Dinner for the Dead

The night before Samhain we had our annual ancestoral dinner. It was a very special time for all of us. We set the table for 4 extras and invited my mum and dad, my Grannie, and Brent's Grandpa, in a circular ceremony around a candle. We brought out photos of them all as well as special heirlooms we have from each of them. I have some old perfume ('Oscar') of my mum's and Annika and I wore a bit of it. We used our best china, our REAL silver (an heirloom from my mum), and when we said our blessing before the meal we held hands with our guests, who were seated between each of us 'living' folk. We told our favourite stories about each of our guests and it was really hilarious. (Aside: the night before we were watching "The Wizard of Oz" as a family and Annika suddenly turned to me and said "Who is Dorothy Anne, mum?" I got goosebumps. She shouldn't know that was my mum's full name.)
Pedar was a wee bit confused, asking frequently "are they here, mummy?" And then running to the door when I said yes. We explained to him that they're always here, always with us, but they're even MORE 'here' when we invite them special and tell stories about them. He seemed to get that...
We talked about what we want to let go of and what we each want more of this next year. And earlier in the day with very special friends we did some releasing from the year. We lit a fire in the very sacred circle of cedars down by the creek and we burned 'old stories' that we no longer want to hold onto or have as part of our lives in this new year.
I have to say, it was the very most special New Year's Eve for all of us.