My dad was dying, but a goofy, turkey-shaped hat helped my family cope

The first wearing of the turkey hat shortly after its purchase in Sedona in Nov 2013. (The number 182 references the fact that it was the 182nd hat worn in the author's personal challenge to wear a different hat every day for 500 days. Photos: Adam Tschorn/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Every Nov 1, I engage in an unusual ritual. As soon as the Halloween decorations are down, I unleash a turkey on Los Angeles, the United States – and the world.

Not a live bird but a gravy-coloured knit chullo (a.k.a. an Andean ear-flap hat), crowned with a cartoonish-looking, Pilgrim-hat-wearing turkey, with flappy knit wings that bounce with my every step.

It's an absolutely ridiculous piece of headgear that I make a point of wearing out in the wild – driving to work, running errands, that sort of thing – as often as possible until the day after Thanksgiving.