It is a snowy February day here in the South of Kansas. Snow makes me think of mountain peaks, which makes me think of Colorado, which makes me think of a gorgeous historic castle in Colorado Springs, which makes me think of the word “fancy”.

Every December for the past several years, my husband and I go on a short Christmas outing. Just the two of us. Generally we stay at a hotel in the Plaza area of Kansas City for a night or two.

This past December, however, we opted to go to a Christmas Madrigal show and banquet at Glen Eyrie Castle in Colorado Springs.

Isn’t it beautiful? We volunteer here every summer while staying in their RV park for volunteers only. Away from the lovely grounds up a hill behind the utility and maintenance area. Out of sight. Volunteers get a nice discount on tickets and lodging fees. So we thought, why not? We booked two nights in one of their 4-suite cabins. At a nice discount. Otherwise…..yeah it would have been pricey.

About two weeks prior to the event we received an email with directions and what to expect, and a dress code.

Did you read those last two words? Dress code? As I read beyond those two words I saw the words “semi-formal” and/or dress in renaissance type Madrigal wear. At which point I got just a little anxious. Not to the point of hyperventilation, but I was pondering cancellation.

We are not fancy folks. Not at all.

My husband spent years traveling as a consultant all over the world at a job that required him to look well dressed. He even travelled with a small iron in case the hotel didn’t have one. And yes, people, he IRONED HIS OWN CLOTHING.  He’s retired now and has pared down his “fancy” clothes to the point we would need to buy a dress shirt and tie for him to wear. After spending a ridiculous number of coins on the very nice shirt, we opted to search further into the depths of our closet. And we resurrected a tie that would suffice nicely.

Which leaves us with me, Simply B. Heavy on the “simply”. My idea of dressing up is changing from pajama pants into comfy knit sweat type pants. Fairly lateral change, honestly. I modified my definition of “semi-formal” to “sorta dressy casual” for our big event. Black pants not of the sweatpant nature. A short sleeved knit black top. And a long neck scarf that had multi colors, one of which was shiny silver. The result wasn’t really all that flattering to my unfortunate body dimensions. So I went shopping for a long dressy looking sweater jacket. And found one. At Kohl’s. Where there’s always a sale.

It was an ensemble that screamed “comfort”. I’m all about comfort. I did opt to wear short black boots instead of my usual walking shoes. So really I looked not quite “semi” formal. But maybe just very subtle, essentially imperceptible hint of formal.

We arrived at the Castle grounds and checked in to our lovely, very lovely in fact, suite. So peaceful and quiet. None of the other three suite rooms were occupied when we checked in. The next morning was casual buffet breakfast at the castle. I managed to maneuver through the food line without spilling ….oh wait…. I did spill half and half. All in all, though, one of my less clumsy dining experiences. No one else saw me. Mainly because no one else was in the dining area yet except DeWayne and his back was to me.

Prior to the banquet and Madrigal show that evening we were to attend a wassail (no alcohol content) and fancy hors d’oeuvres event in the castle grand foyer. Not surprisingly I experienced a moderate amount of social anxiety/awkwardness. I am a non-fancy introvert. A little nip of alcohol might have remedied that.

The Grand Foyer was packed shoulder to shoulder with the others in attendance. We were wedged in between some of the Castle staff back in a corner when they announced that the Tea Room was open now for wassail and hors d’oeuvres. So we made our way through the crowd, a slow process at best. At one point DeWayne and I became separated. And wouldn’t you know it just a few minutes later I heard my name being spoken by the man of my dreams. Loudly, of course. I have a hearing deficit. He said “You’re in the way of a photographer”, at which point I saw a really gorgeously dressed young couple posing right in front of me. And of course when I turned around there was the photographer. I laughed nervously and moved on after apologizing for the photo bomb. ***insert cringe***

We found a small table to enjoy our wassail and fancy appetizers which were being served to us by a woman wearing a white crisp apron over her clothing. The apron was tied in the back with a large bow, all fancy and nice. We chatted a bit with her and she was very friendly as she cleaned off our table. After she turned to leave our table we stood up to leave, and I grabbed hold of the back of my chair to balance myself before walking. The aproned woman was standing firmly in front of me, attempting to walk to the next table. Her apron eventually dropped from her shoulders. Certainly an unexpected thing to happen in a fancy shmancy tea room in a big old castle. It was then I discovered that her bow tie had come untied. Because I was apparently holding onto the end of it as I held onto the back of the chair. Because of me. Oh happy day. Everyone in the room exploded into laughter. Including me. Good grief, what else could I do but laugh? Leave it to me to turn an elegant experience into a ……strip show??

For the banquet, we found that we were seated at the premier head table for special guests. Because we had booked lodge rooms for overnight stay. Happily I made it up the two flights of carpeted stairs without stumbling and the twelve of us members of the “privileged head table” paraded right on in and sat down.

The remainder of the evening was nothing short of magnificent. Honestly! The couple seated right next to us were dressed in far less than formal wear. We spent the evening getting to know them. Really lovely folks who live in the Denver area. Come to find out they were staying in one of the other suite rooms next to us! Not only that, but in the course of our conversation we learned that she grew up in Kansas and has family they visit regularly in of all places: MILTONVALE KANSAS! About thirty miles from our hometown of Minneapolis. The next morning the four of us, along with another couple from the banquet, sat together for breakfast. Did I spill anything? Maybe, but it didn’t matter because by then I was totally comfortable.

The actual Madrigal program was just fabulous. It’s one of the only Christmas Madrigal programs in the USA that centers their story around the birth of Christ. We laughed, we cried, we ate gourmet food, we met so many really wonderful people.

And we already plan to go again this coming Christmas. Someone has to provide comic relief. Leave it to this socially awkward introverted non fancy elderly chick.

for more comic relief, read: https://simplyb.blog/2017/06/26/can-i-see-your-photo-id-please/