A weekend in Ebreuil - the baptism

 Last weekend we took a long drive to above Clermont Ferrand to go to the baptism of Arthur, 3rd child of Thomas' good childhood hockey friend (and Estelle's godfather), Francois Bessyre.

 We had a house for the weekend in Ebreuil, home to an abbey.

 After 10+ hours in the car Saturday, we decided we deserved to eat out!

 In the morning on Sunday before the baptism, we walked across the little street to the bakery in our slippers to get pastries.

 At 12 noon sharp, the baptism happened in a teeny tiny little hamlet called Soussat, where baby Arthur's great-grandparents were from and where generations of that family have been baptised.  It was lovely.

 Above, with Clea, Arthur's big sister who is in between Estelle & Léna in age.

 The first part of the ceremony was conducted outside.

 Thomas, as the godfather, looks on.

 Aurelie with Arthur.

 Estelle and the other children were asked in advance to do some drawings to show what a baptism meant.  The priest had each child (there were 6 of them) come up and explain.

 Thomas does a reading.

 Another little girl was being baptised too.

 Arthur thought the water was funny.

 This is Gabin, Arthur's almost 4 yr old brother.

 The boy in blue is Yannis, Arthur's only cousin whom we picked up in Cannes and who made the trip with us.

 Francois' parents who made the trip from Angers and his cousin.

 And the festivities begin - cocktails and hors d'oeuvres served outside.

 Thomas & an uncle.

 Thomas and Anais, Aurelie's half-sister who is the godmother.  She is only 18!

 The grandparents.

 Inside the hall where we had our meal.

 Such beautiful contryside and sunflower fields all around!

 Kids table!

 The kids amused themselves making a "restaurant" on the mezzanine of the hall.  It provided hours of entertainment as groups of 4 adults had to make their way upstairs all throughout the day to be "served".

 These are the traditional "dragées", very posh candies that are either yogurt-covered almonds or chocolate, notice that everything is color-coordinated.  They were butterfly nets.

 Here is the traditional "piece montée", complete with sparkler.  Made of creme-filled puffs, caramel and nougat.  You can imagine the work. 

 Then, the caterers dissect it into pieces and serve it.

 Clea enjoys my hair flower.

 I guess i was too busy eating and drinking to take photos of the entree course and the main course (all was served to us while we were seated), but I did at least get a shot of the dessert course.

 After, time to run and play!

 The farmer across the road is an old family friend.  He let the kids run wild all afternoon.  Fantastic.

 I asked the farmer "What do you do with all those rabbits?"  (I saw at least 20).  He said "Into the pot!"

 Here's the farmer Jean-Claude with Léna and Estelle.  Tragic that I didn't get a photo of his moustache, which was like a whole other character in the day.

 While the kids ran wild with the animals, we went for a long walk in the fields, along with Aurelie's step-dad who has MS and was so adept with his wheelchair - I was impressed!

 Cow corn.

 This is the little tiny hamlet of Soussat.  Aurelie's dad still has the family house here as his 2nd home.

 The farmer's wife and granddaughter came out and brought little baby chicks for the kids to hold.

 Meanwhile, all the men played petanque (boules).  It was so fun.  They were REALLY good and super interesting to watch.

 I was amazed at the strategy!

 Later, back to the "restaurant" upstairs.  By this point, the kids had transformed it into a creative-arts studio using flowers and leaves.  So fun!  All their idea with Estelle leading the way of course.

 Around 7 p.m. it was time to open the gifts.

 Every baby needs a leather armchair.

 What you don't see photos of is the 2nd meal served at 8:30 p.m. by the caterers.  After helping with the pickup, we left at 11 pm. to go back the 10-minute drive to Ebreuil to our rental house.  We were pooped out!  The next day after packing up, we drove the 3 hours to Calvinet, and passed by the entire Auvergne Volcano range.  This photo taken at 130 kph on the autoroute does NOT do it justice.

What a lovely, lovely weekend we had.  Thomas is now godfather to 2 children - Heather, and Arthur!