Ashley's Naming Ceremony Part 2

On Sunday morning I decided to leave Steve asleep in bed nursing a small hangover, a painful wisdom tooth and the start of a nasty cold as I swung by the Canterbury Players Warehouse to pick up some final costume pieces for our production of 'Tis Pity She's A Whore which goes on this week.  Some of the others were there trying to load the van with the set pieces to get them to the theatre.  It looked tricky and the drills were coming out to take some of the struts off in order to make everything fit.  I felt guilty that I couldn't stay and help but I needed to get back home to shower, change and head to Chilham Village Hall for this little dude's naming ceremony!

Chilham Village Hall is a beautiful C15th timber framed barn located in the Kentish downs.  The entire village seems to have come straight from a fairytale, it is simply the most picturesque village I have ever seen.  It's also 10 minutes from my front door conveniently enough!   We arrived bright and early (and in my case swinging - I was in full 1950's party dress complete with petticoats.  I need to start wearing petticoats more often, they are so much fun!) and started the busy process of setting up and decorating the space ready for the 50 or so guests who were due to arrive in the next half an hour.

Leanne, one of Ashley's godmothers is a dab hand in the baking department and arrived bearing this absolute wonder of a cake.  She is ridiculously talented!   It not only looked fantastic but tasted divine as well.

Meanwhile in the kitchens the grandmothers and grandfathers were busy sorting out the food and drink that everyone had made and bought with them, getting the ovens going at full blast and making the table decorations.  This was a true event of love where everyone got stuck into help to make the day wonderful.  Whoever bought the ham can come again; it was divine with an amazing glaze with a flavour that went right through!  I contributed my Pasteis de Nata, Slutty Brownies and Basil Lemonade, all of which I think went down well!

Once everyone had arrive it was time to get stuck into the proceedings.  The godparents all took their places on the stage with everyone staring up at them and solemnly swore to be a good influence on Ashley's life and not to get him into trouble (too often).   

A candle was lit for Ashley by his parents and the little boy beamed his way through the entire ceremony.  I've only ever been to Christenings, not Naming Ceremonies before and the personal touches in this were beautiful.  Steve read a particularly relevant poem about the sleep deprivation parents feel with their little angels and Ashley must be one of the only children in the world to get a patented Truckle poem!  

I should explain this a little more - our friend Neil is a bit of a wordsmith and at all parties, birthdays and events he writes and dedicates a poem to the lady or gentleman of the moment.  This one was kept particularly clean compared to most (Mrs Truckle made sure of that!).

After a moving video that Sasha had made showcasing photos from the moment she discovered she was pregnant right the way through to the present moment it was time for photo's out in the drizzly weather and then food and drink from the buffet while the children played with the various play stations around the hall.

 

James and Sasha had even organised a Baby Sensory class to keep the smallest tots (and their parents) amused during the afternoon.  I'm still not convinced that the parents weren't having more fun playing with bubbles and what looked suspiciously like light sabers than the children were.

Ashley was one very spoilt little boy with plenty of presents and cards to get stuck into.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar always makes an appearance for some reason at baby events.  There is an appeal from James and Sasha though - if you gave him a pair of shoes with no card can you let them know so that they can thank you!

The last event of the afternoon was the formal cutting of the cake (Sasha did joke that it was like a second wedding!)  10 seconds after I took this picture Ashley reached down, grabbed the giraffe whole and rammed him in his mouth.  If the guest of honour thinks it's time to start eating the cake it would be rude for the rest of us not to follow suit!

Finally, Ashley gave Steve a lasting reminder of the day with his gift.  It was a really special day, one Ashley won't remember unfortunately but hopefully will be able to look back on photos and stories of the day to see how many people he has in his life who love and care for him. 

Ashley's Naming Ceremony - Ask Italian

This weekend was a particularly special one as Steve became an official godfather!  As you can see he is already taking his duties very seriously and ensuring he is a good moral compass for this little one's future upbringing.  Poor lad.

For a baby less than a year old we were very touched to hear he had invited us, his other godparents and his family for a pre-naming ceremony meal at Ask.  He even contributed to the cost of the meal!  20 of us arrived at this lovely little Italian restaurant for an early-ish dinner.  Thank you baby Ashley! (and parents James and Sasha!)

Ask in Canterbury really does have the most beautiful location on the banks of the river Stour.  Boat tours wind their way through the city and tourists congregate on the bridge to get THAT iconic photo with the (mock) witches stool in it.

There were babies and toddlers galore at the meal and were all incredibly well behaved and really rather adorable.  The little man of the hour was passed around from person to person who were all eager for a cuddle with him.  He has a beautiful smile and partook in the game of Pass the Baby with remarkably good grace!

It has been three years since James and Sasha got married and it has been the first time since then that I have seen some of James' friends and family as they live in Wales.  It was lovely to be able to catch up with them over the course of the dinner, something I don't think I would have been able to do properly the next day at the naming ceremony.

Food was nice- I had gone for one of the new pizza's on the menu which claimed to be hot but in reality had very little fire to it.  To be fair it does take a lot for me to notice heat.  Mr M had the Calzone and RV had what looked like a really good seafood stew. 

I wasn't at all jealous of the fact that I am still supposed to be being good with my food at the moment and therefore didn't have any dessert.  Instead I sat there and watched while Steve ploughed his way though this mountain of profiteroles.  The green bowl is a fairly close approximation of the colour my face went as I had to hear about how good they were. 

After food Sasha's sister and brother-in-law surprised everyone by cracking open a fair number of bottles of sparking wine.  We all grabbed a glass and toasted the fairly bemused baby Ashley and his parents in anticipation of the next day.

Just take a minute and look at these three.  Do they look like they are up to something to you?

This was them mid-scheming plan.  After the meal they started rounding up all the men folk for a night on the town.  Originally there were no girls allowed but this quickly fell apart as they put their stilettoed feet firmly down.  Those of us with babies or commitments said our goodbyes and headed home (I had a pile of Pasteis de Nata still to bake!). 

From the stories I heard the next day it was a fairly riotous affair (I'm looking at you grandmothers - I heard about your antics crawling on the floor under the tables and throwing your email address in paper airplane form at young men!) Some of the men were decidedly in the dog house the next day and there were a number of sore heads as we arrived at the village hall in the morning.  Here is the lesson - when the boys get this look on their face it's probably best to say no!