When I was little my mother dressed me up in party dresses for holidays. Even when I was a sullen teenager I was still willing to get dressed up to celebrate them, although I’m sure combat boots were sometimes part of the party outfits. Somewhere between then and now the holidays got less dressy.

Is it just that my life is casual or do we not dress up as much as we used to? Probably both. Americans have definitely embraced casual dress to an extent we probably couldn’t have imagined 50 years ago. I know that if I wore a “party” dress to our Thanksgiving dinner this week everyone would give me a hard time. I’m not quite sure how we can dress so casually when we shop so much, but somehow we manage.

I’m happy about the casual trend because I like to be comfortable but at the same time I miss the ritual of buying a new dress and putting it on. I planned my Thanksgiving outfit this year so that it would be somewhat dressy and put together but very comfortable. And somehow I managed to continue the combat boot-like trend. What are you wearing?

My Thanksgiving Outfit