Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Take me to the river


A couple of weeks ago we had Gabriel baptized. It was a small ceremony with only eight of us present, not including the man of the hour. As you can see from the photo, he was none too pleased with the pouring of water on his head. I mean, he's just now decided that the bathtub is a fun place, but using cold water while he is dressed? No thank you indeed.

We had a lot of debate concerning this day. Nothing about whether we would or would not baptize but more relating to the social obligations surrounding the event. Should we have a party? Should we not? Should we invite the whole fan-damily? Or not? Who will be the godparents?

All of the debate was relating to issues relating to how other people would react. We worried that the extended family would feel slighted if we didn't invite them. Then we worried that those invited would be grumbling about yet another occasion for a gift. And all that we really wanted was a simple ceremony followed by a small dinner. In the end we went with our own wishes because, after all, it was our decision.

And all was good. Even Gabriel thought so once he took a few swigs from the bottle and found his thumb.