Husband’s surprise guests at Thanksgiving caught me off guard. With my mashed-potatoes barely mashed and the turkey still in the oven, I tried to take a sip from the coffee that stood on the counter too long to be near warm as I like it. But, my daughter’s eagerness to paint on the walls stopped me from doing anything else than saving the walls one more time. “Emma, honey, we don’t paint on walls,” I said with a smile, trying to preserve the Thanksgiving spirit.

In the other corner of the room, my son Jake was grabbing cookies and crumbling them on the rug. “Oh, Jack, please put the cookies down,” I yelled, but he already put some in his mouth, with the crumbles getting all over his face.

I love Thanksgiving, but even the thought of not having everything done perfectly dreads me. Between making sure my kids don’t make a complete mess out of my living room, and setting the table in the spirit of the tradition, I barely have a moment to catch my breath. Yet, the end result always feels like a special accomplishment.

At one moment, while I was still in the middle of my never ending preparations, my husband Dan opened the door and yelled almost too enthusiastically, “We’re here!”

“We?” I said to myself. “Who are we?”

With the bowl of salad in my hands and my apron still on, I saw my husband’s surprise guests standing at the door.

“Zoe, I invited a couple of my co-workers. They had nowhere else to be, and isn’t the holiday all about sharing precious moments together?” Dan said with a smile on his face; that same smile he always put on when he believed he made a good decision that always turned out bad.

At that moment, I felt like throwing the salad right into his face, but I knew better than that.

The guests, some of whom were hesitant whether to enter the house or not, had bottles of wines and cookies as presents.

“How many people are here exactly, Dan?” I asked. “Oh, just fifteen,” he answered, as though it was nothing.

Trying my best to control my anger, I welcomed everyone in and the said in a high voice, “Welcome, everyone. Since this was a little unexpected, I would appreciate some help in the kitchen to make it all come together.”

Dan looked at me in confusion. He believed he and his co-workers would have fun while I was doing everything, but he was wrong.

“Dan, honey,” I said, “please take the kids upstairs while we get ready for the dinner.” He didn’t say a word, just took Emma and Jack by their hands and took them to their room, occasionally turning around to meet my eyes.

My husband’s surprise guests were assigned some tasks around the kitchen, and it seems they didn’t mind helping around.

Once everything was done and the table perfectly set, we all had a nice dinner.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” I said as I raised a glass. “This wouldn’t have been possible without your help — literally. I hope you enjoyed seeing what Thanksgiving prep looks like in this house. Isn’t teamwork amazing?”

They laughed, and Dan’s boss said jokingly, “Well, Dan, we didn’t know your wife would make us work on our day off.” Dan felt a bit embarrassed, but he knew exactly why I did what I did.

Once dinner was over, I invited everyone to help with the dishes, with Dan doing most of the work.

Finally, when my husband’s surprise guests left, satisfied with the beautiful evening, I sat on the couch, trying to take some break.

Dan saw me and approached carefully, as though he was afraid I would get mad at him, which I honestly was.

“Zoe, I had no idea now much work you put in the Thanksgiving preparations,” he said apologetically, “I shouldn’t have invited that many people without consulting you first.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” I said.

This Thanksgiving was a rollercoaster, but at the end, it was all about gratitude.