Today our little girl was baptized in the very same church as her brother back in 2014. It is also the same church were I was baptized all those year ago in 1987. As I have written in the article “Our Son’s Baptism” the church is called the Finnish Seamen’s Church and was founded 1966 in Hamburg. We decided to have Nathalie’s baptism in the same church as it just seems to be already a tradition in our family by now.
Unlike at our son’s baptism the church was rather empty this time as we were to only people there. The only guests besides my parents were my brother and his girlfriend. Back in 2014 another family had their child’s baptism and they were a big big family. This time it was for us much more relaxed and obviously much shorter. Only when it came to the singing part is sounded a bit weak as all of us are suffering under the common cold thanks to Nathan who brings back home all kind of craziness from kindergarten.
We expected the worst behaviour of our daughter as she just loves to complain and cry whenever she gets bored with something. However we were blessed with a little angel for this day as she smiled during the whole ceremony and was watching the reverend with big eyes when she was playing the piano and singing. Apparently our little Nathalie loves church songs as she never cared at all about my or my wife’s music! After the ceremony we had just like three years ago some bread, coffee, Karelian Pirogs and Pulla. Nothing fancy but enough for us and in Finland everything is usually pretty low-key.
So what is now the complete name of our daughter? Her official name is Nathalie 逸诗 (Yishi) Amalia. The first name here again is something English and German speakers shouldn’t have any problems with, the second name is obviously her Chinese name and the third one is her Finnish name which we took from her great-grandmother from my mother’s side. In comparison our son’s full name is Nathan 逸然(Yiran) Antti. You can see they are very similar and Antti was actually the name of my mother’s Uncle.
What naming ceremonies/ traditions do you have?
Be sure to follow me also on Facebook and on Twitter as I will post there occasionally pictures which do not find their way into my blog posts. Furthermore there is also my Instagram account in which from time to time some pictures and short videos might pop up.
https://www.facebook.com/CrazyChineseFamily
Crazy Chinese Family 
Especially in that first photo, Nathalie looks like a little doll. What a beautiful baptismal gown!
Our daughters were all baptized in the Catholic church in my hometown. My parents, the godparents, and a handful of friends were there. When my youngest grandchild was baptized, we had a larger crowd from both sides of the family. I’m not sure where we ate, whether at home or in a restaurant, but knowing this group, It must have been nice.
Our little girl can look very cute when she is not bored/ crying… the baptismal gown is a tradition in Germany and in fact Nathan had it as well, same as me and my brother! My grandmother made it back in 1967 for my brother. All of our names and birthdays are embroidered in the front. Only the inside layer was changed from blue to pink for Nathalie
She looks so beautiful here! Such lovely photos of the family too, it’s nice that you are able to carry on the family tradition. Hopefully the church will still be around for Nathan to continue with the tradition? Haha…:)
Thank you. I do hope that the church will be around for some time still, you can never know what the future will bring. We were only a small family at the baptism but I think that it is enough:)
Congrats on a well-behaved little girl.
Might be a few years before you hear those words again…
I somehow doubt that I will ever hear it again. Shortly after the blog post the turned into a demon again. I guess the halo she received at the baptism was corrupted my MIL’s lingering presence in our apartment
Good looking small family you have there! I love the names you have given your kids, representing their full heritage. In Nepal, we only have a first and last name. Usually the names are short and the middle names are quite rare since about 30 years now.
For us it was important that the names reflect their heritage. Besides it is really good for them as well when going to the different countries as their names are easier to pronounce for the natives 🙂
Gorgeous ceremony. Wow how much do you and your brother look alike.
I didn’t even know that I look anything like my brother! Guess the beard makes a big common part now, up to this year we both had no beard at all 🙂
Her dress is sooo cute! Love how she’s also looking at the camera at your family pic. She looks really lovely in her baptismal dress. I like that her name is a combi of english, chinese and finnish names.😻
The dress is really nice. In fact my grandmother (father’s side) made it for my brother back in 1967. Yes he, me and Nathan had all the same dress except that the inner layer was in blue instead of pink. These baptism dresses are some tradition in Germany I guess.
Nathalie looks so adorable and a very good girl. What a great way to celebrate such a special occasion . Loved your photos. Thanks for sharing.
It was a really nice day for all of us there. Actually I am not that happy with the pictures (sure they turned out fine) as the light in the building was a mess
Congrats and great seeing this update. 🙂
Thank you, somehow I have been terrible when it comes to keeping my blog updated this year!
I’ve almost given up! 🙂 You continue to be quite the trooper!!
Treasure these photos!
We certainly will. All good pictures we also print out and put into a photo album 🙂