El Dia de los Muertos-Remembering Corey

November 1st is El Dia de los Muertos or The Day of the Dead.  It is a holiday to remember, honor and celebrate our loved ones who have passed on.  I think this is such a wonderful holiday and our family has started to incorporate it into our traditions.  Families typically visit the cemetery where the loved one is buried and bring a picnic dinner of their favorite foods, sing songs that the loved one enjoyed, share stories about them, light candles and sometimes spend the night in the cemetery.

 Here are two of the books we read tonight.  Of course the Rookie Reader for the holiday which always does such a wonderful job of explaining things so simply and clearly.  The top book "I Remember Abuelito" was a really wonderful story of a little girl and her family celebrating El Dia de los Muertos by remembering her grandfather.  It showed the many traditions they had in honoring their loved one who passed away, including sprinkling marigold petals on a path to the house so their spirit can come visit, which I would love to incorporate in future years.

This year we remembered my brother Corey who died last January at the age of 20 in a car accident.  I had kept a candle from his service and we lit that tonight to show how our love for him still shines even though he isn't here.  We looked at pictures and shared memories.  Bean remembered our last trip to Florida, mere months before Corey died, when they played Legos together.  My husband remembered how Corey was the only one who could get kisses from our old dog Sophie.  I shared lots of memories from when he was much younger before I was married or had kids.  Then we enjoyed some of Corey's favorite foods from when he was little-deviled eggs, butter bread and olives.  He could sure pack away his favorite foods when he was younger and tonight Bean would have made him proud.  He enthusiastically ate each of them, had second helpings and declared that he loved all the same foods as Uncle Corey.  What a wonderful walk down memory lane and the reason I really have grown to love this holiday.