Happy Halloween!! We didn’t get many trick or treaters, but we did have a Barak-O-Lantern!

For a number of years, we’ve celebrated Dia De Los Muertos in addition to the candyfest that is Halloween. It seems like every year, as we lose the ones we love, we add a few more faces to the ofrenda. While I am sad to have lost them, I am happy to see them again each year, to take a moment and remember how much I enjoyed having them in my life.

Setting up the ofrenda has become a family activity, we all contribute, craft new items and help create it together. We’ve collected or created quite a few nifty elements over the years. I collect cards and images by small artists all year long with an eye to setting them together at this time of year. The rest of the year, they live in the dining room!

We cook different things to share with the ones who’ve gone before. This year was my first attempt at pan de muerto. I haven’t baked bread in about a decade, at least not bread that involved kneading and yeast and not a bread machine. But I’m pretty happy with how it looks. The real test will be in how it tastes, but I won’t know until tomorrow! It certainly smells wonderful, redolent of citrus and anise and eggy goodness.

The ofrenda, like our lives, is a work in progress. It’s fluid, always growing and never the same from year to year. I’m always so excited and happy when it begins to come together.

We’ll be spending the next few days enjoying family time and remembering the ones we’ve loved who’ve gone ahead to the other side. I’ll be at Homegirl Cafe for knitting tomorrow afternoon and I think maybe visiting Olveras Street and Chinatown on Sunday. I hope your weekend is great, however you spend it and whoever you spend it with.

Oh, and don’t forget to turn your clocks on Saturday night!