Firstly, let me explain our approach to this 4th of July holiday.
I think America is a great country, I'm very happy to have been born and raised there. I also think that it's a rather young country (not a young continent....we all know it was inhabited way before Europeans stuck a flag in the ground claiming it as their territory), it's just going through a lot of painful learning process at the moment.
I am well aware that the snipets of American history I would have been force fed during my school years, via those awful 'history text books', don't come close to being true. Those textbooks are more of a glorified brainwashing of false history I was expected to just swallow. But, despite all that, I still celebrate my culture and history, which includes the big event of 'American Independence'. The red, white and blue, and an excuse to have a party.
My children were born in America and have dual citizenship. They love the added depth to their cultural history. America is a HUGE country, so I have to narrow that down a bit further to say that we are technically a 'Southern Louisiana' culture, which revolves around a lifestyle currently being destroyed by a terrible oil disaster, but I digress.
I am now eligible for dual citizenship and plan to go through the process once I can find the enormous funds it costs. I LOVE England, I love living here, I love my community, my neighbours, my environment. I'm still a bit confused about what is 'United Kingdom' versus 'Great Britain' versus 'England' (so many different type flags you can fly) but the children and I are diving in to learning all about the local history. I've honestly never felt so 'at home' as I have here where we have settled. We plan to do as much as possible to 'give back' to our community.
It was a bit ironic that I used my British paycheck, that is always reduced due to the enormous British taxes I pay (but no complaints here since these taxes DO give me national healthcare and other socially responsible benefits), to buy local English ingredients to make the recipes for our American Foods we cooked on the 4th. But, our family enjoy celebrating holidays and just look at the fun in it all.
Hubby just got a small packet of kid friendly fireworks this year, because I'm always fussing at how expensive those things are that simply give you few moments of pleasure before 'poof' they are gone, only leaving landfill rubbish behind, nor does it benefit local economy (I believe all fireworks are made-in-China) However, the kiddo's think 'firecrackers' as associated with 'Independence Day', Soooo, creative momma here gave the children some supplies, the idea, and let them make their own firecrackers. Using many empty toilet paper rings we saved, and bits of colourful paper I had on hand, some bits-and-bobs to decorate with, and some sticky tape, the children 'made' these adorable firecrackers. I cut out some cardboard circles from a stash of cardboard we save, poked a hole, then strung a red string of yarn to hang down as a 'fuse'. This cardboard then plugged up the firecracker, so I could stuff a sweetie surprise inside. On Independence Night, I strung the pretty firecrackers along a string then the children all got to pull the fuses. I was thinking another cute idea is to let the children write down their 'Hopes for America' on bits of paper we can put in the firecrackers as well, so when they 'ignite' the cracker (by pulling the fuse) they get a sweetie but also release the 'hope' to the universe. Maybe next year. |
| Sweeties!!! |
That day the children also got to get messy with banner paper (an old roll of fax paper we've had for years) and finger paints to make a 'Happy Independence Day' banner we hung on our Tibetan Prayer flags for the day.
Then we enjoyed a lovely feast of smoked ribs and chicken, homemade potato salad I made the day before, and a beetroot/beetgreens/orange/onion salad I made, followed by an 'American Flag' festive cake the children made. (yellow cake from scratch, poked with holes then covered in fresh strawberry puree before stuck in the fridge overnight, topped with fresh whipped cream before decorated with blueberries and strawberries)....(yummmmmm)
It was a lovely day and evening. We look forward to all the fabulous English, British, American, Louisianian etc. holidays we will celebrate all year long. As mentioned before, we just love having an excuse to have a party and celebrate :)
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