Ozzie's Baptism

Ozzie was baptized into the Catholic faith a few weeks ago. Oscar and I aren't what you call practicing Catholics {i.e. we sleep in more than we make it to church on Sunday morning} but it was important to us and REALLY important to my Mom that we baptized him Catholic. Oscar and I asked his brother, Hugo, and his wife, JoJo, to be Ozzie's Godparents. They introduced us so it seemed fitting and we know they will be good faith role models for Ozzie.

It was my first excuse to make party invitations, favors and decorate for a party in honor of Ozzie so I tried a few new things. I figure it was good practice for his 1st birthday party coming up at the end of this month.

Traditionally a candle is decorated with the child's name and baptism date for the mass and is relighted every year on the anniversary of his baptism. Below is the candle, the invitation and his party favors. I decided to make magnets with the faith theme for the favors so I used dove and cross stickers.

I really wanted to make Martha Stewart's tissue paper pom poms and a cross garland inspired by Hostess with the Mostess bunny garland. Honestly I could have spent more time fluffing my pom poms but I had a lot to get done and was running out of time. I think the cross garland is one of my favorites from the party.

For the cross cupcakes I bought ready to use fondant from Wilton. Oscar helped to roll it out, it was a huge chunk of fondant and I needed his muscle. We used a mini-cross cookie cutter and colored the frosting baby blue. They kind of looked like little gravestones but I still liked how they turned out.

My Mom just came back from a vacation in the Philippines and she brought Ozzie a traditional Filipino shirt called a Barong Tagalog. Ozzie looked too cute in his. Here he is with his cousin Kailani and smiling at his cousin Carissa {the official picture taker} over my shoulder.

St. Barbara's Church was really pretty and they offer private baptisms on Saturday morning. It was really quaint and special that it was just our family welcoming Ozzie into the Catholic faith. Everything went great. Ozzie didn't melt down when Father Chuck poured the Holy Water on his head. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying the whole thing. I did have to sneak him puffs during Father's Bible readings to keep him quiet.

Speaking of Father Chuck, we loved him! I wish that he wasn't retiring and that he could perform all of Ozzie's sacraments. He lead a great service and his humor was a pleasant change from the stern priests of my youth. Now I know why the receptionist at St. Barbara's said he was in high demand. Luckily he was able to perform Ozzie's baptism before he retired.

We only invited our family and the Godparent's family to keep it small. With Ozzie's 1st birthday at the end of this month, I don't think I could have pulled off two big parties in a row. Life and party planning is much harder with a little one!

Below are pictures of Ozzie getting baptized with the Holy Water and Blessed Oil as well as everyone who attended. If you want to see more pictures click here.

So Ozzie is officially baptized Catholic. God Bless him! Only 6 more sacraments to go...