Tuesday, May 15, 2012

We're Celebrating!

In a family the size of mine, there is always something going on, always something being planned, and always something to celebrate! Naturally, birthdays certainly lead the charge, thoroughly hitting every month of the year, but Anniversaries, weddings, baptisms, and Confirmations are not to be forgotten.

The Owens family interprets "crazy picture" differently..
The Weihing birthdays are perfectly scattered throughout the year; summer, fall, winter, and spring. Wayyy back when, we Celebrated Christian's birthday with a day trip to Switzerland after a week on Lake Constance. In November, our house looked (and sounded) like a kindergarten with Samuel and all his friends running around happily. Selina and I share February as our birthday month and although it wasn't on our birthday, the family ski trip was certainly a great Feb. treat. In March, friends and family came for the evening to celebrate Papa's birthday and unlike in American culture, I've come to learn that adults usually throw themselves a birthday part too--why not? To Jonathan's disappointment, I'll be in Berlin over his birthday but once I promised to bring him back a surprise I think the disappointment faded a little bit :-) And then this summer, after I leave, Mama will celebrate her birthday. Mentioning the birthdays of my eight cousins, three aunts and uncles, and grandparents would simply take to long and bore anyone to death...but i think you get the idea!
Me with my cousin, Annika


However, at the end of April, our family had something bigger than a birthday to celebrate--a Confirmation. The closest thing to compare it to in the U.S.A. would be a high school graduation. Confirmation takes place around the age of 13 and it is the students' commitment to continue their life following God and comes only after a year of classes and a bit of preparation :) The church was packed!










Once the ceremony itself was over, our group of...well..many...headed back to the house where the celebration began. Oh. My. Goodness. Never have I seen so much food! As soon as we got to the house, the adults toasted to the occasion and everyone nibbled on the small assortment of finger food set out on the patio. The delicious snacks certainly would've held over my appetite for another hour or two but what felt like only minutes after the treys were pulled, the lunch bell rang and we all filed in to an enormous buffet of chicken, venison, pork, potatoes, veggies, salad, and certainly a handful of things I forgot.


Without going into useless details, I'll fill you in on the rest of the day: after lunch free time for an hour or so until "Coffee" (which is code for a tiny cup of coffee and giant slice of cake), family games, dinner. The response to "dinner time" has to be one of the most humorous responses I've ever heard to such a delicious buffet of breads, meats, and cheeses, but I too was stuffed to the gills and the thought of finding room for an entire meal was somewhat laughable but somehow we all managed.

But don't worry, there was at least a little more to the giant celebration than food, food, food :) Several family games had us all laughing--including one that had me admitting to the three grey hairs I'd found that morning and the grades I'd received for my latest Chemistry test. I played photographer as the 14 kids took their best swing at the pinata which wasn't always the safest job..."stand close to the blindfolded kid with the baseball bat to get a picture of him swinging madly.." hmmm. Oh, and I played memory. I remember the days when I was so good at that game...

And in a nutshell, that sums up a fun, beautiful, and exciting day of celebrating with my cousin her Confirmation :)






1 comment:

  1. This blog post makes me smile and only confirms my European heritage :)

    My mother's side is from Germany and my Father's from Italy...everything must be celebrated with FOOD! :)

    NT

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