Because we needed a few more events squeezed into what I refer to as “birthday month”, we celebrated Dia de los Muertos. I was chatting with a friend of mine who grew up with this tradition. I didn’t, beyond the Catholic All-Saints Day. I love the opportunity to celebrate a festive Mexican holiday and to give our children a chance to ask questions about family members who have passed away. Lucky for us, my mom created two incredible cookbooks that feature photos of great-grandparents (along with fabulous recipes!). So those were prominently displayed. Matt and I were reflecting that we don’t have many old photos. Why is that? I remember one of my favorite rooms in my grandmother’s “house on Addax” in San Antonio was plastered with framed portraits, many of people I didn’t know – just knew we were related in some way. Or maybe I did know them, but those photos were taken long before I met them, so I could only catch a faint resemblance. (Fast forward to December, when I plastered my own stairwell with a gazillion framed portraits – as many generations as I could squeeze on that wall!)
I used the opportunity to dust off my favorite calacas from Oaxaca, where Matt and I visited during our three-month graduate program in Cuernavaca back in 2004. I remember seeing these figurines all over Oaxaca . It took me a little while to embrace them. Maybe they were too unfamiliar in a country where so many rituals were quite familiar. I grew up with many customs ala San Antonio, mainly centered on food and religion, with a splash of culture (e.g. cascarones), and I wonder why Dia de los Muertos didn’t make the cut? Too Central/South Mexico? Too pagan in origin? Whatever the reason, I’m re-routing (can you hear the GPS lady? “Re-routing”…). I love this holiday.
But the real holiday of November, of course, is sweet Fiona’s birthday. And what an occasion it was! We celebrated with a bike party, in which Matthew and I created a bicycle obstacle course, complete with hay bales, a forest, a crocodile pond with a bridge, a tunnel, and everyone’s favorite part: the “pop” (a roll of bubble wrap taped to the ground). We took over the covered basketball court in our neighborhood park (in case it rained) and staged tables with bike decorations, snacks, coffee, and four dozen cupcakes (!) for all of her friends. It was a blast. There were so many kids! We enjoyed watching them navigate the course.
After all the cakes and cupcakes of birthday month, I opted for an apple pie to celebrate Fiona’s fourth, finished off with cut-out owls. Fiona didn’t seem to mind the break from tradition.
What a beautiful month, squeezing in time to enjoy the outdoors before the winter’s rainy weather set in…
And a Thanksgiving with much to be thankful for!
