Doin' the backstroke across the Sea of Wrong.

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Nothing more entertaining than Late Night on the West Coast.

Toddson! I'd no idea, but so glad you are okay.

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That was so entertaining I'm going to be late for my shower and hence, running like hell for work. Save this kind of shit for the weekend, wouldja?

Okay, this is weird. Everytime I try to put a comma after "weekend" it gives me a semicolon. Gives me commas anywhere else I want one, though. My computer has become been corrupted by the Sea of Wrong, that's all it can be.

ETA: And now my post is making me look craxy. The semicolon has been reconverted to a comma. It's those damn sea monkeys, I'm tellin' ya!

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libkitty, you mean you spent $100 on a baby shower gift and now are expected to bring another gift to a baby dedication??? I'm sorry, I know you have to work with this person but this is some kind of off-the-charts selfish, greedy bitch and I would, in no way, shape or form, run up credit card debt to indulge this woman. No. Fucking. Way.

The shower gift IS the baby gift. Was this woman raised by very rich wolves or something?

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Not one of you Bitches welcomed September.

Fah who for-aze!

Dah who dor-aze!

Welcome September,

Come this way!

This family contains the same grandmother (the one in the hospital) who told me my uncle was decapitated, but was doing fine now.

Heh. Your uncle is from some strong stock.

Now I find that it's really a dedication ceremony for their new baby, and presents for baby and for parents are implicitly expected.

A dedication...like...the Protestant ceremony done in those denominations where they don't baptize infants? Seriously? Ugh.

Okay, I'ma have a little rant.

The larger Christening party (the post-ritual get-together) was held by those people whose customs from the old country did not include baby showers, and who were afraid the pre-birth baby shower custom was a little tempt-y of fate.

Among these people, generally, the infant was baptized as soon as possible, and in the old days, many infants (particularly those of Western European extraction from predominantly Roman Catholic countries) were pretty much kept in the house with the immediate fam until the baptism, which was performed in the first few weeks of life.

The Christening ceremony and any party following, was sort of the baby's introduction to his or her extended peeps. Presents were given in the spirit that new baby presents often are--as a genuine happy reaction to a new member of the circle. And the people hadn't already been milked for a shower, and hadn't already come to see you and your new baby with a spontaneous gift.

If you have already had a big-ass baby shower (in particular, I'm looking at you people who end up having baby showers in function halls, and I won't say any more about that), and then everyone who comes to see your baby brings a present when they come to see the baby (which is another custom that mingled in, somehow) and then you have the baby Christened, and throw another big ass party (I'm not talking about grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins back at the house), you're asking for too much gift-wise, even if you're not asking, because people feel like they have to give it. You're also in danger of engendering baby fatigue.

If you're from a tradition that doesn't baptize babies anyhow, and instead has a dedication, because the child has to be of a certain age to choose baptism himself, and you had a big-ass shower? Don't have a post-service party. Just don't. If you want your fam and (closest) friends to experience the ceremony, you tell them the baby is being dedicated at such and such a church, at such and such a time, and you're having [dinner; a buffet; pizza; Chinese] after, and they're welcome "to stop by." Otherwise, you just look like a gift-beggar.

For reals.

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Far as I'm concerned, unless they're going to break a bottle of champagne on the baby's head or pledge it to a monastery, I'll have no part of any "baby dedication".

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Dedication is not a new thing. It's just done in the denominations where people don't practice paedo-baptism. I was dedicated. Our church does practice paedo-baptism, but if parents choose not to baptize their babies and leave it up to the kids when they're older, our minister will dedicate the baby instead. I have never before heard of a Dedication Party, though.

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Huh. That I can see, though I guess as a kid raised in a baby baptism church I've not encountered it.

But I didn't get the sense, in this case, that it was any kind of a churchy thing, just a gimme party. I mean, it's not like Zen was invited to come to church on Sunday morning and then to, say, a brunch or something.

Besides, if she goes and gives a gift for this "occasion", what's she going to give the baby for it's 3-6-9-12-15-and-18 month anniversary galas?

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vw, glad you are rid of the whole Cambridge apartment stress. Good luck with the lawyer today.

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I also can't see inviting work acquaintances to event after event and expecting gifts. Doesn't she realize that she has to work with YOU? I mean, she should be worried about what you think of her and not the other way around. Getting pegged as a greedy bitch might not do a whole lot for her relationships with coworkers.

gift fatigue

Cindy's waaaaay nicer than I am this morning. But then she's probably had more coffee than I.

Owen and I had a "discussion" as to why mini m&m's don't make good breakfast food. I'm going to blame Christopher for leaving them out on the counter where O could see them when I was trying to get him to decide between a waffle and cheerios. *sigh*

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