Happy Thanksgiving from Ozarks Maven!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope all of you are having a fabulous day filled with wonderful food and loving company. Today is the day when we come together to give thanks for all of the blessings in our lives.

Today is also the day in which many of us are missing dearly departed loved ones. This is the first Thanksgiving without my father-in-law. It’s bittersweet for my family because we know he’s in a better place, but we still miss him terribly. We must remember that tomorrow is never promised, and we should make the most of today.

I’m taking my mother-in-law with me to Thanksgiving at a relative’s house. I just couldn’t stand the thought of her being alone today. She was happy to join me even if it does mean meeting several new people. We will have our family celebration at my house on Sunday when schedules are more flexible. Some of my family members work on the holidays, which makes scheduling quite tricky.

It seems that every family has holiday traditions. We always have the usual fare such as turkey, potatoes, gravy, hot rolls, and green bean casserole at my house. However, my family also always has pear pie made with kieffer pears from Mom’s tree.

Pear pie is a special treat that can’t be overstated. It’s similar to apple pie, but just a tad firmer. Kieffer pears are crisp pears, unlike their more popular cousins, the bartlett pears. They certainly aren’t the prettiest pears, but they make the perfect pie. Below is a picture of a pear pie that I made for one of our celebrations.

Another of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is looking through the ads in the newspaper for Black Friday specials and comparing notes with my mom and sister. We don’t go shopping on Thanksgiving, but sometimes we do brave the Black Friday crowds. Shop Amazon – Most Wished For Items

In recent years, I’ve been doing most of my shopping online from the warmth and comfort of my own couch. While I really love the thrill of the hunt, I hate being jostled around by a crowd of strangers. I feel like I can actually see more items online because there’s nobody between me and what I want to peruse.

No matter how or where you spend today, I wish you happiness and safety. Please be careful if you are traveling today or this weekend. Traffic will be crazy.

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