One thing I have learned through many visits to the Philippines, and being married to a Filipina, is that these people love celebrations. I have come to the conclusion that any excuse to have a party, is a good enough reason to do it. For example, many years ago, on one particular trip over, my wife and I were invited to go to her brothers house, to help celebrate his daughters 1st birthday. I have been to 1 year old birthday parties before, so I pretty well knew what to expect. Show up around 3, the kid gets tired, and goes to bed by 6, then everyone goes home. At least, that's what I thought I knew about 1 year old birthday parties. We did arrive to the party around 3 in the afternoon. There was lots of food, a karaoke machine, and it seemed like every relative this child had was there. And sure enough, around 6 in the evening, our niece went off to sleep. And that's when the party started to really fire up. Singing, laughing, drinking, eating, chatting, more laughing, much more drinking, and even more karaoke. Well, we went home around 11 pm, but the birthday celebrations didn't look like they were going to end any time soon. Never underestimate the Filipino love of celebrating!
