The only way we could have made John’s birthday more low-key was to ignore it. I wished him a happy day within 15 minutes of waking up, so give me credit for that. There was no discussion of the birthday meal, since it has become our custom to go to the restaurant that grandson Nathaniel worked in for two summers. John called to make sure they would be serving prime rib, his once-a-year favorite. We went to church and took naps, waiting for the place to open. Evidently it was birthday Sunday, because a woman at the next table was celebrating her 95th.
I took a photo of John and grandson David, because it wouldn’t be a proper celebration in our family without pictorial evidence.
For the foodies: David had Chicken Parmesan with pasta, and I chose Bourbon Pecan-Encrusted Chicken over mashed potatoes. I did not stab the potatoes with a knife; it came that way. John’s meal was exciting to the palette and visually boring.
At home we skipped having a candle on the cake, although we sang the birthday ditty as we put the dessert on the table. We had John’s standard angel cake with strawberries, his favorite since childhood.
David added blueberries to the top, and I was amused that it ended up looking like a silly face.
John is now officially 78 years old. However, at some point he began counting his age backward, so he is really 13 years old now. He teases that when he is two years old, the grandsons will have to wheel him about, like he pushed them in their strollers.
Mehrling Muse 
I’ve been known to be stabby, but I’ve never attacked my mashed potatoes. Interesting presentation. The food looks delicious.
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We came home from the restaurant sated and happy.
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Happy Birthday, John! Looks like everyone had a good time.
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We are good at little celebrations. Do you have big family parties?
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Belated Penblwydd Hapus John, it seems you all had a choice of foods you liked in the restaurant followed by John’s favourite cake at home. You should have been ready for cat naps after that.
Massive Hugs xxx
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It was bedtime when we finished eating cake. Can you take a cat nap late at night???
xxx Sleepy Hugs xxx
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Your family always celebrates with a great meal! Happy birthday John!
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We’re not drinkers, so what else would we do? Maybe we need to branch out.
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You are perfect the way you are. My family celebrates with food too.
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Happy Day to you Mr. John.
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Your posts often reveal your great sense of humor and clearly your husband has it too….his “age”reminds me of that movie Benjamin Button!
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We are sadly lacking in the movie viewing department. We should try to find Benjamin Button.
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It’s an older Brad Pitt movie that I found a bit strange (the reverse aging) but many people like it.
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Happy Birthday John 🎁👑🎂 Looks like a marvelous meal and dessert. A great way to spend the day, too!
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Those food photos had me salivating… what torment!! Happy Birthday to John! It looks like a fabulous time was had by all!
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We always enjoy celebrating.
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Happy birthday to John! When my Aunt turned forty she decided to start counting backwards. She and I were 23 at the same time. I won’t tell you how long ago that was but she is well into negative numbers if she kept going backward. Angel food cake is a favorite of both my dad and husband.
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Your aunt started early to count birthdays backwards. That’s amusing that she would have gone into negative numbers.
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Forty was way too early – my years since turning forty have been some of the best of my life. 🙂
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I’ve had wonderful years since age forty, too.
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I’m sorry I missed this post and John’s birthday on the same day. I was behind in Reader then did a post last night as I didn’t want to post on the 20th due to the WordPress banner, etc. Many happy returns to John who is a very young 78.
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John has his parents’ habit of celebrating birthdays for a full month. He welcomes greetings, no matter when they come. Thank you for yours.
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Well, John has me by 18 months. I’m spending a few moments catching up on mail, Blogs reading and such while Mary Agnes does some future meal prep in the form of Egg Plant Parm, 24, 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, Beef, Pork, Hot Spicy Italian sausage meatballs. She will move on to quilting shortly.
For your birthday John, I send you this. https://youtu.be/BKQYrrJVg6g
Stay oiled, stay verticle and do not rust. All the best, thanks for celebrating the entire month, so I’m not late.
theRooster
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Thank you. I’ll forward your message to John.
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John came and looked at the video on my machine because I couldn’t copy your message. He was identifying country of origin as the old engines came on the screen. Thanks for thinking of him.
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Happy Belated Birthday John! What a great way to celebrate. We tend to use food for celebrating also. I now feel like I should make and angelfood cake this weekend. I have not had that in forever!
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No one says no to angel food cake in our house. This might be the only one we have this year, since we are chocoholics.
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