DOUBLE MILESTONES: A JOYOUS BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AND CHRISTENING OF MY LOVING NIECES

Nothing is more joyous than watching the kids in your family smile when celebrated in any way they should be. When I always get an invite for a kid celebration outside home, only two things come to my mind right after—either it is a birthday celebration or a Christening for a little soul. Both are important to me—to honor the first day of a kid's life and a glorious and holy act of replenishing a sin of one. I enjoy attending them, and nothing feels happier than attending one of my nieces' birthday celebration and Christening.

Hello dear Hivers! Talay is now back on track writing my life on this platform. The last whole week has been busy and warred for me as we try to recover from the tremendous earthquake in our town. I actually accepted that we started our recovery already, but the other night, another aftershock (which I bet was already an earthquake) of magnitude 6.0 struck again in the north, scaring again all walks of life in our city and worse—getting us back to sleeping outside with man-made tents.

Now, we just have to accept this is how life would be until December and hope we get through this by the end of the year—complete and safe.

At this challenging state, with safety and food at risk, no other thing gives me comfort than recollecting the life we had before the earthquake as well as reliving those emotions to ground me. One day before the earthquake, we celebrated the 3rd birthday of my eldest brother's daughter and the Christening of his second daughter.
All at once—not because we are in tight budget—but because a celebration is merrier when two are celebrated.

In a sunny early morning of September 29, me and my friends headed to the beach where the lunch would happen to have a little bit of design in our area. We prioritized designing the table where the foods are put since that's the most viewed part of the venue. We rented just a simple beach space exclusive to us and then added some tables and child-like designs to put vibrance on the celebration.

By 9:00 o'clock, I headed back home to have the fastest bath I ever had since I was running out of time and the mass for my niece’s Christening was almost over. My brother called me in series, hoping he would get me before the photo opportunity so that I could take a photo of them. When I arrived at the church, the priest was already starting the Christening, but since I don’t belong to the Roman Catholic religion, I am not familiar with what happened or what was being done in the church.

This is my niece while her mother is carrying her, waiting for her turn to be baptized. This little girl is a 5-month-old baby, and it took us long to baptize her since we were waiting for her uncle to go back to the province. In this kind of celebration, we make sure to be complete as long as we can so our family gets to witness the milestone of the children, which could later on become a memory we would recall in our older years.

The aunties and uncles of my niece—some came from outside the country since they are working there, while some left their hometowns and work to attend my niece's Christening.

After the Christening, we left the church immediately as it was scorching daylight, and we didn’t want to ruin our appearance for the lunch celebration of the Christening and my other niece's birthday.

This is not the setup when I left the beach. My friends told me the strong winds ruined it, and they had to work fast on fixing it without me since we were running out of time. But regardless, it was a ready-to-go design, and what matters the most are the important people at the celebration and the memories we would make.

Our foods consisted of iconic lumpiang shanghai, rice puso, pancit palabok, spaghetti, fried chicken, pork humba, chicken kawali,diced pork stew, rice cake delicacies, and the majestic Cebuano Lechon that is the main highlight of our foods.

This lechon never gets old and could always make visitors want another batch of rice. The taste just couldn’t let us forget it. It is very delicious in any heavenly way it can be.

When we finished the prayer, the visitors were told to get their food already. I took photos of them while eating to capture the chaotic moments of choosing which viand best to put on the plate. Undoubtedly, lechon ranked first. Me and my family were not able to eat together with them because we were busy controlling the celebration and entertaining visitors.

This celebration was honestly a simple one—just a venue and food for everyone, no program needed to make the best memories for the kids.

Eating time! The best part in attending a celebration. Whenever I get an invite, I get the same feeling of wanting to eat already and cherishing the foods displayed to make sure my presence is worthy to happen. My friends from the neighborhood, some relatives and nieces, family from both my brother and his wife's side, my mother's long-time friends, and my aunties and uncles were present at the celebration. These people are the ones who mattered the most to us, and they deserve to be part of the kids' milestone.

The cakes of the kids correspond to a particular theme. The birthday cake is themed Demon Hunter since my oldest niece likes this series very much, while the other is a simple but elegant pink-themed cake as appropriate for the Christening celebration.

The souvenir prints were printed and designed by me to minimize the cost since the souvenir itself is costly already, and we bought 30 of them. The loot bags were only 20 in total since we made sure all kids were given one during the celebration and no bag was left after the event. We are very practical with the cost when celebrating—we try to minimize cost if possible but maximize quality.

My niece on her third birthday celebration was watching upon her cake, which she loved very much for a short time. She stared at it excitedly before we sang her the Happy Birthday song and blew the candles for her great wishes. She always loves singing the Birthday song regardless of who is celebrated, and often she would ask people to sing also for her even though it is not her birthday.

This baby is the one baptized. Whenever a camera looks at her, she also looks at it with a cute gaze, curious of what I am holding. I am happy she got baptized finally and hoping she was a happy little creature during the event—which I believe she was.

After eating, we had a karaoke session that is always present in any Pinoy celebration. This tradition is always in us in any feast or party because singing is one of our currencies as Filipinos. We are good at it. But sometimes, some just didn’t inherit the good voice, and instead of making a concert during the celebration, they would just summon the God of rain and make a storm. LOL. If you know what I mean—it is a long Filipino joke ever since I was a child.

A group photo of the family members present at the celebration. Looking upon the photos makes me nostalgic and happy at the same time because for a moment, our family was complete—which is a rare occurrence.

The rest that happened was history—karaoke session, swimming by the beach, conversation with the families, and a long night sleep afterward in one happy home. This kind of thing grounds me in the family I have and the relationship I grew with ever since. As an adult, this kind of appreciation hits differently in this age where the only thing I prioritize is my family.

At the end of that joyful day, I realized how celebrations like the one we had remind us of what truly matters. Again, of what truly matters. Life threw us quakes and storms after but moments like these—filled with laughter, food, and family—steady our hearts again in this calamity. No grand setup, no loud program, just genuine people that matters that fills the gaps left by the hardships we endure. I bring that day with me like a warm, enduring memory stitched in my heart, reminding me that no matter how shaken life gets, love and family will always be my safest home and perhaps the peace I need.