Tom The Turkey

November 27, 2014

On this Thanksgiving Day, I would like to recount the story of Tom the Turkey. I wish I had pictures of Tom, but alas, this was well before camera phone days and Pinterest.

My mom was rather crafty.  Growing up, I remember doing a lot of fun crafty and creative things.  She got some ideas from school where she worked, or library books.  I wonder how crazy she wound have gone had we had Pinterest way back then…

One year, my mom decided that we would make a paper maché turkey.  We mixed up the flour and water, got our hands good and sloppy, and cut up newspaper strips to lay on the balloon.  We used toilet paper rolls for the neck and legs.  My mom reminded me that we cut his feet and his gobbler out of a yellow sponge.  (It was probably even a used sponge!)  We painted it (after it dried) with some left over dark brown house paint, and of course, used construction paper to make the feathers.

What made this one of the most creative ventures mom and I ever did was what we used for his head and beak.  We must have made this in 1987 I think, because for his head and beak, we used my brother, Aaron’s bulb nasal aspirator!  Apparently, this one didn’t work as well, or he didn’t really need it anymore

Tom wound up as a centerpiece for Grandma Hurt’s Thanksgiving dinner table for many years.  I think he eventually got thrown away.  Meanwhile, I’m sure I have am under-used bulb nasal aspirator around here, and some household brown paint… I feel another Tom coming along… maybe for next Thanksgiving!

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