2nd Annual Dia de los Muertos Fiesta

(cats are optional on your Day of the Dead ofrenda)

Get out your candles and your papel picado, it's that time of year again:  Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead! We had a little gathering last year, and it was so nice that I decided to make it an annual tradition.

This year our party doubled - or maybe tripled - in size, with quite an international mix of guests. We had Russians, Americans, and one Iraqi all under one roof to celebrate this Mexican tradition.

Instead of cooking a main course from scratch this year, I picked up an assortment of frozen Mexican foods to throw in the oven or steamer - tamales, toquitos, and crispy tostadas for taco salads. With the time this saved me, I was able to make two pumpkin pies and four loaves of pan de muertos. Mm-mm-mm!

There was plenty of food and drink at the party, and things got muy caliente inside, despite the freezing temperatures without.

We had our first snowfall of the year on Saturday morning.

Thankfully, the hearty mums (and the cats) survived.

When it's cold outside, it sure is nice to do some baking! I was definitely channeling happy homemaker as I made the bread and pies.

The humble beginnings of pan de muertos...

finished loaves of pan

And just to prove that the pumpkin pies were made from scratch:

Jarrahdales (blue pumpkins) make the best pumpkin pie

This was the ofrenda at the end of the night. You can see some decorated sugar skulls in the lower right corner (gotta have activities to keep the kids busy!). It was nice to have several people participate this year in adding photos of their departed loved ones. I decided to set up the altar in front of our window so the candlelight could be seen from the street. 

There was light on the front stoop as well, in the form of our hybrid Halloween/Day of the Dead jack-o-lantern:

(daytime view)

And now that the festivities are over, Ted and I are left with plenty of sugary churros and beer to keep us sated for the month of November! Won't you come join us? :)