On Saturday the 15th November we had a naming party for Conrad. Well, it was more of a welcoming party, perhaps, as we didn’t have an official ‘celebrant’ or similar and didn’t make it very formal. Ian and I had also decided to keep numbers small and only invite close family this time, as we wanted to make sure that arrangements didn’t run ahead with us, stopping us from giving the kids as much attention as we’d like them to have – after all, it was Conrad’s day and not ours. Conrad’s farmor and farfar kindly lent us the use of their house as party venue, as our house the week before had been treated (again) for rising damp, as well as mould, and we’d realised that we wouldn’t have been able to get it reasonably straight in time.
We had a wonderful time, and Conrad seemed to be enjoying himself too. Although he didn’t get a nap all afternoon (he couldn’t really switch off with everything going on around him, even when put in his temporary cot upstairs, which he had slept well in during the week, when the whole family had camped out in farmor and farfar’s ‘granny flat’ to escape the works in our house in Horley), everyone were saying how well he coped.
After everyone had arrived we had a buffet, followed by cake: as we’d decided on the very simple theme of blue and silver – with balloons, table cloth, paper plates and cutlery to match – I’d decorated those with blueberries and tiny silver balls. Then we gathered in the living room for Conrad’s farmor to say a few words, Auntie Wendy to read us a Winnie the Pooh story, which was a lovely idea – she sat cross-legged on the floor with a big book on her lap and told us how Winnie the Pooh got his name. (Conrad’s sister Jessica was shrieking happily throughout the story-telling, but I think most of us heard most of it…!) And then of course we toasted our little Conrad, in some lovely sparkling wine from the local vineyard Denbies.
Ian, I and the kids stayed the night to save us from having to dash home to Horley for the kids’ dinner at 5.30 but most of our guests had left by the time we started getting Conrad and his sister ready for the night at 6pm. Farmor Diana’s cousin Rita and husband were the last ones and they’d left by the time the kids were in bed. There had been a few people missing that we had loved to have seen at the party, but aside from that, I don’t think it could have gone any better than it did – Ian and I were so pleased with how it had all turned out!
Gabriella
Hej Gabriella och Ian!
Tack för att jag fick var med på Conrads “namngivning” som var jättetrevlig på alla sätt. Trevligt att få träffa er engelska familj igen. Speciellt roligt var det förstås att få träffa Conrad för första gången och det var svårt att tro att han bara var 4,5 månad gammal! Underbart roligt var det att få träffa Jessica igen som var så fin i sin nya klänning. Nu ser vi framemot att få träffa er i jul i Sverige och jag hoppas att vi traditionsenligt kan träffas hos oss i Stockholm på annandagjul! Yngve hälsar.
kram
anette