The Littlest One Baptised

This past weekend was a whirlwind of activity for us, culminating in the christening of our youngest, now a little over two months old. Lots of preparation involved: naming and getting the assent of the godparents, scheduling with the church to get the priest we wanted, booking a hall, catering it, sending out invitations and collecting RSVPs, buying non-catered items such as water, juice boxes, and beer, decorating the hall with balloons and tablecloths and such, cleaning our house top-to-bottom, getting everyone’s laundry done, meticulously tracking all our income and expenses to stay within budget. (“Staying within budget” in this case means simply spending less than we did for our first one’s baptism, when we had significantly more disposable income.)

Ah, and now it’s over! But it was a good time, I think, for all involved.

It was a bone-chilling cold November, much, much colder than normal over the weekend. Windy and below-freezing. We huddled at the dining room table Friday night, radiators hissing and clanging, formulating the game plan. I would do the bills afterwards, then Saturday morning take the Little One with me on errands: Post Office, bank, dry cleaners, library, liquor store, and grab a couple of slices of pizza for lunch. When I got back, C headed out to get her list done: decorations, cake, tying up all the loose ends we could remember. I fed the children and put them down for naps. Then, around 4, we all loaded up in my wife’s company car (the first time all four of us were in one vehicle together) and drove down to the airport to pick up Nana. The flight was delayed but ultimately uneventful, and we detoured back home for a quick feeding and then out to Macaroni Grill for dinner for the adults. We returned around 10; Nana gave me a quick haircut, then my wife dropped her off at her hotel a few miles up the road.

Sunday early morning came very, very quick. Lots of last-minute rushing around, and you know how that goes: lots of things discovered that still needed to be done! I was delegated to take Nana at 8 am to the hall to decorate, then I drove back, showered, fed the Littlest One while my wife and oldest got the cake to the hall. We all met at the church at 10:15 for the baptism mass. Everyone we invited was there, and we nervously waited to see if our little Howler would stay true to her reputation.

But she didn’t! She was absolutely wonderful, absolutely delightful! She even smiled during the ceremony, and tolerated the oil and water. Once we saw the upside-down U, portent of firestorms to come, on her pretty little face, but she must have been fascinated with Father. The christening went without a hitch, and she was hoisted up in the air by our priest to the applause of the congregation. The sermon was funny, witty, entertaining as always. Photos afterward went smoothly and quickly with the slight exception of my oldest being a little fragile emotionally at having to stand and smile over and over when all she wanted to do was run up and down the aisles with her cousins.

We all caravanned over to the hall for two hours of brunch. The mimosas flowed! The children ran, fell, cried, laughed. We chatted with people we haven’t seen in a long time. My father-in-law gave an impromptu speech, prompting my wife to say a few words, too. The cleanup flew by with so many hands helping. A couple of our guests went back to our house for a couple of hours to relax and socialize, and watch both our local football teams kick some you-know-what. Nana took the Little One to the store and brought back some rotisserie chicken for dinner, then took the Little One back to her hotel for a special sleepover. My wife and I watched the video of the baptism on our flatscreen TV, then watched some video of our oldest, when she was just a newborn and a new toddler.

All in all, it was a great day.

Pictures to follow later tonight.