For those of us who are active in the upcoming elections, this is an intense time.

But to follow our bliss, we need to take time to observe our holidays.

For me, it’s not that I haven’t done anything political this weekend. But I have tried to focus more on the traditional holidays this time of the year that I so enjoy.

On Thursday and Friday, I loaded up on a diverse set of goodies to give away to our trick-or-treaters this weekend. I also bought some food to make special dinners.

Saturday morning, I went to the Cary Farmers Market to flush out my ingredients for my holiday meals, as well as to relish in that community. Many families came in their Halloween fare, with both two-legged and four-legged costumes. So cute!

I hadn’t decorated for Halloween. But I put our house on the neighborhood treat map, dressed up as a Queen, and made a special Halloween dinner in between welcoming trick or treaters. After years living with children with different diets and preferences, I try to provide a variety of treats in my basket. Here was what we were giving away:

The smaller chocolates tend to fall to the bottom, but there were more there than it looks like in the picture. But I was so happy that every different item–chocolate candy, gummy candy, fruit bar, granola bar, savory crackers, or fresh fruit–made at least one of our trick-or-treaters really happy.

This was the first time my son had been home in many years, since he had been away in college during October. So I resurrected a dish we used to make when he was young.

We made nacho cheese dip to go with these cute holiday chips:

Then we cut a face into these orange peppers and filled them with a mix of rice, quinoa, lentils, beans, spices, topped with some of the cheese sauce:

We cooked them and served them with some salsa and chips:

Dessert was, of course, leftover Halloween candy.

But we also set up our alter for Dias de Los Muertos. It was much simpler this year compared to some previous years (election week!), but I still thought it was nice to try to connect with those who have moved on.

So this evening I’ve been trying to focus more on that (and eat up leftover from yesterday).

I think part of bliss is keeping everything in balance. I’m totally committed to getting as many people to vote as possible. But I’m also committed to celebrating these holidays as well.

So Happy Halloween/Dia de Los Muertos/All Saint Day to all!