the deacon cometh

we have finally joined a church out here so that we can finally have andrew christened. it took us forever to pick one. i don't know why. i guess i do know why. i wasn't crazy about any of them. they were all weird to me.

in all of them, everyone holds hands during the "our father" - or "lord's prayer" if you prefer. all 3. i don't understand the line of demarcation where this happens. i grew up in western mass and we didn't do it and i also went to every catholic church in the north end - 3 to be exact - and no one there did it. there were some pretty hardcore old school italians in there mind you.

mind you, what a weird thing to say and weirder thing to write.

anyway, in 2 of the 3, when you get communion there is someone else up there with a glass of wine to drink from. and everyone does it, except michael and i and the underaged kids. we don't do the hand holding thing either. i am sure that they all think that we are mental not partaking but i really don't care.

the other thing is that everyone sings. in one of them, they have photocopies of songs at the ends of the pews. we didn't notice them when we scrambled in by some regulars, who were surely not giving up their seats to slide over for us, and when it came time to sing, they handed the sheet down to us. and we sang. or i did anyway. i was so freaked that they were going to call me on it if i didn't, that i sang away.

the decision came down to wine and aesthetics - just in case my kids want to get married there. yes, i am that crazy. i scoped out the aisle, i could see the little gathering out in front after the ceremony. i was not the girl who had dreamed of her wedding day her entire life, i am apparently the girl who will dream up her kids' weddings. OY, let's hope not. most importantly, this is the one of the 3 that had no blood drinking option

so so so, onto the deacon. after joining and being connected to the head honcho priest to chit-chat - who, thankfully, did not quiz me - they informed me that in order to schedule a christening, the deacon comes to your house - yes, TO YOUR HOUSE - for a meeting. the meeting is tomorrow at 7. i might puke. michael went to catholic school so he will be in charge of fielding all quiz-type questions. i will be in charge of praying that bridget doesn't bust out too many "oh my god's" during the meeting since this happens to be her favorite phrase du jour.

one more thing - we went to church on sunday and we were officially welcomed in the church bulletin. they didn't include andrew's name with the rest of us. i am assuming its because he isn't baptized yet so they don't recognize him as a church member but i think that sucks. i may have picked the wrong church.