Monday, July 12, 2004

Christening of the Century! (Or just this year...well, this past Saturday)

Last weekend, my sister, her boyfriend and the G-clan were all together for the Fourth of July. Yesterday, history was made as the daughter of The Professor and Hoochie Momma, had her head splashed with cold water and covered with sweet smelling oil.

Yes, Meow was christened yesterday, and with that came another big Filipino bash.

First of all, there was no lechon. Boo! The thing was that the only place to order already cooked lechon is in the Detroit area, and it wouldn't be at the house until 1:00, whereas Meow's christening was finished at 11:00. Just too much hassle. There were eighty pounds of bratwurst instead. An imperfect substitution, but still edible, and that's what counts. That wasn't it either. In addition to the endless feet of sausage, there were lumpia (Filipino eggrolls), pancit (pan-fried noodles with veggies), saurkraut (for the bratwurst), and much more! There was a whole table of cakes and other delicious desserts of the whipped cream and fruit kind. Needless to say, everyone got to eat and fill their bellies. Some ate two or three times, and some never stopped (guilty). All the while, the guest of honor was passed from family member to family member, because everyone wanted to hold her.

One of the highlights of my experience was seeing AF-H with his girlfriend, and his mom, Tita D. For those of you who have been reading, I complained about him missing the last Filipino party. His sister, AN-H, was there the last time. She missed out on this one, but she actually forgot, where AF-H just didn't feel like going.

Anyway, Noona, Princess Pinoy and I talked a lot about old times with AF-H, and told a lot of embarrassing stories about him when he was little, the type that girlfriends love to hear. Noona was also cool enough to bring her Gamecube, but she forgot to bring MarioKart Double Dash (not so cool). The game in the Gamecube was Mario Party 4 (a decent party game, Noona will be sad to find out that she left it here at home *snicker* It's not like I can play it though). So, Noona, Princess Pinoy, AF-H and I played.

Mario Party 4 is like a board game. Interesting to play, when you've got the time to sit and finish a game, but easy to quit in the middle of (like Monopoly). What makes this game extra cool are the mini games. That's pretty much all we played. I found out I'm pretty good at straight button mashing. AF-H's girlfriend, who was content to just watch, was cracking up at our faces when all four of us were convulsing and twitching to press the A button a zillion times.

Don't worry, we weren't alienating anyone. A lot of the young kids sat and watched us play, especially Thing 1. Thing 1's inside voice varies between loud and really loud. Boy can that kid yell. The one other thing that was a little (a lot) annoying was this little girl who kept playing with my hair (I can't remember her name). She thinks long black hair is pretty (I think so too) and I was content to let her play with it while I concentrated on beating the other at the games. I had to draw the line when she started touching my hair with her feet. That's just icky. I think I offended her when I told her to stop, but she offended me first! I know I'll probably see her again sometime, but it'll probably be a long time from now, and she probably won't remember any of this, which is just fine by me.

After the video games were played out, we all went back for another run at the food (delicious!). It was cooler out, and we all went back outside to be social. I had the joy of showing people my engagement ring (I never tire of it) and telling the whole story over again. Most of the little kids had had their naps, and the big people had their second wind, so there was much running/wrestling/playing (gotta work off them pounds somehow).

It was fun watching the toddlers run, and the bigger kids wrestle, but I think my favorite had to be watching the adults on the swingset. This swingset was from the days when people knew how to make swingsets. None of this plastic crap they have nowadays. This set is all metal, baby! and the rings and monkey bars are set so high off the ground a kid could actually break an ear playing on it. Not only was the swingset a giant 1980's deathtrap, but my godmother (the mother of the G-clan) had planted little rosebushes at the bottom of the ladders. So awesome. Princess Testiclees made the most of the swingset. When he swung on the rings, the whole structure swayed with him. He tried doing an Iron Cross (of olympic gymnastics fame). His messed-up, angry lower-case t was the best anyone did (pretty darn good). I surprised myself by doing a single pull-up (you know, knuckles facing you) which is one more than I thought I could do. I did my best to chronicle everything in my trusty digital camera!

The party ran long into the night. Well, long for people who have children under the age of 5, which is 11:00 or so. It ended with a white elephant gift exchange, an honor reserved only for those who... umm... well, those who know the G-clan and were told to bring a five dollar gift, I guess. I'm not gonna say what everyone got, because some people (The Father of the Things and Juggler Momma) had to leave early and haven't seen what they got yet. I will say one thing: the smell doesn't leave your hands.

And so ends another awesome family get-together. I had to miss a Purple T party for it, but I think it was worth it, even without the lechon.

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