As the holidays are now upon us, we are excited to share this personal memory from Joanna Miller—granddaughter of Walt Disney. From all of us at The Walt Disney Family Museum, we hope you enjoy this story, and wish you a happy, happy Thanksgiving!
Typically, we use to spending holidays at Granny and Grampa's or at our house. At their home we had our beloved Thelma Howard—who we called " Fou-fou" as Chris had named her that when he couldn't say Thelma—our devoted house keeper, cook, and friend. Fou-fou would prepare a Thanksgiving dinner, and would often let us help. She would wash the turkey and wrap it in a dish towel and we took turns cradling it "like a baby'' she said. We would sit at the small table by the kitchen window and draw while she bustled around, talking to us all the time. We loved it when she would let us mash the potatoes, until she discovered the wonders of Mashed Potato Buds. I forget who made the product, but it was one of the questionably great modern food products invented to simplify life, but oh, was it awful... And we missed the fun of helping mash the butter into the potatoes. Fou-fou's pies were the best! Mom still makes the dressing the way Thelma did it.