The One with the Nice Words

The boy is 6 months old today. Quite a milestone! So to mark his coming into the world we are having a Naming Day for him next weekend.

Naming Days or Ceremonies are quite a recent phenomenon and an alternative to Christenings. Both Christenings and Naming Days have their place and I think it's great you can now choose what you want and what's suitable for your family. If the lad wants to choose a religion later in life then he can make a, hopefully, informed decision then, but for now we just want to celebrate his being here.

I'm all for having options! But with options comes choice!

The first choice was whether to have a Christening (too traditional and restrictive for our needs and beliefs) or a Naming Ceremony with a humanist celebrant (more up my street but a little too alternative for hubby's tastes)? So in the end we opted for a Naming Day that we plan, write and conduct ourselves.

Then there's choosing the "Godparents" or "Fairy Godparents" as my friend has aptly and charmingly "christened" (pun intended) them.

Most people choose family but for me I don't see the point. Family are already there for the baby. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents all have recognised titles and roles already but as an only child, I have no blood aunts or uncles to bring into the lads life so by nominating dear friends as godparents it's a way of extending my limited family and enriching his circle of significant adults.

My friends are very important to me. They have become my surrogate brothers and sisters. They are my extended family of my own choosing. I have known the four people we have chosen between 12 and 19 years which is a significant time (and hubby has known one of them since secondary school) so these people are very much in our lives and mean a great deal to us.

So I wanted to say a little bit about what each of them means to us and therefore hopefully what they will come to mean to the boy.

And here's another choice! 

How "emotional" do I get with this? After all it's a joyous, fun filled occasion with tea, cake, wine and balloons not a soap opera weepy. I've made a start on writing it but it's all gone a bit Hallmark Cards on me (you know the ones - padded on the front, in white boxes instead of envelopes, usually with cartoon elephants holding roses in their trunks on the front and "nice" words inside).

Do I cut the crap, just raise my glass to them all and say "Cheers all the best" in my best Peter Kay voice or do I go for the all out blub fest?

I'll let you know how the speech turns out but I'm beginning to think I should have put "the wearing of waterproof mascara is advisable" on the invitations......