Happy 4th of July

We had our annual Fourth of July celebration at Glen's grandparents house today. These celebrations REALLY are unlike any other Fourth of July I have ever been to. Glen's Grandaddy is a Brigadier General in the Army and is the most patriotic man I know. They have been having this celebration at their house for 30 years now. Every year, Glen's Grandaddy and Grandmama invite all their family and friends (and the family and friends of those family and friends!) over (around 80 people). They even invite their local Fire Dept. They put flags and red, white, and blue decorations all over their property. We have a flag ceremony first with a drummer boy leading the pack. Patriotic music plays on the stereo and then one by one each grandchild (and now even great-grandchildren) files out from around the side of the house to place a flag into the ground in the front yard. After 8 flags are in the ground, the BIG flag is raised on the flag pole while we sing The Star Spangled Banner with music. Grandaddy always tries to shoot off this little cannon thing, but sometimes (like this year) it doesn't work. We always end the ceremony with a prayer and then we all head in the house for lunch. Of course the Fire Dept. always gets to go through the line of food first. We all eat AWESOME food and dessert. My whole family looks forward to this event every year. I'm not sure what everyone else's Fourth of July's are like, but I can't imagine doing anything else on this special day.