Holidays

Growing up in the Jehovah's Witness (JW) religion, my family did not celebrate any holidays. None. Not even Christmas and Easter, which are commonly thought of as 'religious holidays'. The JWs believe that even these can be traced back to Pagan roots.

And the non-religious, summer holidays (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day) weren't celebrated either. Without boring you with the strange reasons, suffice it to say that JWs are not patriotic folks.

Oddly enough, my JW relatives always have a "family picnic" on Memorial day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. But don't you dare call it a "Memorial Day picnic", "4th of July picnic", or "Labor Day picnic"! They are "family picnics" that just happened to occur on those holidays since everyone is off from work.

Whatever.
Upon leaving the JWs in 1993 I began embracing all of the holidays, one by one, for the 1st time. It was especially exciting and fun to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas that first year. In addition to the bounty of delicious foods and the fun of gift shopping and wrapping, I was in a new relationship and had made several new friends. Everything good just seemed to be amplified by the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. To this day I still really enjoy setting the table for Thanksgiving (Spouse cooks) and decorating our Christmas tree. The novelty hasn't worn off.

Afterward came the summer holidays. Although I enjoyed the cook-outs with friends, the summer holidays were not nearly as exciting as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many years later Spouse & I began spending the 3 summer holidays at the beach, and would often have friends join us. This made the summer holidays much more enjoyable. Now we live at the beach, so we invite friends to visit us on the long, summer holiday weekends.

But last July something happened that changed my life. I witnessed the magic of the Doo-Dah parade, and knew I had to be a part of it next year.

In preparation for the Doo-Dah parade I borrowed some red/white/blue fan-shaped decorations from my neighbor Barb who is out of the country and therefore will not need the decorations herself. I'll drape them over the hood and trunk of my convertible, and drape the patriotic fabric she gave me across the part of the convertible where the beauty queen would sit and wave. The role of the beauty queen will be played by The Newlyweds, who will be visiting us. They will wave and toss bubble gum out to the children.

Ever since Memorial Day the Dollar Tree (don't hate!) has had gobs and gobs of different kinds of red/white/blue and stars and stripes decorations. I mean tons of them! So I made a mental note to pick some up a few days before the 4th to augment what I'd already gotten from Barb.

Last night I went to make my selections and was stunned to find all of it was gone! The only things they had left were a stars and stripes coaster set and red/white/blue plastic chip-n-dip trays. I had just been in the store 4 or 5 days ago and they still had vast supplies of everything. Now, how am I going to decorate my convertible with a coaster set and a chip-n-dip tray?

Having no other choice, I've decided that "less is more" and will make due with the decorations I have. I did pick up the bags of bubble gum while at the Dollar Tree. Hey, its made in America.

My friend Marty owns this 1959 Edsel and is going to join me by driving it in the parade! I think it will be a great addition. I suspect that The Newlyweds and Spouse & I will adhere to our July 4th 'traditions' (adopted just last year) of viewing the boat parade on the canal, going to Mike & Steve's cook-out, and watching the fireworks from Lewes beach. It should be a great day as long as the weather holds.

Crush du Jour: Anthony Villacci