No Independence Day Holiday

It looks like this year, there isn't going to be much of an Independence Day/4th of July holiday.

First of all, my brother and his family aren't able to come here to celebrate the holiday with my parents and I. Because the holiday falls on a Monday, they wouldn't be able to stay since they must return to work the next day. We've spent the holiday together the past couple of summers at least. I will be strange  not to have them here.

Second, even if they were able to spend the holiday with us, it wouldn't do much good. New Mexico has several wildfires currently occurring around the state. It's just so dry here from lack of moisture  that a small spark can start a big fire. Because of this, the Governor has requested that residents not buy or shoot off personal fireworks this weekend. Several counties have also banned fireworks due to the extreme fire danger. Just last night, at least 3  retail stores have pulled fireworks from their store shelves: Smith's, Albertson's, and Wal-mart. This is all across the state. We aren't buying any fireworks ourselves because of all this. Another reason the 4th isn't going to be as exciting.


And finally, just a few minutes ago, I found out the city fireworks are going to take place on Sunday instead of Monday. My mom told me she had read this in the local paper.  I  guess it's because of the holiday falling on the first day of the work week. So now with the city fireworks happening on the 3rd and not the 4th, the request (almost ban) of personal fireworks, and some family members missing, the 4th is shaping up  to be just another day off.  There's almost no purpose to celebrating on the 4th.  It's just another day except that everyone is off. I don't even think we're doing anything special as far as a cookout. There's usually a parade the day of but it's not that exciting and is mostly just a bunch of political parties campaigning.

To me Independence Day is just not going to be the same this year. America's birthday isn't going to be much celebrated here. It does bother me. It's almost pointless to even celebrate (even though I will try).  What's Independence Day without some sort of celebration?

EDIT: Our city's Independence Day parade is taking place on Saturday not Monday. So there really isn't anything happening on the 4th to celebrate now. *sigh*