Glimpses of Pam: sophie's christening

Baptisms at St. Mary’s Church are held on Thursdays only (except Maundy Thursday), but after attending the Baptism Seminar in October, Hubby immediately went to Fr. Tom (the Parish Priest) to speak to him. Fortunately, after a pretty long talk, he allowed us to have what they call a “special baptism” on the 17th of November, a Saturday. Once we got the date finalized, I started preparing the list of things to do: book the reception venue, ask and inform the godparents-to-be, order the cake, giveaways, etc. Fortunately, I was still on my maternity leave and would only return to work on the 10th of November, so it gave me lots of time to do whatever I needed to accomplish.

When Hubby had spoken to Fr. Tom, he had been informed that the priest who would officiate would depend on who’s available. We didn’t mind because we didn’t have any particular preference anyway. Minutes before the baptism, we still didn’t know who the officiating priest would be, so imagine our surprise when it was Fr. Ron Ojeda who came. Since we had the baptistery all to ourselves and the attendees were only our family and friends who we had asked to be Sophie’s godparents, the ceremony was very nice and solemn. And the picture-taking wasn’t rushed or tight either =) After, Fr. Ron stayed a while to make kwento. He mentioned that he was in town just for the Annual Filipino Mission (which he had conducted that past week), and that was his first time to officiate a baptism outside of the Philippines. Now that’s special!

Sophie in her baptism dress, which was the exact same one her Ate Caila wore for her baptism in 2009

family picture with Fr. Ron Ojeda

with the godfathers

with the godmothers

The reception immediately followed at Chowking, Al Ghurair. One by one, the guests started arriving, and since the photobooth by Snapshot had already been set up by the time most of them had arrived, our friends immediately went to that area.

There were a few games played just to break the ice (and for the program to be something other than just eating and picture-taking), and then the buffet for lunch was opened. We availed of the Oriental Chowking Delight Package 4 and it was really tasty. My colleague and his wife brought their special Cassava Cake to add to the desserts which was absolutely delicious! And since Hubby and I were busy going around the tables and entertaining the guests, a staff from Chowking was the one who served us our food.

We ordered a cake from Mister Baker, and the yummy homemade cupcakes were a gift from our friend Emtee. The Care Bears toppers were made by yours truly.

The giveaways for the godparents were also DIY’d. I found a poem on the internet (different from the ones we sent for the Will You Be My Godparent cards, of course), took photos of Sophie, her hand (which was formed to sign “I love you”), feet and ear, had the card printed at one of the neighborhood photo studios, and inserted these in frames we bought at Ikea.