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.