Our oldest daughter had her 1st communion a couple of years ago, and it was a fantastic joyful day with laughs, friends and plenty of food.  She was dressed like a princess looking amazing and I was standing on the porch with a shotgun fending off all the potential boyfriends – A dad has to take the necessary precautions!

Being the proud father of three, it was just a matter of time until the next in line had to go through the 1st communion as well.  Behold, my little man was getting ready and preparations started 18 months ago for his big day.

Beside the mandatory church teachings where kids learn about Big J, Heffe, prayers and important scriptures, they also need to be comfortable with wine and unleavened wafers (or tacos as I call them).

This is where we the parents come in.  Every Friday for several weeks before the big day, we practiced getting wafer and wine, ensuring he would a) spit it out or b)make funny faces and then spit it out.

After the first attempt at the VERY small taste of wine (5-10ml), it was clear that he enjoyed the taste of wine.  So, no need to practice that step any further and we replaced the wine with Fanta.

However, the wafers are not exactly a delicacy among food critiques and are not my son’s favorite food source.  To encourage some involvement by my son with this process, I initially swapped the wafers with Doritos, and that seemed to do the trick.  Unfortunately he was utterly disappointed as I re-introduced these dried up wafers, which caused a few gagging moments and wafers were hitting the ceiling, windows and floor 🙂

The big day finally arrived!

Sunday was his moment to shine.  He knew something was up that morning, probably because I was ironing his pink shirt and hanging up his new awesome suit.  He would be dressed like a true Kingsman.  And, the fact that I was wearing a suit too was probably a give-away + rest of the family was wearing fancy dresses.

Deep inside, I was fearing that he would walk off in the middle of the ceremony, when standing in front of the parish, or simply spit out the wafer as he did so many times at home.

I kept reminding him it was Taco Sunday, so just be cool and do the stuff he learned.

Beside the fact he refused to join the line of kids before entering the church, it was a flawless performance.  He bowed as he walked in.  He held his hands up for prayers. He sang along (mimed more accurately) and did superb when getting wafer + wine.  All-in-all an outstanding achievement.

The most magical part of the day was when he discovered that his aid had come to witness his big.  They hadn’t seen each other since my son moved school, but they have developed a very tight relationship.  My son’s eye lit up like Christmas lights, and he ran to give him a big hug.  It was true love and admiration for his best friend.

My wife started to tear up and people walked up to them to comment on how much their bond was shinning out.  Smiles on both their faces and big hugs proved that they are brothers.

I’m so proud of my son.  He did an amazing job in church, and we had a great day with close friends … and plenty of food as always.

Congratulations my son!