The flag gets put out once a year and then everyone panics about what to do with the rest of

Somewhere between the fridge magnet and the garden sculpture lives the painted rock. Most people treat it like the former.

The runner goes down. The plates go on. The food arrives. Nobody has thought about whether those three things belong

Somewhere between the plastic tablecloth and the novelty napkin holder, patriotic decorating lost its nerve. It stopped committing to anything

Nobody is neutral about a decorated golf cart. Either you drove past a neighborhood parade and thought someone had too

The flag has been doing heavy lifting for this country’s front porches since before your house was built. And yet

You have a glue gun. You have three days until the Fourth. You’ve already looked at twelve Pinterest boards and

There’s a version of patriotic decorating that involves plastic table covers and inflatable eagles. This is not that. The homes

The generic wreath and a mat that says “Welcome.” That’s the standard American summer porch. That’s what ninety percent of

The front door is doing a job. It’s the first thing anyone sees before they ring the bell, walk into