Holidays are usually a thing of the past. All parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles have died on both my and my husband's side. We both have older siblings who are elderly, live some distance away, and don't really travel (especially past mid-afternoon). Nieces and nephews are scattered to the wind, and our own grown kids either live far away or tend to travel outside the US during the holidays. So the once-festive holidays (that I so took for granted) are now lonely. Perhaps they are good days to turn inward and focus on developing my spiritual self. I try.
All this said - I am 100% in agreement with Skeezyks regarding the hell that is the 4th of July in the US. It used to be a nice family/children themed holiday. It has become a nightmare of noise, what are illegally-crafted bombs, and the fear that my poor elderly cat will have a heart attack due to his terror of the noise. I also fear fire from the illegal fireworks - indeed, 2 homes in town did catch fire this year.