Huron Woman Creates Festive Moose Droppings

by Meagan Millage, Anchor/Reporter
December 24, 2012 8:25 AM


As you decorated your Christmas tree this holiday season, you probably used the traditional ribbons, bows and glass balls.

This year one Huron woman decided to decorate with some ornaments that are a little more unusual. Lila Bawdon is a self-proclaimed craft fanatic with a few unique ornaments dropping from her Christmas tree.

It all started in a souvenier shop in the tiny town of North Pole, Alaska. Lila Bawdon and her daughter Diane came across a small trinket.

"This was the one I bought," Bawdon says while pointing to an ornament atop her small wooden tree.
    
For $3.95 Lila purchsed a Christmas ornament. A painted moose dropping to be exact.

"And I thought well, why not have her collect them for me and mail them down and then I can make my own," Bawdon explained.

So Lila sent her daughter out to collect moose poop, wait for it dry then mail it from Alaska to Huron, South Dakota.

"She thought I was kind of crazy! Wondered what I wanted them for," Bawdon said.

Lila, of course, wanted to make her own moose dropping ornaments. She loves crafting and figured she could add a little flair to an otherwise useless piece of waste.

"You put a little screw eye in the top of them first, then you shellac them to seal them and then you can paint them," Bawdon explained.

Some look like Santa Claus, while others are dipped in glitter. But Lila says her favorite come from a comic strip.

"I just put on there a lot of little Snoopy's. I kind of like Snoopy's anyways," Bawdon said.

And if you're wondering about the smell...

"They don't smell at all," Bawdon exclaimed.

Or the small size...

"I was kind of surprised too, that how even they were- I mean in size. It depends on the moose I guess," Bawdon said.

And although Lila isn't ready to part with her moose dropping creations yet, she says her family may still get crafts for Christmas. Lila uses pheasant feathers to make colorful ornaments to hang on her tree.

Lila says holiday crafts are her favorite. And although she isn't planning on selling any of these new ornaments she's made, she says she has sold some of her hand-stitched Christmas stockings in past years.