6 posts tagged “xmas presents”
M's had a nice Christmas. She's an interesting kid, she's never been one to be all about the presents. From her second birthday on when she's opened enough presents, has a handful of things she really likes, she's finished and just stops opening gifts. This year was no different. We opened 4 presents Xmas Eve, from us, and that was great! She loved her Etch A Sketch, and we read a couple of the books at bedtime. Xmas Day she got all the stuff in her stocking (including a new digital camera) and her kitchen set, and that was enough! She put on her sticky ear rings, her matching "fancy finger rings", took some pictures of her kitchen then played with her kitchen. At my grandparents' place, with presents from aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents and great grandparents, it was too much. About half way through she was finished. She opened two or three more because the family members were bugging her about it, then she just stopped with four presents to go. We opened a couple of them the next day, and still have two more under the tree. We still haven't given her two of our presents, and we just might wait for her birthday.
Anyhoo, all that to say she's really been all about the "events" this year. We had a carriage ride to see the lights at the park a month back, where we saw Santa and had cookies and hot chocolate. We did a Solstice Celebration a couple weekends back, and she really got a kick out of the drumming and chanting and flute playing. She loved the Gospel Xmas Eve at church. She enjoyed our trip to KC and is looking forward to seeing more family in Iowa this week. Right now it's all about the events moreso than the presents, which is cool to see, but makes for a .. different sort of holidays with a little one. I know she enjoys her presents, she's told us so, but her reaction to them has been .. muted I guess.
Oh, funny thing, her favorite present so
far? Not the camera, not the kitchen, no, it's the $15 Etch A Sketch!
Why? Well, she loved playing with the one at the Panera Bread over
Thanksgiving, and she's very good at making things with it, but more
than that it's because it was an absolute surprise to her! She said,
"Thank you for my Etch A Sketch, I really love it. I was so surprised.
I didn't even know I was getting it! I knew what I'd ordered from
Santa, but I didn't even think you guys would get me an Etch A Sketch!"
It was cute. Particularly the "I knew what I'd ordered from Santa",
like Santa = Amazon .... wait ... hmm...
I'm a percussionist at heart. My wife, my buddies Jon and Ken, and my folks all know that I LOVE drums and percussion. My favorite parts of live jazz shows are when the typically understated upright bass player gets to break out, traveling the entire neck of the bass, slapping the strings, contorting body and face to squeeze out those notes that I know he loves finding and sharing just for us. I love taiko drums, seeing them at the Japanese Festival at the Botanical Gardens is always a treat. I've seen Christian McBride in concert probably 4 times now and love the things I've seen him to on a bass, whether upright or electric, and my buddy Jon has bought me a few Tony Levin CDs over the years. I've seen Carl Palmer live a few times, seen him go crazy all over an entire drum set. And I always enjoy finding a CD on e-music that features Art Blakey. Anyhoo, these are just a few examples of my love of percussion.
I almost played drums as a kid. Almost. I'd moved schools in 7th grade, and thought I'd try out to play drums in the band. The music teacher was encouraging, and I got to play during music class. I hadn't had any real instruction, but I had a knack for the snare, and between the music teacher and a cute blond whose name I can't recall, who let me share her drum in class for a few weeks, I was able to get the basics. I even got one of those rubber pads you put on the snare to dampen the sound to practice on because we couldn't exactly afford a drum, and truth be told, my folks weren't about to buy me a drum set to bang on at the house. Then I broke my collarbone, and we moved again, and I never looked for another opportunity to play.
So, I know I've always had it in me. From that failed attempt to play drums in the band, to my love of prog rock and bands like Rush, ELP and King Crimson, to my more recent love of jazz and jazz bass, to exposure to international Japanese and African drums and drum circles around the area. There has always just been something about percussion that spoke to me, tapped into my core, plucked at the deep strings of my imagination.
As I said, I've always wanted a drum, always knew I'd get one some day. Last night at the grocery I ran into Lynn, a lady that plays a djembe at church once in a while, who I've always meant to ask about drums and drumming, and if we could start a regular group at Eliot. She recognized me, we chatted a few minutes, she told me of a couple of places I should check out for a drum. Rae and M had something to do this morning, so I went to a Guitar Center nearby. I got there, found The Drum Room, and started poking around the djembes. A young clerk, Evan, approached me and asked if he could help me, and that started an hour and a half long conversation, complete with a quick overview of the different types of hand drums they had, the different styles of djembes they had, and what might be good for me. All the while I'm sitting there, drumming, getting the feel for it, making various sounds, feeling the drum between my legs, the skin under my hands. It was fun, I really felt inspired, excited. Something inside said that today was the day I was supposed to get a drum. So I did! I'm exstatic about it. I can't wait to keep playing it, to experiment by myself, to play it while M dances around to it, and to play it with other people from Eliot and around the area. It feels good to have it, and it looks good sitting under the tree.
