Life in the Ozarks Thanks for the privilege of writing

By Marie Putman

Posted: November 25, 2009 at 6 a.m.

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ROGERS — Thanksgiving has been a major holiday in my home, since before I can remember. Mom always started cooking a few days before the big event. I remember I got to peel and slice apples for the pies - I never got to make pie crusts. Mom and my sisters got to roll out the dough.

We would go to the well house to decide which vegetables to cook and bring in jars of peas and green beans and corn, which we had canned during the summer.

Leftover bread and cornbread was broken up for dressing, which my mother always stuffed into a big turkey early Thanksgiving morning, before plopping it into the oven of our fancy kitchen wood stove. Later I again peeled, this time it was potatoes, and we all got to beat them when they were cooked, so they would be light and fluffy.

Umm! Mashed potatoes and gravy!

I still do most things the way my mother did, though we always buy a smoked turkey - they are the best; we just have to heat it. After I take it from the oven and it has a chance to cool down a bit, my husband carves it. He’s the champion turkey carver. If a prize were offered for this accomplishment, he would win hands down. He has his own way cutting up that bird and he’s the best.

I cheat on my dressing and buy packages of herbspiced mix and then add dried bread and cornbread, which I’ve been saving for months in my freezer. Unlike my mother I cook the dressing in a separate pan.

My dressing is a combination of Mom’s and Jerry’s Aunt Sybil. She taught me to mix in a couple of eggs and a bit of milk with a touch of baking soda to make it fluffy. I usually cut up onions and celery to add to the mixture. Beans are still a staple, but I usually make them into a casserole. My pies are pecan rather than apple.

Through the years my granddaughter would comeup and help. She loved tearing up bread and cornbread. I even let her roll out the dough. That was her favorite thing to do. I never made her peel anything.

Just as my recipes were handed down from Mom, my daughter wants to know how I cook things. I told her she would have to watch, as nothing is written down. I showed her how to heat the broth for gravy, then add flour and water for thickness. When the gravy is done, I add diced boiled eggs, just like Mom did. Since we started going to my daughter’s in-law’s potluck Thanksgiving meal, we still cook the turkey and take it, but I leave a dish of dressing at home, so we will have leftovers.

I don’t recall a lot of talking about being thankful when I was a kid, but a tiny sister always sang her turkey song: “Gobble, Gobble, who is that? Turkey gobble, big and fat.”

Thanksgiving doesn’t change much, and in our house, the dinner at 12 noon hasn’t changed much either.

I want to end this column by saying farewell, as this will be my last “Life In The Ozarks” column in the Hometown News.

I’ve been writing about my family, my childhood and growing up around Gravette and Southwest City, schools I attended and many other events since 1998. I appreciate all my faithful, loyal readers. I hope this has brought back many happy memories in your life, as it has in mine.

What a privilege it has been to share my thoughts, memories and feelings with you.

Marie Putman is a longtime freelance columnist for The Rogers Hometown News.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 11/25/2009

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