My parents hosted a traditional Hindu baby shower for us in Houston over the weekend (9/19/09 .. in my 31st week) and though I was a bit reluctant to have it, I ended up having a great time! I went to Houston a couple of days early and Shel joined us the day before the shower. I had family fly in for the occasion, which was great since I hadn't seen them all for over a year...especially Anila masi who we hadn't seen for 4 years! Cute little Zaira (niece) was a joy to have around and play with... she and Priya bonded well by the end of the weekend. They were so sweet to observe together.
Priya's 8th birthday was on Friday, 9/18/09 so we had a little Mexican fiesta for her. Sadhna mami served up her famous Chimichanga's and I whipped up some pina coladas (virgin ofcourse). The cake Hetal got for Pri had a princess theme and was topped with a tiara and wand, which Hetal gave to Zaira after the cake was cut and became her favorite accessories for much of the weekend! She got to be a princess for a few days :)
The baby shower went off without a hitch and we enjoyed it. My parents worked really hard on the party, and it is much appreciated! Hetal, Nayan, all my aunts and cousins were a huge help as well... they all worked many hours to throw us a great shower. Shel and Mayu did a great job decorating and running the games, which were a bit chaotic (to be expected at a Gujarati event), but fun! The ceremony itself (which Shel and I both had to participate in) took longer than we expected (about 2 hours), since the pundit did his best to explain the rituals to us in English as he went along, vs. just speed talking in Sanskrit. It was helpful to know what we were doing :) Only drawback was that Shel, not being accustomed to sitting Indian style on the floor, was pretty uncomfortable and his legs fell asleep! LOL
I had a great time and especially enjoyed time spent with the family!
More pictures from the event:
http://picasaweb.google.com/niketa9551/BabyShowerInHouston?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfZqobsgev_1QE&feat=directlink
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2 comments:
What a beautiful ceremony, I really enjoyed looking at the pictures. You're beautiful! I can really see how loving your family is, that's awesome. I would love to learn more about the ceremony, very interesting.
Thanks Jolynn! :) The ceremony is mostly having to do with paying respect to various Hindu Gods and asking for blessings as we bring a new life into the world and start a family. Then the "goad barna" part of the ceremony is where there is a symbolic filling of my "lap" with a coconut, rice and other things, that represents a child... it's done by someone who has a child... so it's kind of like passing the torch. Anyway, long explanation, but hope that helps :)
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