Summer Traditions and... Jimmy Buffett?

In Louisiana, there are four seasons. Summer, Bad Summer, Still Summer, and Christmas. Ask anyone here. Its stays summer for a very long time here. But one of the best things that comes from having summer basically year-round are Summer Traditions. We get so excited here at the Ginger Spice residence that we start talking about our summer traditions in February!

But we all have our most favorite of traditions. Buffett night. Not buffet night, Buffett Night. So good, its got to be capitalized. That's right, everyone. Its THAT fun. On Buffett Nights, which we try to do on every chance we get, we cook out on the grill, eat outside on the deck, and listen to Jimmy Buffett. A Jimmy Buffett CD that we've had for "God only knows how long."

We all have our favorite songs. But it always starts out with "He Went to Paris." That song always starts a Buffett Night. We even have little things that we do during the songs, like games, or specific lines that we have to mouth dramatically to each other. We do odd fin motions in the song "Fins". Sometimes Mom and Dad dance to "Grapefruit, Juicy Fruit" whenever Jimmy says "Ladies choice, everybody dance!" Sometimes Dad and I sing the background lyrics to "A Pirate Looks at Forty" that are somewhat terrible and hilarious.

Mom's going to kill me for even mentioning this song, but we ALWAYS skip over the song "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw?" I didn't even know that song was on the CD until this year, because we always skipped over it. Now, we listen to the first 30 seconds, just long enough for Dad to sing this super-line "Barmaid, bring a PITCHER!" where he just kind of hops up and makes this silly face. He has to do that line now. Its too funny to skip.

And one of our favorite games happens when the song "Son of a Son of a Sailor" comes on. Its not necessarily a happy song. I don't even know the words (despite the fact that I've heard this song more times than I could even fathom in a single thought), but we all know a few certain moments in the song where you can hear a ship's bell ring. It happens at the very beginning, in the choruses (chori? Chorum?), only once during the bridge, and twice at the end. When it happens, you have to do some motion that acknowledge its presence. Usually we do a "ding ding" motion with our index fingers, or we tap each other's plates or arms. And if you miss one, we will make fun of you basically until the song ends. I'm not kidding, y'all, this happens every time the song comes on.

The last two songs on the CD are my favorite. The last song on the CD is now (in the last year) referred to as the "Guatemala song". Why? Because the whole song is about a volcano erupting, which happened last summer while I was there, but that's a story for another blog. But that is the clean-up song. The song that lets us know that Buffett Night is over. It would probably go on, but that's also usually when the mosquitos come out and try to eat us alive.

And sometimes, whenever there's company (like when El Chavo was here recently), we do something even crazier. We are all very proud of our tradition when it comes to Buffett Night, and we like to share it with others. But one time, things got a little crazy. We ate outside, and after we got done eating, Dad got out the BB gun. I'm not kidding. He, Chavo, and my brother shot at a target in our backyard until dark. Mom and I watched and laughed, and then we got bored and decided to dance on the back porch. And then Dad thought it would be a hilarious idea to test out the new electric fence... with his arm. Twice. We laughed ourselves into oblivion. We had not gotten that "redneck" in a long time. And it was an absolute blast, and truly an unforgettable night for all of us.

Buffett nights are the highlights of the summer. Its genuine family time that we all look forward to. Its good food, good family, and a great time together. I hope that all of you have a summer tradition that means as much to you as Buffett Nights mean to me.

What are your summer traditions?