Happy Independence Day 2020!

I'm the only person who posted a thread about Independence Day 2020. I looked before I posted this.

Guess no one cares.

I don't.

Me neither.

Nor I, and I'm in the States.

As far as I could tell, no celebrations beyond someone in the neighborhood setting off firecrackers and such. Probably about 10% of what is usually done by individuals.

Of course no public fireworks.

During the day while I was out and about, the roads were especially empty. Usually there's people out shopping the sales at least.
July 4th here is actually an excellent time to purchase bigger ticket items like washers driers, other home appliances, furniture, etc.

Day time acivities for the 4th, like back yard parties, sports etc never held much appeal for me, as it's hot as blazes. Pool parties are good, as long as you have strong sunscreen.

I have gotten to a point where I no longer celebrate holidays other than Thanksgiving and Christmas. I no longer recognize them as inclusive of us all; they are therefore illegitimate in my eyes. Even Martin Luther King's birthday. It's because the holidays are like Disney adaptations of classic works, dumbed down to near unrecognizeability. It's true also of the two I do celebrate, except I persevere and make my own meaning.

Easter, bunny rabbits and chocolate eggs. What’s wrong with that?

I don’t know if celebrate is the right word, but I always pause for thought on 1st May even when the holiday doesn’t fall on that date.

When it does I enjoy my worker’s holiday.

I’m like you Edgar. No holiday means anything to me.

Neither did birthdays. I acknowledged them with my husband because it meant something to him. I would remember my anniversary because it was I day that we chose.
But even then, no gifts or anything. It seems so superfluous, forced to have to do something because it’s a particular day.
I would get him gifts throughout the year for no other reason than I knew it would please him. I don’t need to be told when to do that.

As a kid, the 4th of July just meant extra work. It was a busy day at the business.
A lot of people don’t absorb that them having a good time and doing stuff means others are working to provide that.

Most holidays growing up involved a feeling of “waiting for the other shoe to drop”
For instance, I realized early on the signal that the Christmas tree was done getting decorated was that someone was crying.
I ******* hate Christmas trees.

You're British why would you care? Not to be offensive - Independence Day is a holiday celebrating the day the U.S. was officially free of British rule.

So there was no Evening at Pops on PBS this year. I'm not surprised.

No it’s not. It’s the declaration. You weren’t free of British rule until after you fought a war.

I assumed no one cared about the holiday this year because there's a pandemic going on. I think dealing with the Covid-19 crisis and pandemic is a bit more important than celebrating and/or observating a national holiday.

I wasn't really thinking about the holiday, I was focusing more on getting much needed grocery shopping done and trying to get it done before it got dark.

As I walked home after from finishing my grocery shopping at my local plaza I was looking at the fireworks and firecrackers going of in the streets and thought, "In light of a pandemic going on, Americans still find time to be patriotic. Amazing."

Since it was dark when I finished shopping I was trying to figure out how to get home safely.

I'm not an expert on history.

In recent years American holidays have gotten more and more commercialized. To me it's sickening and ridiculous.

I've noticed that unfortunately Halloween has become a major holiday over the years and it seems like it had gotten bigger and bigger every year. They are trying to make a number of American holidays like Christmas.

When I was coming up, we didn't have things like Easter trees, or Thanksgiving trees or Halloween trees.

This site lists the 13 types of holiday trees Americans have now:

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/christmas-ideas/g2817/holiday-decor-trees/

There is a tree for Kwanzaa and for Hannukah there's a bush. I don't know if these have always existed or not. I'm not making fun.

Aside from this, does anyone else think non-Christmas holiday trees are a bit ridiculous and excessive?

To me it just sounds like some kind of marketing ploy to get commercial businesses to make more money.

The Hanukkah bush has zero to do with any traditions. It's an ironic statement on being a minority in an overwhelmingly Christian country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah_bush

Hanukkah's longstanding traditions involve menorahs and dreidels.

Hanukkah is outside of the scope of what I wrote about. My ignorance disqualifies me from speaking on it.

Okay. Thank you for sharing that.