It's Pizza Night!

When I was little, I thought of pizza as an extra special treat.

It's not like we only had it once a year or anything like that, but for a family that didn't go out to eat all that often, and never, ever, ever ate fast food, it was always a welcome break from the normal dinners my mom would cook (which were always fabulous, but let's be honest -- what sounds better -- pork chops and peas, or pizza?).

The added bonus was the beverage. We were a strictly water-with-dinner family. My sister and I never even drank milk with dinner; it was always water, except in the summer, when we occasionally drank iced tea. But on pizza night, we got to have soft drink.

I associated pizza with fun times. My friend Darcey's family got pizza every Friday night, when Little Caesar's did the two-for-one pizza deal, packaging their pies side-by-side on cardboard and wrapped in paper. Many a Friday night, I'd be invited to their house (many times, her three siblings would also have friends over) and life was a party. We played games, watched rented movies (also a special treat in those days) and had a wonderful time. I have so many great memories of time I spent at Darcey's, and pizza is somehow in the background of most of them.

Even though I'm grown up, I still think of pizza as a special treat. When a grocery store near me started promoting $5 pizza on Fridays a few years ago, I resurrected Darcey's family's tradition. Unfortunately, that ended when I moved and no longer went right by the place on my way home from work. But recently, I've felt the desire to bring it back once again.

A few weeks ago, I shared the story of the Friday night pizza tradition with my husband, who was all for the idea. It's tasty, inexpensive, can be reasonably healthy (depending where you go), and we wouldn't have to cook -- perfect! My sweetheart plays in a Friday night softball league, however, so we decided to make it a Thursday tradition instead. Tonight will be our second.

It's a small pleasure, but it's nice to be able to enjoy life's special treats now and then.