Holidays (13 steps part 16)

Not one year passed that I can remember , with out Mama and Papa having a 4th of July bash. You see those 13 steps, that led to the castle, were the perfect place for viewing the fire works. A few of the neighbors would bring over their grills and we would have the biggest BBQ you could imagine. Friends, relatives, and all the neighbors for blocks around would be in our back yard until the fireworks started. Each year there would be some sort of eating contest. The usual, pie, hot dogs, gold fish, the gold fish year didn't have many participants, yuck, who would eat gold fish. Then there was the one I remember the most, the Oreo cookie eating contest. Sounds yummy and harmless, doesn't it. Well the Oreos were disappearing fast, kids and adults were turning kind of green around the gills after eating a couple of dozen. But there were two chowing down on the cookies. Stephen and a neighbor boy who's name was Ronnie. Ronnie was  big boy, so everyone thought sure he would win. After they had each downed their 63rd Oreo. Picking up the 64th was very slow, Stephen popped his in his mouth and everyone was chanting "Go Ronnie, go  Ronnie". So Ronnie closed his eyes and stuck the 64th Oreo in his mouth. About half way through chewing it, the real show began. I swear, it was like a black water falls. He started to vomit and he cleared the yard. I thought everyone was going to toss their cookies, no pun intended. I don't think Stephen, to this day, can eat an Oreo cookie. And to tell you the truth, it took a year or so before I could, after the black water fall ordeal.1

I'm not so sure Stephen was with us on the 13 steps to watch the fire works. Last I remembered he was laying on the hammock, begging people not to swing it. 2

You know, no matter how many times I would see the fireworks I still to this day get goose bumps as I watch all the colors explode in the night sky. And hear those dreaded "boom" cracks that came along ever so often.3

To the top of those 13 steps at the left side of the porch, stood Papa's pride and joy, his flag pole I remember the day he put it up. He had to run wiring out to it, for a light. Pap said "I want to fly it 24-7 and you must have a light on it to do that. I remember it going to half mast a few times. The look on Papa's face as he would lower it, looked like a Norman Rockwell painting.4

Our house was kind of like a Norman Rockwell house. Skinny little kids running around. The old men playing checkers in the back yard. We were just an all American family in an all American town. Straight off the canvas of a Norman Rockwell painting.5

Remember the Norman Rockwell painting where they are carving the turkey? That must have been our house. Mama and Papa didn't have as many over for Thanksgiving. Just our nine and Grandparents. Maybe there wasn't a turkey big enough for all of those people. It was kind of nice, just the small group. We would all gather around Grandpa Holmes to listen to his stories. Oh my, after his stories, I understood why Stephen was always in trouble.6

Our Easter get togethers were always carry-ins. Mama would buy the biggest ham she could find and all the relatives would start carrying in the side dishes. Most of them were quite common, green bean casserole, fruit salad, and seven layered salad, and of course potato salad. But Aunt Ida was into health food, and this was before health food was a fad, or a way of living for so many. One year it was coconut covered dates, and I'm not too sure about the other years, because I tried to avoid that end of the table. I know Mama, one bite club, but please lets wave the rules of club membership on Easter Sundays.7