Celebrate the high holy days of November

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Before you read this post, click on this song so you have the perfect background music! Come on, just a little louder. That’s better. Are your arms free? You have to boogie!

It is the beloved husband’s birthday month. Birthdays are celebrated for the whole month. You start early and end late.

Although the real date isn’t for a couple of weeks, we are starting with dinner this week. I made reservations at a nice restaurant. Yep, it’s expensive but they are running a special so it should be reasonable. Maybe.

The confirmation says that dress is smart casual. I never heard of smart casual. Is it the opposite of dumb casual?

Should my khakis take an IQ test before they are allowed in? Can I wear something I bought on sale? Is it like business casual but more bling-y? Do I need a Rolex? Can I wear a knock-off? (Note to self: check with cousin Guido) 

When I’ve been there, I have seen suits and ties (business dinners on fat expense accounts) and what I call dressed up jeans. You know, men with a button down collar shirt and a blazer, women in skinny jeans, boots and jewelry up the wazoo. All looking cool. Is that smart casual?

In our area, people don’t dress up for dinner so unless you are sloppy casual, they are unlikely to turn anyone away. Nor do they make you wear a jacket from a Goodwill collection like the local country club does. Yuk! Do country clubbers get cooties?

Next week we will celebrate at our favorite Chinese restaurant with some neighbors. Then we will celebrate again at an oldies dinner dance with friends and boogie our old asses off. (The oldies part is for the music, not the participants!)

We will end the month with a family dinner giving thanks. The beloved husband thinks it’s for him but we really give thanks for all the good stuff.

It’s unlikely anything will get snowed out. People are in a festive mood. Dang! He is very lucky to have picked a good month to be born.

Happy Birthday Dan (and Betty, Lynn, Bob, Brian, Mitzi and all the November birthday folks)!balloons

30 thoughts on “Celebrate the high holy days of November”

  3. Happy birthday to Dan! Sounds like wonderful dinner plans, and you can probably end up wearing whatever you want to! 🙂 Our birthday month was all of October. I think we had a family party once each weekend and now, even with Thanksgiving, November feels quiet. We did our time! I am all for celebrating birthdays in a big way, though, and I like your commitment to start early and end late!

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    • As it turns out, the dress at the restaurant was all over the place from a guy with a pair of shorts and sneakers on (really? it was like 40 degrees outside) to suits at the bar, knocking one down before they go home. We are taking our vitamins and hope we survive this very active birthday month? We will get to rest in December. Despite Christmas, it tends to be more quiet for us.

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  4. Celebrate. But, I am not a November birthday. Mine is 9-11, which totally sucks. So maybe I should adopt a November birthday. Thanks for the idea Kate. Now you guys go celebrate and have lots of old time fun.

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  5. I just celebrated with my sister on Monday and next up is mom on the 16th. We are taking her to see a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio..because even at 87 she has a crush.
    Enjoy ALL of your celebrations, especially the dancing, that sounds like a blast!

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  8. My Mom and I also have birthday’s this month, she get the first half and i get the second half. It works out much better that way. Of course I always get to celebrate my birthday on Thanksgiving when we get together even when it doesn’t fall on that day. Hope he has a wonderful birthday month celebration.

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  10. “Smart casual?” Does that mean no flipflops? What about flipflop with glitter and jewels – are those smart enough? Platform or high flip flops – those don’t seem smart.
    I love the entire month celebration! (must tell everyone what a great idea this is…my birthday is in November, too!)

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  11. I will admit that on the invite for our recent anniversary party I used the term smart casual. When asked what it meant, I said “wear what you would wear if you were going out to dinner on a Saturday night.” I guess that wouldn’t help you…

    It is a great month for birthdays! Mine was the 1st, my Dan’s is the 8th. Yay!

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    • I’m wearing business casual because that’s what I have. Because of my former position, my business casual is dressier than most. Hey, I have the money honey so they ain’t gonna throw me out!

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  12. Any excuse to celebrate for a month is a great idea.

    Smart casual–I had to look it up. It was used before “business casual.” It’s evidently a 1920’s thing. I can hear Lady Edith on Downton Abbey saying, “I think it’s about time we change our dinner dress to smart casual.”

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    • Oh dear! At least I don’t need a ball gown. When I visited Bermuda in the 1970s, dinner was at 9 p.m. and it was long dresses and suits. Considering the climate, it was a drag to pack all that stuff.

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