July fourth has always held a special meaning to me, for as long as I remember. When I was little, my mother would always watch "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and have a huge cookout with our family and friends. It stayed a long tradition with my own family when I got married. My father, uncle and husband all served in the armed forces. I have been using my grandmother's recipe for apple pie my whole life. My kids have grown up respecting our country, loving baseball and of course, my apple pie. Their father served in Vietnam, so they have great respect for our troops.
My favorote memory of the holiday would have to be 1976, when it was our country's 200th anniversary of our independence. My mother was in our hometown parade, my husband and I with our two little girls, celebrated with her at her annual backyard celebration. From that time on we carried on her tradition in our new home. We lived in the goat hill section of town with the Danvers river as our back yard. Every fourth there would be a parade of boats out for the fireworks and then pass on their way home. From our deck we could see three different city's displays. For many years our party was the one to go to, we had such great times back then.
Beverly, MA