Vintage Fourth of July... Proud to be an American...

I come from a very patriotic family, with my daddy being a Colonel in the United States Army, and growing up loving our beautiful country, Old Glory, baseball, hot dogs and apple pie... now Tessy is part of my family and she is proud to be an American too...

She couldn't wait to pose for her Fourth of July photo and wants to welcome you to our old~fashioned celebration...

I am joining Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday, Vintage Fourth of July... my post is going up a bit early as I have so many things to do this week, and want to join her celebration for sure!... celebrations are very casual at our home... our Fourth of July menu will be hot dogs on the grill (of course!), homemade potato salad, pickles, good old~fashioned greasy potato chips, strawberries, watermelon, homemade chocolate chip cookies, deviled eggs, iced cold lemonade and coffee with my homemade apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert... yum!... it's serve~yourself here... so grab a plate and join us!... my great~grandmother's handmade quilt is our tablecloth today... it is well over 100 years old... but my grandmother is so happy looking down from above and seeing it being lovingly used... mama's old Blue Willow china is set out...

I always follow family traditions, and one is fresh salt~water taffy for the Fourth... our little town sits on the shores of the Great Salt Lake and the best salt~water taffy in the world comes from the Sweets Candy Company in Salt Lake City... they have been in business since 1900 there... I set it out in a vintage milkglass dessert dish...

Little American flags blow in the breeze in one of my old blue canning jars...

Coffee in one of mama's cups...

And the silver is from my family from generations back... the monogrammed "V" for Vicknair... (yes, I kept my French maiden name)... I really should polish it, it's very beautiful...

Chocolate chip cookies await in a vintage McCoy strawberry cookie jar that belonged to my older sister who is one of my guardian angels now...

A true antique, this beautiful compote is over 100 years old and I bought it from Lidy at French Garden House some years back... it holds fresh berries...


The little condiment spoon belonged to my mama, and my grandmother before her...

Jack's old checker board is ready to set up for a friendly game after dinner...

I love living in a little rural town, where traditions are still carried out each year... a chuckwagon breakfast in the park, our old~fashioned, small town USA parade, sack races for the kids at our little park, a quilt display, a band playing in the pavilion as we await fireworks at night... wishing you all a Happy Fourth of July!... God bless America... xoxo...