Fourth of July Seder

    In honor of the Fourth of July, my husband thought it would be nice to have a seder to celebrate the holiday.  He got this idea from listening to talk show host, Dennis Prager, who has been promoting the idea of celebrating America's Independence Day with more than just hot dogs and hamburgers.  His idea was to include a short ritual during the meal to make the holiday more meaningful, especially to younger members of the family.
    The idea was to include readings by young and old about American Independence, the asking of questions by the children, and the eating of symbolic foods that remind us of the significance of the day. If this sounds familiar, it is.  Dennis modeled the ceremony on the Passover Seder.  It has successfully kept the memory of the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt alive for over 3,000 years, and the Fourth of July declaration ceremony is designed to keep the American Independence alive for future generations.
   The declaration ceremony is explained in a four-page document that can be easily downloaded  from the Prager University web site.  It includes instructions for the host, the narrative, questions, and a list of materials and food needed for the ceremony.
    Tim wanted me to find things to represent the colors of the flag, so I felt this was the perfect opportunity to use one of my hoarded Pinterest pins from my 4th of July board. I perused my pins and decided to make the Fruit Pizza.

First, I mixed up the sugar cookie batter and spread it in a pizza pan.

Then I whipped up the cream cheese filling to represent the "white stars" on our flag.

I chose strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries to represent the "Red and Blue."

The final product.

Tim did a great job trying to condense the Fourth of July seder to five minutes, so our young daughters could understand why we were doing this ceremony.  But I think they were honestly more interested in digging into the dessert that was in front of them.