This is doodle of Harold. He was a marionette. I built him with the ever expanding imagination of a five year old. Though I may have been six at the time (Thanksgiving, 1972-ish). Regardless of my age, I found Harold to be the perfect gift for my mom that Christmas. We didn’t have much, so learned to create my own presents.

Harold was fashioned out of left over bits of purple, brown and yellow felt, pipe cleaners, some glue, a few pieces crazy amount of masking tape, styrofoam balls, bright red carnival feathers, and googly eyes. He looked great, but he still needed to walk. I strung him together with light blue yarn from my mom’s crochet basket and fastened the whole kit and caboodle to a set of cheap chopsticks. (My creation was inspired by my favorite book, Harold and the Purple crayon, a rare evening of take out dinner, and a recent showing of the timeless movie, The Sound of Music.)

Harold was one of my favorite things that year. He brought me joy, and I believed my mom would delight from my unique creation. Seriously, who want to take a break from a long day to break out in joyful song and dance about the house with a brightly colored bird and their child?

————–©2018 Stephanie Abbott. All rights reserved.

About this post: I created this sloppy sketch of Harold using my finger on the glass of my mobile phone while half asleep last night. So, I truly appreciate your creative imagination. I was inspired to doodle and write from this prompt: “What was the ONE holiday gift that shaped your life or at least a few years to follow. The memory of a fantastic one and the story it spun.” #NaBloPoMo #Create30