Hide The Sausage

Holiday Turkey Shoot

Thanksgiving and Christmas were very special times growing up as a lad. You see, we only had turkey dinners on these two days and with seven brothers and sisters, it was a scramble for leftovers the next day. Of course, as always, there was plenty of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and all the fixings the day of the holiday. It was the days after that concerned us.

The day after Thanksgiving and Christmas all the kids would run to the fridge for leftovers. Who am I kidding; we were drooling for some leftover turkey. Sure, the other leftovers were good and complimented the turkey ensemble but the turkey was the prized possession. Problem was, seven kids plus two parents and only one fridge and only a certain amount of turkey leftovers. This meant that the leftovers were gobbled up the day after and we would then have to wait for the next holiday.

This brought on another family tradition. Each child, and parent, would hack off some turkey and hide it some place in the fridge. At first it was simple to find the hidden treasure (Turkey) as it was placed behind milk cartons, behind a Coke bottle, inserted in the Land O Lakes butter box, and in the bottom crisper door. We then became a little more creative and began taping the turkey (In bags of course) to the ceiling of the fridge and behind items that would stay in one place for a while. In time, all hiding places were quickly found and pillaged like Vikings on a drunken binge.

Until I found the ultimate hiding place. Of course, because it was winter, it was cold outside and we had plenty of snow. One time, the day after Christmas, I built a snowman in the backyard. I then carefully inserted the wrapped up turkey in the center of the snowman and filled it in with snow. The perfect icebox.

Several freezing days went by and the turkey and all the trimmings were long gone. It was time to strike. I put my coat on and went outside to play. I immediately went to the garage, got my dads screwdriver, and chipped out the block of frozen turkey hidden in the mid-section of the snowman. Into the house and to the kitchen I went. I turned on the oven to low heat and put in the turkey. Ten minutes later, it was thawed and warm. The turkey was fantastic. Within minutes, several brothers and sisters came in to investigate as the smell of turkey filled the kitchen. Many questions were asked where it was hidden but no answers were offered. I had found the perfect hiding place.

Footnote: The next year, I built another snowman and hid the turkey in the same spot. Several days later I went out for the turkey and dug it out. Like the last year, I went inside and turned on the oven and unwrapped the turkey delight. But something was terribly wrong. As the outer tin foil wrap was taken off, there was only a block of ice and a sandwich baggie with a piece of paper in it.

The note simply said, saw you building the snowman, took a guess and got lucky. Thanks.

It would be years later that my brother George told me he was the one who saw me building the snowman and guessed that was my secret hiding place.

R.I.P. George 11/20/1997

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