Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day!!! Look at the potholders and coasters I've been making! Can you tell that I've been looking forward to the Fourth of July?

When I think of the 4th, I again think back to my childhood when everything was different. When it came to celebrate Independence Day, it meant another three-day weekend with my dad off of work. Our house was big, and we lived in the country on ten acres, so all the relatives would come to our house to gather. Some would bring their fireworks out to put on a fireworks display.

The best part of all was that my mom really seemed to enjoy all the relatives coming to her home, and I remember she would again pull out all of her quilts and bedding so they could spend the night, and she could show off some of the things that she had completed, like her quilts, embroidered dresser scarves, or a crocheted doily that she had just made.

The other thing that I remember is my mom telling my dad and my brothers the day before the 4th to make sure that they soaked the ice cream freezer in water. After she got the dishes done from lunch, she would make her lovely creamy concoction of homemade ice cream, and if you haven’t had homemade ice cream, you haven’t lived. There is nothing like my mom’s homemade ice cream from that big huge wooden five-gallon freezer. All of us took turns turning the handle, and mostly my sister and I would take turns sitting on the freezer while my brothers would turn the handle. We sat way high up on the top of jean quilts as they held the cold in best.

Tell me about your celebrations for the 4th.