On Thanksgiving, turkeys are usually a comfort food and the main attraction at the dinner table. But on one farm just outside Nashville, Tennessee, the birds offer a different kind of comfort — cuddle therapy.

“You can get on the ground in front of them, and you can scootch up real close so they’re right here,” Ellie Laks, founder of the Gentle Barn, said as she sat down in front of a turkey named Serena. “Then you can kiss their fuzzy pink heads and just pet them and talk to them.”

The act of cuddling a turkey is just like it sounds: It’s a chance to slow down, sit with a turkey and gobble up a connection you might not expect.

“The majority of people who come to the Gentle Barn and cuddle a turkey for the first time burst into tears because they’re so surprised at their unexpected show

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