The Gift that Keeps on Giving

My father-in-law and his wife are in town visiting right now. They live in another state and we don't see them all that often. They're good people, and I love them very much. But I see them very rarely, and we come from very different backgrounds, so sometimes I don't think we see eye-to-eye on things. (Which is a nice way of saying that I think they're a little weird).

They're not weird in a bad way. They just have some...interesting ideas about things. And they're a little out of touch with kids. So, here's what happened last night. My older son and I get back from Cub Scouts, and my in-laws are there. My Father in Law says to my son, "You know, I have something for you." My son looked excited, and I could see the wheels turning - the kid was thinking, "What could it be? A toy? A book? A new Rubik's cube?" My in-laws don't typically give the kids gifts. They don't recognize birthdays, and for Christmas they usually just send us a gift certificate to a restaurant for our family. So this seemed like a special treat. My father-in-law motions for my son to come closer. My son grins in anticipation.

My father-in-law presented him with a photo of a wild turkey:

Apparently, this wild turkey had made a habit of wandering into my in-laws' yard, so they took a series of photos. Which they had then printed out on their ink jet printer (on regular printer paper). They had three different shots: one for each of our three kids. And the kids got to CHOOSE which turkey photo they'd get! Oooooh!

I have to say, I admired the way my son handled it. He looked a little confused, but then quietly chose a photo, thanked his grandparents and said he was going to his room to read.

Wild turkey photos, y'all.