People

I don't understand them. They confuse me.

Today I'm confused by people who we invite over for dinner. I love having people over for dinner and cooking for them. It's one of my favorite things to do. They always insist on bringing something. That's fine. So I always say, "Please bring a side dish or a dessert." Usually they comply. Sometimes they don't.

On Thanksgiving last year we invited a family over for dinner who, like us, doesn't have any family nearby. I LOVE cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I love thawing the turkey, prepping it, and cooking it. I love making the dressing, creamy mashed potatoes, and homemade rolls. I love making pumpkin pie (for me) and peanut butter pie (for Hubs). The turkey is my favorite, though. I love turkey and there's just something about roasting my own turkey to perfection, sitting in front of the oven and watching it turn from white to golden brown. I love it. So you can imagine my surprise when the couple we invited over last year showed up with a complete Thanksgiving meal from Honeybaked Ham. I'm not kidding. They brought a huge ham, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and yeast rolls. Oh, did I forget to mention the pumpkin pie, too? Yeah, they brought a pumpkin pie. And everyone ate the Honeybaked Ham meal, because it was a treat, and no one but me ate my turkey. And my feelings were crushed. Hubs did not understand. Our friends just smirked, almost like they were pleased to ruin my hard work. I considered never having people over for dinner again.

Then we started prepping our house for sale this past month. It's been a pain. We have to strip off wallpaper and paint every room. We're putting in new baseboards and crown molding. We have a lot of painting, nailing, and caulking to do. We've had a great group of friends who have helped us through it. So we invited them over for dinner and movies tonight. I asked everyone what they want to eat and they said, "Pizza!" I make my own pizza dough and sauce from scratch. I buy fresh veggies from the farmer's market to top them. It's not the normal Pizza Hut delivery pizza. So I got up early this morning to start the dough and get the sauce simmering. A few minutes ago one of the people called to say she was bringing over a roast, potatoes, and rolls tonight.

I can't win. Am I being too soft-hearted?