It's okay. It will come again and again and again.

Thursday evening after dinner, I fell into a deep, post-Thanksgiving meal sleep. We had feasted on turkey that Mathew smoked in his Traeger, and I'm pretty sure I'll never roast a Thanksgiving turkey in my oven ever again. I'm not a fan of surprises or things not going according to my ever-so-careful plans, but this particular part of the mayhem worked out perfectly. When my oven broke prior to Thanksgiving and was not repairable, we asked Matt if he'd consider smoking the turkey, in case I couldn't get a new oven installed in time. As it turned out, my new oven was delivered Wednesday evening, but Matt decided to go forward with the smoking adventure anyway. I AM SO GLAD HE DID! Augmented with the traditional stuffing, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, deviled eggs, and rolls, it was a fabulous meal. Sadly, I didn't remember to take any pictures that day, other than my BeReal, so I'll give you that one:

Sorry no one was posing or even looking at the camera, but we were all too busy being real. 

Throughout the day, like so many other moms, I felt immense gratitude for my wonderful family; everyone was here with us except Luke and his daughter, who live in Maryland. People tell you to avoid discussion of religion and politics at social gatherings, but in our family, those are the two most favorite topics of all, and Thursday was no exception. It was somber as we shared our feelings about the tragic situation in Israel, and our heartbreak for all parties involved. Gerald and I have a trip to Israel scheduled for May. Will we even get to go? We don't know. 

Between dinner and dessert (yes, Matt, that's how it goes; we need time to digest our food and get hungry again before diving into pie), we played Ransom Notes and Family Feud. Eli is the best game show host and should definitely be on TV! Eventually, I found my way upstairs to my glorious bed, and, as noted above, fell promptly into unconsciousness, but not before remembering that "Tomorrow is arguably the best day of the entire year!" It's true. I love all holidays because I love to celebrate! I love making memories, establishing traditions, and any excuse for my family to be together. But Black Friday is special. It brings together most of my favorite things: shopping, eating, laughing, and preparing for Christmas. 

I can't even remember the first time Shulamith and I went Black Friday shopping, but it's been at least two decades. And we never miss a year. For seven of those, we froze to death through the early-morning winters in Billings, Montana. Even in 2020 when we were stuck home here in Utah, we improvised. Yesterday marks another Black Friday shopping day, and it was epic. I picked Shulamith up at 7 a.m., the first snow of the season falling gently to earth on BLACK FRIDAY! Could it get any better? We drove through Beans & Brews for steaming cups of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, then headed straight to Target. In a couple hours we parted with much of our Christmas cash, but also made serious progress on our Christmas shopping lists, and we moved on to Fashion Place. That place has way too many memories for me and surfaces all sorts of nostalgia. Coming to visit Shulamith during her college days, roaming the mall while she finished her shift across the street at Macaroni Grill, shopping for my dress for her wedding, the list goes on.

We are, if nothing else, efficient shoppers, and at the mall, we continued to cross item after item off our list. The only lack of efficiency was a few times when I tried to pay, and the sales associate told me they "don't take cash at this register" and I'd have to go to a different one. Haha, I use cash only one day in the year: Black Friday. I withdraw cash every month starting in January and put it in a well-hidden envelope. By Black Friday shopping day, I have quite a wad. I love using the cash! It's already out of my account, so I mean it's basically free money when you think about it. 

While sharing our favorite Chicken Madeira with mashed potatoes at Cheesecake Factory, we reorganized ourselves and our shopping lists, and formulated a plan of action for the afternoon. We also took the opportunity to order stuff from Amazon, because, though we love the "shopping in real stores" experience, some deals are just better online. With Thanksgiving desserts still in our fridges at home, we skipped cheesecake and headed back out.

Next stop, Costco, followed by Walmart, our absolute least favorite store, but one that had a few items we needed. After an hour or so at each, we declared ourselves done for the day. One brief stop at Maverik for Diet Coke, and we were home.

Oh, and in case you're asking yourselves, "Did they buy anything for themselves?" of course we did. Every year, we get one item for ourselves, usually the same thing, but this year, not even close. I bought a super cute pair of corduroy joggers, and Shulamith bought a 4-slice toaster. When your husband bakes the best sourdough bread on the planet, your family eats a lot of toast!

Friday night, I began to feel the sadness of the day ending. It was exactly the emotional boost I needed, in the throws of so, so much grading and the many challenges that have been mine this fall. But Black Friday will come again and again and again, and now we focus forward, toward our month-long celebration of the baby born so long ago, in a small town to humble parents, the baby that changed absolutely everything.