It all started on a family vacation 6 or 8 years ago. I don't remember our destination, I think somewhere in Arizona, but my mom made the mistake of saying we could "stop at every Dairy Queen we saw." Surely she was thinking we would see two, three tops. Seven Dairy Queens, and 42 dipped cones later a family tradition had been set in stone.
Yesterday 8 of us were crammed into the family suburban, my brother's new fiance in tow. We were coming back from a basketball game in a town we don't usually frequent. I'm not sure who spotted it first, but out of no where, and much to the surprise of our family's new addition, the whole car was shouting in unison, "DAIRY QUEEN! DAIRY QUEEN! DAIRY QUEEEEN!" Two minutes later that girl found herself holding a large cherry-dipped cone.
My Dad's not one for candy, but he loves chocolate covered cherries. It has always made him the easiest person to shop for. Every year for Christmas my dad gets a box of Queen Anne Cordial Cherries, the red box that cost $1.25 and takes up an entire aisle in Wal-mart, from each of his indebted children. Every year. Every year our house is blanketed in boxes of imitation cherries.
It might have been because my Dad is trying to loose weight for the upcoming wedding, or maybe he prefers 3 quality chocolate covered cherries to 144 wax ones, but last night in Wal-mart after the Dairy Queen scene he stopped us in the aisle of red boxes, and just when we were expecting him to remininse on Christmases past he pointed and shouted, "DO NOT BUY ME A SINGLE BOX OF QUEEN ANNE'S THIS YEAR. DON'T DO IT! IF ONE SINGLE BOX OF THESE THINGS ENTERS OUR HOUSE THE NEIGHBORS ARE GETTING A LATE-NIGHT SURPRISE!" Passerbyers and finaces alike were no doubt taken back by his sudden protest. Little did he know in that moment he had doomed himself to a life of cheap chocolate for every Christmas, birthday, and anniversary to come. He might even find them on his pillow on every 3rd Tuesday of the month.
TRADITION!
Speaking of traditions, we go out to eat on Thanksgiving. Call us dysfunctional if you must, but personally I enjoy feeling like I'm taking part in some comedic Holiday movie. Partially because my mom is an RN and works every other year, partially because our extended family have begun to start their own families, and partially because we like it. This year? Cracker Barrel.
Now that's classy.
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