They're Frosty. And They're Trees

Lest anyone start to think me a bit of a Grinch, I feel the need to talk about a holiday season consumer good whose siren song I am drawn to year after year: The Kemp's Frosty Tree.

For those new to this product, it is a mint-flavored ice cream novelty shaped like a Christmas tree. It is not, technically, a Christmatized product in that it isn't a dolled-up-for-the-holidays version of an everyday item; it's more a once-a-year goodie. But, since it just wouldn't be Christmas without it (for me), it's on the blog. Deal with it.

My memories of Frosty Trees go back as far as I can remember. They were a holiday staple at our house, and their appearance at the grocery store signaled the official start of the Christmas season much more than the Macy's parade ever could. "The Frosty Trees! The Frosty Trees!" was followed by wild clapping from my seat in the grocery cart on an annual basis. Still is, actually, only I'm the one pushing the cart now. 

They made snowmen (Still do!) and Santas too (Haven't seen them in years!), but I was always unflinchingly loyal to those minty little trees of goodness.

As an adult, I realize that it is the power to elicit fond childhood memories rather than the actual taste of the ice cream that continues to draw me to them. (I doubt that seeing liquid soap in a bottle with a snowman on it conjures up any such memories for anyone, and that's why I find those truly Chrismatized products worthy of a bit of ridicule.)

Frosty Trees are not made from Kemp's most premium ice cream, they have a distinct artificial taste, and the packaging renders them incapable of ever really freezing up solid, so there's always a panicked I better eat this fast before it turns into a pile of green mush factor when eating one. They're too small to make a truly satisfying grown-up dessert, and they're messy - leaving dark green stains on your fingertips, face, and tongue. (You can never sneak one of these suckers and lie about it. The evidence is pretty, well, evident.) 

But I love them just the same. 

Christmas is all about traditions.

And I'm pickin' this one as mine.

See the selection of Kemp's Family Novelties. 

(I mostly just included the link because I adore their use of the somewhat prissy, archaic term "Family Novelties" and was looking for an excuse to use it. So there.)