29 November 2009

Thanksgiving Day Turkeys

This is the family tradition that will never die - Thanksgiving Day Turkeys. We love it. We love it a lot. Others have taken this tradition on as their own, but many do it incorrectly. The key is to start with a plain turkey shape and eight colored feathers. You can do six, but you shall have no more than eight (except Caitlin who broke the rules last year with 9 - she's just so thankful). One evening you are charged with the challenge of creating a turkey that is both original and hopefully meaningful to your life at that time. Then each day leading up to Thanksgiving you add a feather of something you are thankful for.
This is Caitlin's turkey. Please note that she used magazine clippings to create her pregnant turkey. She also did the unorthodox cutting of the turkey body into a more human shape. You can read what Caitlin is grateful for, but let me point out a few things. December 4th at 5pm is the day I finish school and Caitlin goes on maternity leave. Family includes every family member on it. Cybex Arc Trainer is Caitlin's favorite work out machine in the world.
This is my turkey. He is sitting naked (and appropriately censored) in a bath tub asleep. I am going to have three months off starting this coming Friday, so I am planning on relaxing (and raising a newborn...they go hand in hand). Max Attack is my baby boy.
This is Max's turkey! He is also naked (and appropriately censored) because he is still in the womb. Max already has so much to be grateful for - like his placenta, future clothes, the womb and gentle nurses that will be yanking his body out of Caitlin.
This is Pam's. As you can see, Pam is clearly a grandma. This obviously represents her graduation into grandmadom starting with the birth of Baby Max (who she calls B-Max). Mom is mostly just grateful for the family, as you can see. This requires exactly eight feathers...which means we can't have any more children or it will throw everything off.
This is Little's turkey (Michael). I'm not exactly sure what he is. He might possibly be Satan turkey. He could also be a turkey covered in Scentsi smells which is where Mike works right now. He is really grateful for Hulu and Bogus Basin as well as the essential Ducks and Limon.
Big D went wild and created a turkey for his turkey. This is a step up (or down?) from his turkey last year where he just pasted his own head on the turkey instead of a turkey head. He is thankful for the same things every year of his life. Limon was an addition a few years ago that has stuck. We love his predictability.
Last year Devin did not decorate his turkey, so this year was a surprise to see an amazing pilgrim turkey. I believe this is supposed to represent his Pilgrim voyage into the world of turkey decorating. I appreciate the Devin is grateful for warmth and food. Me too.
Beefsquee's turkey is always so well put together. This year, she is going to work it hard core at the gym. My favorite are the little sweat beads on her turkey's head. Squeebles is grateful for many things, and her gratitude can never be explained in one or two words. They require novels. Here is a close up:
Instead of just putting Honda Accord or Neo...she wrote this to properly explain her thoughts.
This is Stephoin's turkey. He and the Butler decorated theirs together and put the feathers up so we could get pictures. They added the gratitude later. Stephoin's turkey is clearly a western wagon wheel theme. This may symbolize his inevitable move back west from NYC when the time is right. No one knows if and when that will be - but this turkey may be telling.
Finally, the Butler's turkey. Jeff has dressed his turkey as a hobo. It is at that moment that I learned he had recently been laid off from his job, which totally blows. Thus, he is grateful for unemployment checks. We all wish him luck in his job search.
Thank you family for another successful year of turkey time. Gobble gobble.

4 comments:

Heather said...

Max is lucky to have such a fun family! When I felt done being pregnant, we used to tell Ella all the fun things we would do as a family. We thought we could coax her to come on time. It didn't work. But I still think she was pretty psyched about life in the Ward house.

Sparklebot said...

I didn't know it was supposed to be a gradual adding of feathers of thankfulness. And, I don't remember that when we were in college.

But, I'm impressed with the Thankfulness of the Mulcock family, as well as the enthusiasm for family tradition.

Pamsky said...

I can't say how pleased I am with everyone's efforts this year - especially the women. As a group, don't tell me that Caitlin's, Michelle's and mine are fabulous, because they are.

On a side note, why in the world would any company with a brain let Jeff Butler slip through their fingers? He is a quality gentleman. Is there no accounting for taste? Obviously not.

Lindy & Trever said...

This is awesome, I love all the turkeys!