Turkey Day and Baptism

Hello, all! Here's hoping you've had your fill of turkey and family. :)

We had a lot of excitement at our house over the holiday, as previously mentioned. I think I can assuredly say that a good time was had by all. But I don't think anyone had as good a time as Maddy and Gabe. Every morning they woke up wondering who was going to talk to them first! There was a lot of cuddling and loving and smiling and cooing. A pictorial of this is soon to follow, but suffice to say, these babies love their family! I suspect the feeling is mutual.

I must put in a note here about our T-Day meal. What a TREAT! We're talking not just one, but TWO turkeys. Not just one, but THREE cranberry dishes. Not just one, but FOUR pies. Yes, there was a lot of cooking going on in our house, pretty much the whole weekend. Maddy and Gabe filled their wee little noses with all sorts of delicious smells, and their ears were filled with bouts of Bentleys' hearty laughter! I'm sure it was a sense smorgasbord for them.

After our Turkey fest, we endured our turkey hangovers and headed over to the church on Friday for the babies' baptism. This was truly a special event. Father Henry met us there for a small, intimate affair. This was not during a mass, so it was just our little group of family and friends. Babies started out just in diapers and a blanket, and we all gathered around the baptismal font. Father Henry opened the ceremony, then we all traced the sign of the cross on the babies. Scripture was read, then Father performed an actual exorcism on the babies. This kind of freaked me out when I read about it, but it actually sounded like this: "O God, you sent your Son to cast out the power of Satan, set this child free from Original Sin." Then Father put this oil on their heads that is also used to anoint new priests and catechumens. This was a really cool part of the ceremony, and the babies smelled like pine for days after, but all I could think about at the time was Maddy's sensitive skin and what if their faces blew up like a blow fish. Then Father asked us to affirm our faith with a bunch of "I do's." And then the baptism took place! Father took the shells Mimi donated and poured water from the fountain in the church over their heads, one after the other. He put some more fancy oil on them to seal the deal, we lit the baptism candles, and that was it! We put their beautiful christening gowns on them, donated by their Godparents, and it was picture time.

And how did they behave, you ask? Maddy, who is pretty much a genius, loved the whole thing. She was bright-eyed and just soaking it all up. It was another sense extravaganza for them, with lots of new sights and smells and sounds. Gabe (also a genius, of course) grunted throughout the entire ceremony. But he was still cute. Until his grunts progressed to fussing about the time his fancy gown was put on. So now we know. The boy does not care for dresses. Particularly those that come with bonnets. Maddy the movie star, on the flip side, loved hers and really worked the camera in it aka America's Next Top Model, or at least Zoolander.

So, yeah, I'd say our holiday was a success. GIANT SHOUT-OUT to Mimi, Pops, Jamey, Sheri, Caity, Kenzie, and Patrick for giving us such a good time. The cherry on top was all the time Philip and I got to remember how much we love being with each other. Thanks for that, especially. I love y'all, and feel so lucky to be a part of your family. Words cannot express.