An unexpected giving of thanks.

LeAnn Rimes spent Thanksgiving day with her husband Eddie Cibrian and his sons Mason, 19, and Jake, 15, who he shares with ex Brandi Glanville, and gave a sweet social media shoutout to the boys’ mother.

“‘We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.’—Thornton Wilder,” the singer shared on Nov. 24 on Instagram, alongside a smiley family selfie. “@brandiglanville we missed you.”

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum replied, “Happy Thanksgiving! So thankful for you all. #modernfamily.” Leann also sent a red heart emoji back to Brandi.

After years of publicly feuding, the stars are finally in a good place with each other. Last year, the women made headlines when a sweet photo surfaced of Eddie celebrating Mason’s 18th birthday with both LeAnn and Brandi, proving they have all moved past the drama.

The twin threats of inflation and recession loomed large over one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. The good news is that online retailers likely had their biggest sales ever.

While brick-and-mortar stores also had foot traffic, there weren’t long lines at check outs, giving pause to analysts on just what revenue that shopping experience will generate.

Overall online sales for the day after Thanksgiving — aka “Black Friday,” when retailers are allegedly heading into the black — are expected to top $9 billion, according to Adobe, which tracks sales on retailers’ websites. Shopping could generate more than $9 billion when the final numbers come in.

The strong Black Friday followed a Thanksgiving Day online blitz of an estimated $5.29 billion up 2.9% year-over-year.

Adobe claimed Apple watches and AirPods, smart speakers and television, espresso machines and gaming consoles were popular items.

Mobile shopping also hit a record high this year, with sales from smartphones accounting for 55% of online sales on Thanksgiving Day. These sales are expected to account for 53% of total Black Friday sales, the company predicts.

Loosening Covid-19 restrictions also spurred a return to the brick-and-mortar world.

“People have been shopping today. We’d expected brisk traffic and big sales numbers. We got the brisk traffic, and we’ll soon know if that translated into positive numbers for the retailers,” Katherine Black, partner in the consumer practice of Kearney, said in emailed comments to online news site Retail Dive on Friday evening. “In Raleigh, [North Carolina] we visited a wide range of stores (Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, Bass Pro Shop) and while all of them had shopper traffic, none of them had early morning lines, or completely full parking lots or long lines.”

Adobe expects Cyber Week, the five days from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, will generate around $34.8 billion in online spending, up nearly 3% compared with 2021. Monday is expected to be the biggest shopping day, with anticipated sales topping $11 billion.

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When the King of Rock n’ Roll Elvis Presley was just 23, he was in the midst of the biggest rise of his legendary music career.

The young crooner had hit the big time in the late 1950s and had taken emergency leave from a stint in the US army after learning his mother, Gladys, was gravely ill.

Elvis was unusually devoted to his parents Vernon and Gladys, who humbly raised their son in Memphis before he became a worldwide phenomenon. 

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As their only child after his twin was born still, Elvis was truly the apple of his mother’s eye.

The mother-son duo were so close that Elvis even shared a bed with her until he was in his teens. “She was the number-one girl in his life, and he was dedicating his career to her,” a reporter for the Memphis Press Scimitar once wrote.

During his long stretches away on tour or recording music, Elvis’ mother had “neglected” her health. Reports at the time claimed she began drinking heavily and was diagnosed with serious liver problems.

However Elvis biographer Sally Hoedel, who wrote Elvis: Destined to Die Young, said Gladys had underlying health issues that contributed to her early death.

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“Gladys has always been painted as this woman whose son became famous, bought her a big house and she just struggled to deal with it all and essentially died of a broken heart,” Hoedel wrote.

“But that’s not how it works. I think Elvis and Vernon [Elvis’ father] both knew who knew how sick she was before he left for the army.”

Gladys’ ill health meant the singer was allowed to return home on an emergency furlough from the army on August 12, 1958 to visit.

Just two days later, Gladys died at age 46 in a Memphis hospital from a reported heart attack. Elvis was described as “sobbing and crying hysterically” in the hours and days following his beloved mother’s death.

She was the number-one girl in his life, and he was dedicating his career to her

On the day of Gladys’ death, Elvis and his father Vernon addressed the waiting press on the steps of their now-famous Graceland home.

An iconic photo of a grief-stricken Elvis was snapped as he sat next to his heartbroken father.

Few could forget the look of devastation in the music legend’s eyes as he grappled with the loss of his number one fan and supporter. The photo, even 64 years on, is still remembered as one of Elvis’ toughest personal moments.

The moment was also memorably immortalised in film in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 movie Elvis.

Elvis’ public display of grief was bittersweet for the Jailhouse Rock hitmaker. The black-and-white images of Elvis and Vernon were plastered across newspapers around the country.

The coverage softened the harsh critique of Elvis and his “controversial” music and dance moves in the press. 

The AP reported that Elvis was in “near hysteria” at his mother’s funeral on August 16.

The publication also shared Elvis’ “grief-stricken” words at his mother’s graveside. “Goodbye, darling. We loved you,” he said. “Oh God, everything I have is gone. I lived my life for you. I loved you so much.”

Following Gladys’ death, The Evening News reported the King of Rock and Roll had always put his parents’ first following his meteoric rise to fame.

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“Unlike so many sons, when fortune smiled, Elvis Presley thought first of his parents’ welfare. He provided generously for them,” the report read.

“It was gratifying to note he saw his mother just a few hours before she died, having arrived home on emergency leave from the armed forces.”

It is said that Elvis never truly got over his mother’s premature death – even until the day he died 19 years later to the exact day at age 42.

“It broke my heart,” Elvis said before his own death in 1977. “She was always my best girl.”

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