As the car jerks to the right, my eyes slowly open as if I were a newborn baby. We hit the lip of my Aunts driveway and my eyes widened with excitement knowing that I was about to begin my favorite day of the year.

I look forward to Thanksgiving Day because the main event is spectacular! The event I am speaking about is, TOM THE TURKEY. Tom, a paper mache colorful turkey, stands two feet tall on a colorful platform. Tom has many feathers with gorgeous colors such as green, brown, red and yellow. Underneath the turkey is a secret compartment. This compartment holds special gifts for each of the grandkids for a Thanksgiving surprise. Every year, wherever Thanksgiving is held, my grandparents are sure to bring Tom.

When families start arriving, and cousins gather, all the kids make a secret plan to try and find out what gifts are going to be under Tom’s feathers. There has only been one year where the grandkids were actually able to sneak a peek at what Tom had, and that was only because they were in the other room talking amongst themselves. Unfortunatly my Grandparents were pretty upset and we will never try that again.

All of us gather in a wide diningroom and discuss what we hope or think that Tom is carrying. Some of the guesses that we come up with are; gift cards to the movies, candy, money, books, IPODS etc… After brainstorming, we wait in silence for the precious call! “Kids and Grandkids, I would like to announce this year’s….”

I specifically remember one year when my Grandma called our names, we all come to the top of the stairs waiting for the big moment. One after another, we were pushing and shoving each other to see what Tom brought us. Looking back on it, it reminds me of a pack of wild wolves fighting for a piece of filet mignon. We gathered around the kitchen table and waited patiently until the gift was revealed. We all looked at each other with excitement! Grandma slowly but carefully took off the head of Tom, and out came plane tickets! We all gasped is complete shock as Grandma explained that she and our Pop-Pop were taking our whole family to Mexico.

Now that I know that there are such amazing gifts that Tom holds, I cannot wait till Thanksgiving 2010. The only differnce this year will be that Thanksgiving is going to be celebrated at my house. Do we try and look under Tom? Do we wait patiently for the precious announcement or is this going to be the year that my Grandparents forget to fill Tom with a gift? I guess we will never know until next year.