Holiday Chaos with the Friendship Home Gang

Today was our annual Holiday party with the kids from Friendship Home.  Each year we take them out to do something ‘special’ during the holidays.  In December of ’09, if you remember, we went to the IMAX.  Well this year I thought we’d change it up from movies and do another thing I knew they’d love–VIDEOKE (or karaoke as it’s better known in the US).  Little did I know that chaos would ensue when 20 children are cooped up in a small room for 3 hours!

As expected, the kids were way into it.  Group shouting was preferred to taking individual turns with the mic, so the noise level remained at a deafening roar for the majority of our 3 hours at Redbox.  It’s impossible to explain what it was like without you being there because Filipinos take karaoke to a whole new level (and often include synchronized dance on top of the singing).

The room also came with a pool table, which was in constant use throughout our time there.  Pool is huge here, perhaps only topped by basketball and boxing.

Over the years I’ve developed a reputation for being quite an ‘animated’ singer.  Unfortunately for me, my little buddy John completely stole the spotlight on our duet to Alone (MY signature song).  Check him out wailing in the background–eyes closed, head back, hands clenched.  He was totally feeling it.  Maybe I can take some lessons from him to get my spark back?

Some kids went all out, wearing their ‘Sunday Best’ for this oh-so-special occasion!  It’s quite heart-warming to see what a big deal it is for them…

As I mentioned earlier, the calm facade that you saw in the first photo deteriorated rather rapidly (as seen in the above photo).  At 90 minutes in we were breaking up wrestling matches and taking the kids outside in groups of 5.  From that moment on I was just running interference and praying that no one would bang their head on the corner of the sharp table edge!  Thankfully we made it through injury-free, but I can’t lie – that third hour really tested my patience.  And where, you ask, was my husband during all this?  Oh, he disappeared around minute 75, claiming that he was overwhelmed.  Well, me too honey, but we can’t all leave now, can we?!?!  Maybe we need to relook at this whole parenting thing again and push it out a few more years…