For those of you that were around for the After Thanksgiving Adventures a couple of years ago, during which we purchased M's first digital camera, here's a quick update.
M has been playing with my camera for months now, and with Rae's work camera recently (mine's broke, more on that some other time). She's really taken to Rae's because the camera is small and the LCD is large and she knows how to turn it on, take a picture, put it in view mode and back into picture mode all by herself. Over the spring and summer she'd still get hers out, play with it now and then, but it just wasn't the same as mine or mom's. So a couple weeks ago we're at Target and I take us over to the camera section to see what I can see, and M immediately gravitates to this red Nikon camera. She wants to try it, so I give it to her and without so much as a, "Here's how it works" she's got it turned on and having Rae pose for a picture, then turning it to view mode to show us. Buh-wa? What did she just do? That's right, without telling her a thing, she had it all figured out, what buttons to push, what dials to turn. She loved it and wanted to take one home, but we told her to put it on her list for Santa.
Fast forward a week and two places have the red Nikon on sale. Alas, it's a crazy busy week for us, and we don't get out to shopping until the end of the week - everyone is sold out. BUT places have the blue version of the same camera on sale, so we jump on it, Rae gets a GREAT deal on the 2-year accidental damage warranty (hey, it's a $100 camera for a 4.5 year old) and now we've at least got a camera if we're not able to find a deal on the red one. In the ensuing week I get an e-mail from the place I got my camera that they have the red one on sale ... and sold out by the time I log on (but they have the blue one!). Two other online places offer the red one (one's already sold out), but neither are on sale and the warranty is expensive(!). So now I'm thinking Let's get her to want the blue one *grin*.
Fast forward to last night, we're on our way home from work/school. I tell her we're going to see Santa tomorrow night (tonight) and what does she want to ask him for? She immediately rattles off her ideas, along with "a red camera." I ask her, "What if it's not red?" to which she replies, "That's ok, but we'll ask for a red one" Me, "What if it's a blue one?" M, "OOOH! Yeah! Or rainbow! I want to ask for a rainbow one, but if not rainbow, if Santa can't make a rainbow one, then definitely blue, or red would be good too." So, we'll see what she says to him tonight, but it sounds like we've forestalled any drama like last years. Now, if I could just figure out how to make it rainbow, then I'd be one cool poppa Santa! Stay tuned!
Just a quick post to show off the loot M got from Santa this year. She loves her Hello Kitty watch, and the purple bag has blue and red chapstick ("lipstick") and different covers for her new watch. We played Uno a bunch on Xmas Day, and watched the Backyardigans movie on our trip to Peoria.
Speaking of Xmas Day, here are a couple of shots of some of M's stuffed friends having a party out in the driveway while I was raking leaves. Yes, while some people were shoveling snow on Xmas Day, I was raking leaves in 50 degree weather.
Got a web cam from Rae's brother for xmas. He got one from his wife's folks last year for xmas, and they've been chatting with her folks and brother for the past year. They decided to get one for us and Rae's folks this year, so now we can video chat. I've never had a web cam before. We were playing with it at her folks' house (we were using our lappy, and skeefing some free wireless from a neighbor) and it's pretty cool. Just now getting around to setting it up on the home PC. Fun fun.
M got Candyland from her grandparents for xmas, and we cracked it open last night to play our first game. It was fun :) We played by the rules for the first couple rounds, with M turning over our cards for us, and us moving the game pieces around the board. It didn't take long, though, until she had the deck flipped over and she was sifting through them, handing us the special "candy" cards, finding the corresponding square on the board, and putting the card there (who needs game pieces). Then she started picking out different colors and finding the matching squares and putting those cards all over the board. The game ended when she started matching the squares towards the finish line, and we had her match them right up to the last square. It lasted about 10 minutes, M had fun, it was the craziest game of Candyland Rae and I had ever played, and all in all I think it was a success. I guess it'll be a while before the 3 of us are playing a real game *grin* I also suspect that this is how house rules come about.
My Groups
-
Buddhism Updated: Yesterday
-
The Drum Circle Updated: Yesterday
-
retroactive Updated: Yesterday
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
