We are currently at the ranch, in the middle of nowhere, and the nearest Walmart is 18 miles away. So, physical Black Friday shopping wasn’t going to happen this year. Not that I ever do Black Friday anyway; the older I get, the more I detest going to actual stores.

The Instapot Black Friday Amazon deal did suck me in this year, and with a swipe of my finger, I am now the proud owner of this life changing pot. We’ll see. Actually, I need it to be life-changing, because I haven’t really cooked dinner in almost a year. Grayson’s nurse used to eat with us every night she worked, which was actual motivation to make actual meals. When she told us she would be gone for a month starting Christmas week last year, we decided to take that month off from cooking. Well, she disappeared and never came back, and neither did dinner. It’s been an 11 month hiatus…I need something life changing. And apparently you can throw frozen meat in there, which really would be life changing because one of my major weaknesses is not remembering to take meat out of the freezer to thaw.

We had a nice, relatively low key day today Miraculously, the kids slept until 6:30 (Nolan has been up before 6:00 since the time change) and we took our time getting the day started. The weather has been perfect, so we’ve been able to be outside for hours at a time. Nolan and Grayson actually napped at the same time, so I was able to nap outside by the pool. This afternoon, we said goodbye to my brother and his new wife who are flying back to their home in Australia. We may not see them again for a year. Sad face. After they left, we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores by the fire pit, and the kids played in the dirt and threw rocks in the creek. It really is a kids’ paradise up here; I love that they play, play, play, get filthy, and then we bathe and feed them and stick them in bed. I told Charlotte tomorrow she can’t yell for me when she wakes up, that I will come and get her when it’s an acceptable time to get out of bed. If we make it to 7 am I will consider it a major win.

Tomorrow we’ll go home and *deep breaths* head into the holiday season. As much as I would like to fast-forward through the next 5 weeks, I really am determined to have a good attitude about Christmas this year. But decorating the tree is already stressing me out and it isn’t even out of the attic yet. I’m trying not to see decorations as just more things I have to keep the toddler from destroying, ugh. More deep breaths.

Let the crazy Christmas season begin. But first, Gilmore Girls.