Kian's Christening

** click on pics for bigger view. and oh, long post!

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we decided to have kian baptised for when my siblings are here, which made it even more special! and since cayden's birthday was coming up, we opted to celebrate the 2 occasions in one go. i had a hard time booking kian's christening with our parish priest. he wasnt the one who baptised cayden (he was more approachable!!!). we didnt get the original date that we wanted because someone else has beaten us to it. at first i didnt understand why the priest couldnt accomodate both kids because cayden had his with another filipino baby. but truth be told, kian's christening was more special and intimate, with the way the priest celebrated it. so i guess he had his reasons after all!

all invites were sent digitally!

despite having no worries about the reception, we ended up in a bit of panic to the rundown to kian's baptism. we thought we'd be late going to the church. actually, we got there a bit late! i was so scared because i was intimidated with the priest. when we got there, our other guests, who decided to go straight there, were all outside. the church doors were closed. good thing i know where father priest lives, which is just beside the church, so i went there and knocked. the priest opened the door and asked who i was! i was taken aback bec i thought he forgot about the ceremony! i told him who i was and then he said, ok, i'll be with you in a moment - duh! he opened the doors of the church so we all went in and imagine, the priest only prepared then! seriously!!!

he ushered us all out again, to our surprise. but he immediately explained that the baby is still not a catholic so he cant go in (it's part of the ceremony, dont worry - nothing discriminating!). he did the prayer of exorcism and anointing before baptism outside the church.

then we went in and stayed at the back of the church where he did the anointing of oil, baptism of the holy water, clothing of the white garment and candle ceremony

anointing of oil

baptism of holy water

clothing of white garment

candle ceremony

after that, the priest brought us to the main altar where we did the renunciation of sin and profession of faith

the paparazzi =D

for the blessing of the parents and godparents and final words, we went to the side altar

after the baptism, i love him already! he wasnt that horrible pala =D. he just had a very special program planned to welcome kian to the house of God =D. and i finally understood then why he didnt want to have 2 babies baptised at the same time!

ok, pichur time!

the guests

with the godparents

photographers

family picture

we didnt have a proper family picture because cayden didnt cooperate! he'd rather run around and play with the other kids. eto na ang pinaka matino!:

kian - pictorial:

we opted to hold the reception in a restaurant. we considered having the event catered at home but i wasnt too keen on the idea as it would have been the most expensive option. with cayden's, my mom did most of the cooking and some friends were assigned specific dishes. when i did the math, the costs of holding the reception at home and having it in a restaurant are not that far off. there wont be the chaos in prep and clearing up, plus the fact we'd be doing a double celebration - these justified the costs.

but finding the right restaurant proved to be difficult. of course, we wanted somewhere affordable, with delicious food and good ambiance. not to mention the dilemma we had when the priest scheduled the christening at 2pm! so it's kinda late for lunch but too early for dinner. what i did was inform our guests not to eat heavy lunch because we'd be having a buffet meal at the reception. and if they were to go to our house early (before the christening) and meeting up there, i will be serving them light snacks (i served: a variety sandwich platter, antipasti platter, grilled chicken, crudites and dips platter, my mom cooked palitaw and made macaroni salad and my sister made gulaman - these also served as after-party food =D). i ended up booking the restaurant at the last minute - less than 2 weeks before the event - because we couldnt decide!

we had the reception at pilgrim house chinese restaurant. as i've said, it was a buffet reception. but it was served differently - you have to order the food from their menu, they will prepare it and serve it when ready, unlike the usual buffet where the food is all out and you just have to stand up and pick from what's served. so it's kinda like a mix between a buffet and a sit-down meal. price is reasonable and food is delicious (although tantan said everything was a tad sweet for him). we stayed at the restaurant for almost 3 hours. there was quite a gap between the main meal and dessert! everyone seemed happy with the food. i definitely was!

the aftermath!

kian's outfit:

the gray vest was tita aiza's gift =D

these are kian's souvenirs, which my sister lovingly wrapped (she also decorated the candles, which we forgot to take pictures of. tsk tsk! - will try to find the used one and post it here later). i ordered them online:

bath salt, bath confetti, pram keyring

and here are kian's gifts (his titos and titas are oh so generous!!!):

thank you, po!

after the reception, most of our guests went back to our house for a little bonding. they did videoke as the priest suspected! yes, he knows that filipinos love to sing to videokes =D

my nephew, adam

ninang twinkie

my cousin, ate anne

it was a really special day for the family, made even more special by all those who joined and celebrated with us in welcoming kian into the christian community. thank you, everyone, again!!