A husband and wife were celebrating their 50th anniversary. Their three successful children had all agreed to come over for a Sunday dinner in their honor.
"Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!" gushed the eldest son, a surgeon. "Sorry I'm running late—I had an emergency at the hospital. You know how it is. I didn’t have time to get you a gift."
"Not to worry," said the father. "The important thing is that we're all together today."
The second son, a lawyer, arrived next and said, "You and Mom look great, Dad. I just flew in from Los Angeles between depositions and didn’t have time to shop for you."
"It’s nothing," said the father. "We're just glad you could be here."
Finally, the daughter, a marketing executive, arrived. "Hello, and Happy Anniversary! I’m really sorry, but my boss is sending me out of town, and I was busy packing, so I didn’t have time to get you anything."
"Don't fret over it, sweetheart," said the father. "Just enjoy the day."
After dessert, the father turned to his children and said, "There’s something your mother and I have been meaning to tell you for a long time. You see, we were very poor. Despite that, we were able to send each of you to college. We’ve always loved each other very much, but we just never found the time to get married."
The three children gasped and said in unison, "You mean we’re all...?"
"Yep," said the father, "and cheap ones too!"
Explanation: "cheap ones" was a play on words—implying they were "bastards" (unplanned children due to the parents never marrying).