Orthodox Christian Mamas - Page 7

[lilyka]

instead of a blessingway or shower, why not just host a totally awesome baptism or make a a big deal of the churching?

[sraplayas]

lilyka,  that's a great suggestion---what have you seen done along those lines? i'd love to hear some examples...

i really love the idea of a church-related celebration, just not sure how that would work in our context.

our parish is very small (about 10 adults) and only one of my siblings is Orthodox, so we wouldn't have family persay at the baptism or churching and my non-O friends may or may not come (many would be uncomfortable).

we have our LO's baptised at 6 weeks, and had a reception at our home after the baptism for DS and it was pretty exhausting. not sure if i'll be up to it but i'll definitely give it some thought. i love the idea of it, though. :)

[lilyka]

If you do not have a big church family to celebrate the baptism (generally I have seen the big celebrations after the actual event, not so much the churching but that is the sort of thing that would inspire me to host a simple coffee hour )  I would recommend doing a party afterwards to celebrate it.  Since you don't feel up to a party right then, maybe wait a few weeks to host a celebration (at our parish the tradition is that the newly baptized receives communion for three weeks wearing their baptismal clothes and holding their candle.  Perhaps after the last Sunday)  A huge upside to this is that you can have pictures or a slide show from the baptism.   (pictures of a baptism is how I started on my path to the Orthodox church...).   You can keep it simple.  Perhaps even just gathering for dinner at a nice restaurant.  My friends do this and everyone just pays for their own meals and they provide cake.  You could phrase it as "we are meeting at xyz after church to celebrate baby's baptism.  we would love it if you could join us."  And then have a cake and some balloons and perhaps a photo album of the baptism.  It does not need to be elaborate to be meaningful.  You could tie in some special little things as well  maybe ask people to write a letter to the baby that you assemble in a special memory)

[sraplayas]

hi mamas! just wanted to check in and say "hi".

Little DS2 is here with us and we had the baptism and a small reception in our home.

Boy it was alot of prep and work for this sleep-deprived mama! :)

Edited by sraplayas - 8/22/12 at 8:45am

[delicate_sunshine]

.

Edited by delicate_sunshine - 4/18/13 at 12:29pm

[sraplayas]

Hi Mamas! I'm bumping up our thread in hopes of having a little more action on this thread. I haven't been very active myself on MDC recently. Life with 3 little ones now is crazy. So, for now---
Christ is Born!
I hope that you all had a wonderful Holy Week and Pascha.