Hello, my name is Erica and I absolutely LOVE the holidays. The holidays have always been a special time filled with family, laughter, and (most importantly) good food, which has always been associated with love and connection in my family. During what we call in our house “The Great Reset of 2020,” the holidays looked a little different. There was no travel to family out of state, no huge cookie party with our friends and neighbors, no cousins gathered around the tree… it was small and it was just the five of us. From this intimate holiday came a new favorite tradition, A Turkey On the Table. This isn’t just any turkey, but a special turkey that found his way into our home in an effort to support local small businesses. This turkey is special because every Sunday in November, he joins us at family dinner. We each take a feather and we write what we are grateful for. It’s a time to reflect on the week and reconnect, and also a time to practice gratitude for those around us and for the things we have. It’s a simple task that is often overlooked in the busy rush of our seemingly non-stop days.
This small, tail-less turkey waits each week for us to add our feathers of gratitude, adding feathers all the way until Thanksgiving, where he proudly sits at the center of our table with a full bouquet of tail feathers representing all of the gratitude we have collected over the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. The lesson in gratitude gained from the small stuffed animal may not be obvious at first, but as the excitement builds of “Who’s going to place their feather first?,” or “Who has the most to be grateful for?” that week, it forces us to pause during the day to see the little things around us. Reflecting back when we get to Thanksgiving Day, and sharing stories of why we chose that particular item or event, gives us a moment of pause on how those little things turn into big things, and how connected we are to the world around us.
So shortly after all the candy had been treated and tricks had been tricked, we pulled out the box that houses our little friend and placed him on the table in anticipation of the first Sunday of the month. Collecting moments of gratitude and storing them in our mental (and sometimes literal) pockets, ready to share our treasures with each other as we sit around the table. This is a small lesson in gratitude, but one that we carry with us all year.
To purchase your own Turkey On the Table, and to share his story with your family, be sure to check out KidStop in Scottsdale to shop local. Bonus points: for every turkey purchased, Feeding America provides 10 meals to families in need.
