Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Dead Chur-keys

So we all know there is a morbid side to Thanksgiving...the sacrifice of the Turkey for the table centerpiece. Don't get me wrong as a former vegetarian, now aspiring to be omnivore, I still have never sided with tofurkey, just avoided the meat, and thought, "to each his own, if you like eating birds go for it, I'll pass the cranberry sauce".

This year may be different, I think my 4-year-olds may drive me back to my veggie ways. Them and the frozen body in our freezer that I dread unwrapping. I should add that for some reason the word turkey is a little complicated for my 4 year olds. It comes out more like Chur-key, just so you can have the full effect of the holiday preparations around here. By prep I mean stories of Pilgrims and Indians, a gallery of thanksgiving colouring pages taped on the downstairs wall, leaf collecting and talking about roasting turkeys, baking pies and visiting our turkey in the freezer a couple times a day, yes that's right, you read it correctly.

No, this was not my idea, Luke actually introduced them the day after the frozen lump was brought home from the grocery store. E is a little obsessed, he talks about Churkeys constantly. He has been drawing turkeys all day, just a round body and legs, he asks can we look at the frozen churkey? After many requests I agree. Then he starts drawing round lumps, "this is the frozen churkey, Mom"

It's a little disturbing, I don't think I can eat any turkey after these conversations.

He wanted me to write on one of the pictures "Keep the dead turkeys outside" then he taped it to the door.

Some of the headless turkey pictures also include wavy lines coming out of them. "this is the churkey getting roasted, Mom" "the dead churkey, before it gets eaten." Did I mention he laughs about it like it is the funniest joke - not really that funny if you are a churkey.

11 comments:

Kamis Khlopchyk said...

Hi Kristin,

this talk about churkeys made me uncomfortable and I am an avid meat eater...thank goodness our Thanksgiving was last month.

Thanks so much for your kind words! And for commenting, it's very nice to meet you! Don't be a stranger now :-)

Lorna said...

You kill me Kristin, thanks for the chuckles, and enjoy the chur key.

aubreyannie said...

oh my gosh, ava is so obsessed with meat. she will sit down to dinner and ask: "are we eating cow or pig tonight?" and we try to shush her and tell her that that is impolite but she really wants to know. thank goodness we're not at grandma's or in a fancy restaurant, is all i can say. and when we get a rotissiere chicken from the grocery store the kids are like, "where are it's feet?" "where is it's head?" yuck.

Jamie said...

ha ha ha ha ha ha - i am laughing out loud. Aren't kids obsessed with the strangest things? I try to avoid explaining to my kids (well, Nate) where the meat on the table comes from. It will probably come as a shock to them someday, but hey, I don't like to think about it either. I still don't know if he has made the connection that the chicken he loves to eat is the same as the chicken that makes clucking noises in a farm yard!

Jana said...

I caught myself smiling so big and laughing while I read this post. Pretty good.

Natalie said...

How cute! I love the thought of them saying "chur-key" and stalking the freezer. Funny stuff. However, I get how you feel because when I was pregnant with Russell I became a vegetarian since meat was the prime cause of my all day sickness. Just the smell of hamburgers grilling as I drove past Burger King would send me over the edge.

Rainy Day Farm said...

I love this post. I don't think I can say the word Turkey again. It will forever be known as Churkey! I love the headless churkey, thank goodness they really cut the legs off, how gross would that be on the platter. I would become vegitarian too! Enjoy your churkey!

J. Baxter said...

This is funny - but not as funny as hearing E tell the story about the WereChurkey... You may have to do another installment so everyone can fully appreciate.

The Trainas said...

LOVE the churkey pictures. What an imagination!! Hope you're planning on having Luke do all the prep-- that was a great idea! Wish we could be in Elma w/ the power plant this year like the good ole times!! miss you guys.

Anonymous said...

It's been a while since I've been checking peoples blogs. I just love your creativity with writing and with the photos. They're grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat! Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving whether you go for the turkey or not. Enjoy the pie!

Tracy said...

If it's any consolation, I heard a famous chef on Martha the other day talking about how we should teach our kids where their food comes from and go through the entire process with them. There will NOT be any feather plucking in my house, however! I had to buy a churkey that comes in it's own roasting bag--I never even have to touch it...Good Luck!