’t provide enough time in which to cook a bird.
That’s when Tash Guichon stepped in. She and Turner had gone to high school together.
Guichon said her mother had prepared a turkey and that it would be ready by 4 p.m. They had cooked it, not for Christmas dinner — she was going to her aunt and uncle’s that night — but so that they would have leftovers for a week.
And Turner’s dinner was saved.
The family came over to the Guichons’ house to pick up a big, juicy turkey that was stuffed with rosemary. They brought wine and chocolate to say thank you.
“They were super happy, they cried,” Guichon said.
“They were overwhelmed, it was pretty awesome.”
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Turner is deeply thankful to the Ladner community for helping her and her family at a difficult moment.
“It was like a Christmas miracle for sure,” she said.
“And it just made me feel so great knowing I live in such a great community of people who are willing to step up for a family like that, especially on Christmas Day.”
As for the Guichons, they had yet another turkey ready to go. It was cooked on Boxing Day.