Great stories !
One year, Pork Chop The Cat, helped himself to the unattended turkey on the dining room table. No one seemed too upset, because Pork Chop was cool, and everyone loved him.
He was a marmalade short-haired, found him as a kitten, alone in the woods. Lived to be 21, and healthy.
Another time, Mom sent the dining room table out to be refinished. At the time that was beyond my skill level. It was late, really late, and I remember going to pick it up Thanksgiving morning. The backup plan was to use my giant wallpaper table. Even cleaned the heck out of it, just in case.