Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Tradition. Tradition.

Made ya look . . .
She was home alone on a Friday night?
This woman with five kids, one husband, and a very limited budget?
How could this be?!
Therein hangs a tale/tradition . . .
I’m sure most of you have heard of the giant Costco store chain.
Well, perhaps you didn’t know that Costco is famous, not only for quality merchandise, but for handing out said merchandise.
One bite at a time.
It’s true.
You can wander through the acres and acres of store, perusing the shelves - piled, quite literally, to the rafters - and on nearly every ‘street’ corner, encounter someone in a red uniform, cutie hairnet and gloves, handing out sweet little tastes of deliciousness.
In a white, paper cup.
Okay, so I admit that not everything is deliciousness.
The person handing out the pickled asparagus usually only has one person in line.
Me.
Moving on . . .
You can shop - and graze - to your heart’s content.
And in under an hour, your tummy and shopping basket are comfortably full.
So back to my friend, blissfully home alone in a quiet house on a Friday night . . .
How did she do it?
Her husband, may his name be praised, loaded their five children into the car every Friday night and carted them all off to Costco.
Their budget didn’t allow for much shopping.
But the kids had the time of their lives sampling the wares.
One each.
Everyone had a blast and the whole outing was, in a word, economical.
And he’d been doing this nearly every Friday since the first was born!
Genius.
Trust me, it isn’t easy to find outings for large families that don’t break the bank.
(Our brood and the West Edmonton Mall Waterpark have a history.)
Ingenuity, opportunity and the desperation of a flat pocketbook all combined to create a fun family evening.
That’s how traditions are started.

14 comments:

  1. I like free.....we used to peruse the free paper for things to do with our daughter on the weekends (for free of course).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now that's a unique tradition - and a tasty one! You picked a smart husband.

    Pickled asparagus sounds better than regular asparagus, if you ask me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Me too! Love pickled asparagus!
    Love,
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whoa! This line is getting longer and longer! Where were you guys when I was there by myself last Friday? :)

      Delete
  4. Mum gets a break, Dad gets an outing and the kids all get dinner! Win-win. Costco is coming to Australia soon. I'd like to go and see it when it opens, but I'm afraid I might get lost in there, I've heard they're huge. Do you suppose they'll supply maps so we can find our way out?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you could get lost in there and survive for weeks! Food on every corner, hot and ready to eat . . .

      Delete
  5. And you can have my share of the pickled asparagus. I don't even like the regular stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Okay, we won't hold a place for you in our pickled asparagus line . . .

      Delete
  6. Wow, that is quite the tradition. I would have loved this one. I must say that at least my husband agreed after a disaster happened when he took our 3 boys to the store when I was home with # 4. He said I didn't have to take the kids shopping. for groceries anymore. We had 6 children and he kept his word. I loved the quiet moments just shopping on my own.
    I love Costco's and go there for the lunch that you can have for free while you are shopping.
    Blessings for the smiles today!

    ReplyDelete

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