Surprise lunch.....

My husband told our handyman W not to bring his lunch today. Usually, W brings a sandwich, soda, and a bag of chips... same thing every day for his lunch. He either has his lunch at the table on the porch, or he'll sit in his truck and listen to the radio. W doesn't usually take more than half an hour at lunch-time..... just enough to have his sandwich and chips, then he smokes a cigarette and checks his cell phone. Back to work he goes. You can set your clock by W.

One of W's favorite things is a Domino's pizza, with chicken pieces, bacon bits, and ranch dressing. Not exactly my kind of pizza, but W told my husband that he loves it. They don't have a Domino's in the town where W lives, so when he treats himself to that pizza, he has to drive to the far end of our town to get it and bring it home. It was my husband's idea to give W a pre-Thanksgiving Domino's lunch, then pay him for the full day and let him go home early.

When I called Domino's last week, they told me at first that they didn't deliver this far out of town. I figured that...... so I asked to speak to the manager. I explained the problem to the manager, even offering to drive half-way into town to meet the driver. The manager said that because of Thanksgiving, deliveries this week wouldn't be as busy as a normal week. He told me if I would place the order two days before so he could get it into his computer, he would personally see to it that the two pizzas we were ordering would be first on the to-do list this morning, and first out the door in the delivery truck. Plus, no need to meet the driver half-way.

True to their word....... the Domino's delivery person was in our driveway at 11:30 this morning, just half an hour later than W's usual lunch-time of 11:00. We told W his surprise lunch would be ready between 11:30 and 12:00, and it certainly was. The look on W's face when he saw the Domino's delivery was priceless. And the look on his face when my husband paid him for a full day was even better.

The chicken/bacon/ranch pizza looked interesting..... not something that I'd want to try, but W loved it..... my husband tasted it....... and we gave W the left-over pieces of that pizza to bring home with him. The second pizza was half cheese, half meat.... my husband and I ate the lunch left-overs for dinner tonight.

It will be a quiet Thanksgiving here... just the two of us. We'll see K & B on Saturday, though... they're coming here for lunch. Last year, we had K & B as well as C & R here for the weekend before Thanksgiving, so we had an early turkey dinner so we could all be together.

I've already made the sweet potatoes..... boiled and peeled them, cut them into quarters and put them into a roasting pan. Tomorrow, they will get dotted with butter and sprinkled with brown sugar. My mother and my Aunt Dolly always made sweet potatoes that way, so I thought I'd go back to that recipe. I've tried sweet potatoes dozens of ways over the years--- all without marshmallows. I've never understood that-- melted marshmallows on top of sweet potatoes. Truly a southern thing, and everyone here swears by that recipe. Not for me, though.

Tomorrow, my husband will make the oyster dressing and the mashed potatoes. Usually, we make those the day before, but didn't see the need to do that since we won't have company tomorrow and we'll have plenty of time in the kitchen. K & B are bringing their Houston-famous pecan pie on Saturday, so I didn't even bake pies this week. There are enough sweets in this house as it is...... my cousin F sent us a box of petite Swiss desserts-- very tiny, but very rich.

Thanksgiving..... once again, the holidays are right here. Just 31 more days till Christmas. Each year goes by faster and faster.