Christening Annabel and Megan

Tuesday 28th December was a very special day for us - it was the day we were baptised in Stoke Bliss Church.  Mummy and daddy told us that we were being welcomed into the family of the church, but we didn’t really understand it so they’ll explain it to us properly when we’re older.  We’re only six months old now.
    We had come all the way from Brooklyn, New York with mummy and daddy and our big brother Henry for our special day.  It had taken a lot of organising, Grandma said, because two of our godmothers live in New York and one lives in Abu Dhabi and one lives in Switzerland, and they all wanted to be at home with their families for Christmas, but Revd Barlow was very kind and let us be baptised on Tuesday.  So it was a pity that our American godmothers couldn’t come in the end because the snow was too bad in New York, and our Abu Dhabi godfather had to stay at work.  But there were plenty of people to stand in for them, so we didn’t mind.
    We would like to thank Revd Barlow for the lovely service, which everyone enjoyed. We would also like to thank our grandad who played the organ, and Mrs Middleton for warming the church up for us, and for warming the water, which she brought in a big red thermos flask. Revd Barlow said that in the olden days babies were baptised by total immersion when they were only one or two days old.  We're glad that didn't happen to us!  It was a very cold day but we were warm and snug in our white snowsuits.  We were very good when Revd Barlow poured the water on our heads, although our big brother wanted to pull the bell rope and our Uncle John had to ask him not to.
    Thank you to all the people who came to help us be baptised – all our godparents and grandparents (especially our Nana Ida who had a long and difficult train journey from Aberdeen to come and spend Christmas with us at Grandma and Grandad’s house), our great grandmother and our uncle and all our friends.
    Everyone had a lovely lunch at The Granary afterwards, so we would like to thank Mr and Mrs Maiden for that, even though we just had boring milk, and thanks to Charlotte Bateman for our beautiful christening cakes which everyone enjoyed – except us, as usual!  We can’t wait to get something a bit more interesting than baby rice to eat.
    Altogether it was a very special day, and we are very happy that we could be baptised in Stoke Bliss church, where our big brother was baptised two years ago.  Thank you to everyone.
Annabel and Megan Griffiths
as told to Grandma (Sandra Griffiths)