Little drummer boy.

It's that crazy time of year and I am just trying to let go and ride the wave of the next couple of weeks. To avoid working, I am trying to figure out what kind of drum or drums to get Jake for Christmas. I think this is going to be his big present - although I might just take on the task of teaching him to snowboard and get him a longer snowboard and new boots and bindings. His old setup is too small already. He skis and has a ski setup for this winter. In truth we can probably sneak by one more season, teaching him on the 123cm board we have and just find him a pair of boots in one size larger - and I just found some for $20 on craigslist. Perfect. Because things are tight enough that I'm redeeming purchase points for gift cards; I did Shutterfly photo books with one and will soon have a bunch of money to spend at Amazon.

I can't decide whether I should take up the space in the basement with an actual real drum set or get him a hand drum. I am leaning toward no, we just can't find space for a drum set right now I am thinking drum set for birthday would be good, hoping we will have space for it in our newly finished basement by then. And I can ask around for someone local who might have one for sale or even loan - I do believe there is a drum set that is not in use that is residing within a mile of our house, in fact.

So far, the frontrunner is a Remo Djembe. I was seriously considering one of the Gathering Drums, but I feel like the 21x22" one is huge, yet 22" by only 8" high seems odd - will he sit on the floor to play it? Plus, everything takes up space and if we think longer-term to a drum set, we don't want a big hand drum too.

The Djembe he can actually wear. We have a konga, but it's tippy for him. He does play it though. And we have the Remo Floor Tom, which he also plays both with mallets and hands. I  need to replace the mallets. We have an amazing vintage drum from Matt's childhood that has real skins as well - I don't know what to call it; it's about the size of the floor tom with two skins but one end smaller diameter than the other.

'Tis done. To work. Once the supplies get here, I will post an instructable for the teacher gifts I'm making this year. It's relevant to this blog. I'm excited; I feel very clever for thinking of this idea. They are neat enough that I am sending them to family as gifts as well.