How Do I Celebrate My Summer Holidays? OPEN BOOK BLOG HOP 6

'Do you like to read? Wouldn't you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the MMB Open Book Blog Hop each Wednesday and they will tell all. Every week we'll answer questions and after you've enjoyed the blog on this site we'll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride! Tell your friends and feel free to ask us questions in the comment box.'

Welcome! If you have come from K. William's blog at http://www.bluehonor.com/blog/ I appeciate the visit. If you missed her answer to today's question, please make sure you go back otherwise you will miss an article no one can afford to miss.

Go ahead.

Do it now.

I'll be here when you get back.

Oh while you're there check out her latest release "Blue Honor."

Today's question:

How Do I Celebrate My Summer Holidays? Who Do I Celebrate With?

Let Me Share My Rituals and Fun With You.

I am a summer baby. Both my sister and I were born in summer months so there was lots of partying to do. Our birthdays were the perfect distance from Christmas and other holidays so our parents would host nice size parties for us on even year birthdays. It worked out perfectly for two sisters who had an odd set of years between them. What made them even better was the pool in the backyard that was the perfect backdrop or main focus of any summer party.

Though my father took great care of the pool, he didn’t believe in having it heated so we would have to wait for at least three consecutive hot days where the heat of the day wouldn’t drop far enough to cool the water at night. Once the water was warm enough not to have us shivering in it after 5 minutes, summer fun was on.

Until I turned 18 every summer holiday from Memorial Day to Labor Day was spent with family and friends in or around our pool at some point in the day.

The warm feelings of summer have stayed with me even though I have long since left the ‘fun house on the block’. I moved to a new city and I have found friends who like surrounding themselves with food, family, frequent opportunities to laugh and plenty of board games when the sun goes down.

Each holiday with sunshine usually brightens my spirits and holds a special place in my heart. Memorial Day gives my family, friends and I the chance to share stories of those who have passed with one another and taste recipes passed down from generation to generation. I have all of my immediate family still on earth. I don’t have to place a flag on my father’s or adopted uncles’ graves because they came back and I get to look into their eyes and say “Thank you. Thank you for giving me a place to love and helping to protect that place.”

Flag Day used to be big for me as a child because we would switch out the American Flag on our post each year and my sister and I would fold them (Girl Scouts that we were).

The 4th of July is perfect for everything from grilling close to home, surrounded by friends, to traveling for a few hours to be with family. The date to me is the epitome of summer. Even if I moved to a continent on the other side of the equator where my 4th of July would be spent watching fireworks on television in the middle of their winter, I would be warmed by my memories.

Labor Day has been shared with my church for the past 10 years at a park in the middle of the urban community. Any given year I will move from the tent of board games to the tent of storytelling to the tent where the elderly women knit, crochet and cross-stich. If I am visiting with a friend who has children, I might find myself in front of the face painter or guarding the door of the air jumper, but I always, always make sure I have a good spot to watch the last fireworks of the summer.

~END~

If you have a question you would like me to answer don't hesitate to leave it in the comments.

Now hop on over to P.J. MacLayne's blog at http://pjmaclayne.blogspot.com to see how she spends her summer holidays, but don't forget to like and share this page.

While you're there, take a look at her books especially her latest release at http://pjmaclayne.blogspot.com/p/wolves-pawn.html