Dia de los Muertos ’08

There was food. There was Dead Guy ale. There was wine. There was more food. There was way too much food but that’s the Italian way, isn’t it? Even if it’s Mexican food.

Did I mention I was stressing a bit about the food? Whenever the family gets together, we always do Italian food. Well unless it’s a barbecue or Thanksgiving, in which case, it’s… well you know: Thanksgiving and barbecue food. I never did something different. I never did anything ethnic. What would happen if people didn’t like it? What if everyone thought the enchiladas and Mexican pie were disgusting? It turns out everyone liked it, even in spite of the fact that the cornbread on top of that Mexican pie didn’t quite cook all the way through when you got to the middle of the pan.

I was so busy with making sure everyone had enough to eat that I completely forgot to take pictures. That means there are no pictures of all the work I went through to set up a table with photos of our family members who have died, the flowers, the candles, the Led Zeppelin album, the York peppermint pattie… You will just have to take my word for it.

I had one of those digital picture frames there, as well, with a whole bunch of pictures. Among them were these:

That’s my mom. I’m not sure how clear it is in the photo but that is a towel wrapped around her hand. The towel has ice in it. You see – we had a family tradition. Every single holiday, she would burn her hand. Seriously. Every holiday.

Then there were the photos of my brother, Mike:

How do you like that afro? I’m not sure how old he is in that photo. Maybe 16 or so, so I’m thinking the photo had to have been taken in the late 70s.

Then I couldn’t resist including some photos of our first dog, Scrappy. He was, after all, a family member. And he is deceased:

That dog let us do anything to him. There’s a shot of him in a Little League uniform and another with one of those bowler hats. He got to ride in my sister’s doll stroller. He also was encouraged to go into Janet’s Barbie tent, which then broke. I’m quite sure I had nothing to do with that. It was all Mike’s idea. (Hey, I can blame just about anything on him, now. It’s not like he can deny it.)

Then there was our video call with Steve. It was the first time everyone got to see and talk to him. One of the other seminarians who’s there in Rome with him (he’s from Alabama, Lanny) walked in and must think my family is very loud and very crazy. The little ones were quite animated as they were talking to their cousin.

All in all, the whole Dia de los Muertos thing went pretty well. I think, we may have to do this again next year. And Janet better be well enough to come next year. Or else!