A Patriotic Corner in the Living Room, 2018

 Welcome!!!

In my previous post, I shared my Patriotic Tree that I have been doing for several years now in celebration of the Patriotic Summer Holidays!!

And I also shared how I decorated underneath the Tree.......

Click HERE if you missed that post.......

In this post, I will be sharing how I decorated around this Patriotic Tree.......

But first, I want to Thank all of the following hosts who featured my post, Gnome Fairy Garden in a Beverage Tub , from last week's parties!!!!

Thanks to Katie, over at Organized Dream, for featuring it from her brand new party, Make Life Pretty Monday Link Party!!!!

 Please stop by and link up to this NEW party that Katie is trying to get off the ground and support a fellow blogger!!

I also want to Thank Bev, over at Eclectic Red Barn, for choosing it as one of her features from last week's Over the Moon Party!!

Thanks so much, Bev!!!

And I would like to Thank Claire, over at Claire Justine, for featuring it from last week's Creative Mondays Blog Hop!!

Thanks so much, Claire, for your kind words too!!

And I also want to Thank Michelle, over at Our Crafty Mom, for featuring it among her choices of 15 Creative Summer DIY Projects from last week's Merry Monday Link Party!!!

 Thanks so much, Michelle!!!!!

PLEASE stop by and link up to all these great parties!!!!!!

As i mentioned before, I am going to be sharing how I decorated this corner of the Living Room for the Summer Patriotic Holidays!!!!!

 I have had my Patriotic decorations up since before Memorial Day but decoded to share them closer to July 4th rather than for Memorial Day ......

Memorial Day is more of a Solemn Remembrance of those who made the Ultimate Sacrifice for our Freedom, where July 4th is a Celebration of our Great Country's  Independence!!!!

I always hang a seasonal wreath on my faux window.......

This is a wreath that I made a few years ago........

And a patriotic plaque that I also made several years ago......

 I decorated on both sides of the Tree......

 On the left side of the Tree, on a pedestal.......

 On the top of the pedestal is an urn.......

Inside of the urn is a faux boxwood ball that I tucked red, white and blue flowers and flags into it......

You can see that I also added lights to it......

In front of the urn, sits a Patriotic Nutcracker flanked by star votives........

Sitting below the urn........

Is a United States Marine Bear........

Joe bought this for me as his Dad was a Marine in the Korean War......

Next to the Tree on the right side, is a chair that I like to use as an area to display things on......

This year, I decided to decorate it a bit differently........

I saved a few Thomas Kinkade calendars from past years and I found a picture of the United States Capital........

So I decided to frame it and found a frame in my stash that it fit into perfectly......

It depicts a July 4th celebration in the 1940's or 50's........

You can see that I hung red fairy lights around it.......

I really like the way it looks next to the Tree.......

I have it elevated on a book box covered with a Patriotic place mat........

I displayed a few things on the chair.........

Thomas Jefferson.....

Another Liberty Blue plate.........

You may remember that I showed you these 2 Liberty Blue plates that I have underneath the Tree......

 For America's Bicentennial, Liberty Blue dishes were offered in grocery stores and banks as a promotion........

  Each dish depicts various Historical scenes from the American Colonial Era and are not easy to find nowadays.....

 This is the marking on the back of this plate.....

After taking a look at this mark showing the Old North Church, I realized that this was a saucer and I also had the Tea Cup!!!!!!

It was from the steeple of the Old North Church that the lantern signal was seen to signify that "The British were coming" on the night of Paul Revere's ride!!!!

You can see Paul Revere depicted on the Tea Cup!!

 If you want to read about The Old North Church which still stands today as a Tourist Attraction, please click HERE

Before I changed the display, I had another star votive in front of the saucer that I now moved and placed on top of the blue star behind the plate............

On the other side is George Washington!!!

I also decorated underneath the chair......

I have 2 cute Bears dressed in Patriotic sweaters, sitting on a bench!!!!

There is a milk glass vase filled with red, white and blue flowers to the side of the bench......

A Patriotic card sits on the floor between the bench and a grand Patriotic Lady Bear sitting on a box.......

She is all dressed up in Patriotic finery!!

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I decorated this corner of our Living Room for the Patriotic Summer Holidays........

It will stay this way until a week or so after July 4th......

Then I will switch everything over to my "Under the Sea" Coastal decorations for the rest of the Summer.......

But this is not the only Patriotic Decorations that I have in the Living Room.......

I have 2 more Patriotic decorated Trees to share.........

One on top of the TV Entertainment Center.......

 And another over in this corner by the stairs.......

 I will be posting about these Trees  soon but in my next post, I will be sharing our Cottage Garden in the back yard.......

Before I sign off, I wanted to share some photos of the destruction, the demolition and now the clean up from the Tornado that narrowly missed out home and hit the Shopping Centers right next to our townhouse development....

Joe and I took these photos.......

You can look through the back of Barnes and Nobles and see the sign for Ross which is i the shopping center behind Barnes and Nobles......

My Dad always said that there would never be a tornado here because of the beautiful mountains that surround the Wyoming Valley in which we live.......

You can see that that was just a myth.....

Dick's Sporting Goods was hit head on....

Michael's is next to Dick's and a worker told Joe that the only damage they sustained was 1 broken picture frame!!!!!!!

All the animals in Pet Smart are okay and were taken out by workers in their own cars.....

This building houses several local businesses......

You can see that the Polish Pottery in the windows in the front side of this building are still on the shelves untouched!!!!

But this is what the back and side of this building looks like........

It is still up in the air if they will demolish it and start fresh.....

This entire strip mall where Panera Bread and several other stores including local ones will be torn down.....

This is a side view of another local business.......

Kurlancheek's Furniture.......

It will be torn down but the owner said that she will rebuild bigger and better than ever!!!

We are still in shock that this happened as Tornado's do not usually form here in NEPA!!

We will never think that again.......

In case you missed my last post, this photo shows the path that the tornado took......

 The yellow X on the right side of the photo shows my row of townhouses and how the tornado just missed my development!!!!!

This experience has put life into a whole different perspective.......

To add further insult to injury, another area Shopping Strip Mall which is right next to where we turn in to get to our development caught fire on Saturday afternoon, damaging 3 more Businesses!!!!!!!

It will be closed for a few days until all is cleaned up!!!!

I am beginning to think that my area is cursed!!!

 I hope you will be back to visit again soon.......

And thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

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