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Zurich Herald, 1925-12-24, Page 2OBSERVING O R G AGIOUS HOLY.DAY BY I'AI, NOI.,AN, Some foes have solved the problem;, better for them and for everybody c*> having a really enjoyab,e home f"hristinas ri;nus worry anal much of the work and also minus the fretful children and the tired and sick diges- tive organs that make real trouble. They have achieved this beautiful re- sii,t by a strict adherence to certain well -thought-out rules. There is first the necessity of em- phasizing the unselfish aide of the Christmas season. Contributing to . the comfort of others is the first step. It is great training for Tohn and around them. The delicate digestive system becomes clogged and irritabil- ity and "naughtiness" result, Nuts and fruits covered with milk chocolate make the best kind of candy for any- body. One way to give, pleasure with less over -eating is to have the table at- tractively decorated.' It will be much better to have flowers and other dec- orations in excess than to have meat and sweets in excess. The use of dec- orative lights, candles, may take the Hazel to buy the raw material with place of so many dishes. The table their dimes and quarters and make their good -will offerings, much better than for them to buy gifts with money their., parents have given them, It is as bad to indulge to excess dur- ing the Christmas season as at any other time and violates Nature's laws as. truly. It is just as bad to be glut- tonous in food or drink as in gifts. against, children may be really injur- oration of trimming the tree and we must, of course, suggest plentifulness and it can do this by )caving appro- priate decoration as well as food. I have this story of a happy, sane Christmas -keeping from a mother of my acquaintance. She says: "We save our Christmas tree decora- tions, and at convenient times during the -year I help the children to make Unless these things are guarded, others. We also make a little cele - ed in both their physical being and their character building. If they think about indulgence, they are sure to for- get service and good will and thought- fulness and self-restraint. Blanche and Jimmy do not need to have and should not have bursting stomachs really to have a good time on Christmas. Everything that we do at Christmas time that over -empha- sizes eating, drinking and receiving of gifts, positively injures the finer development of our little men and women. It would be better to have little oat -cakes and no candy. Oranges, no Christmas celebration at all, than apples, nuts, bananas, figs, dates and one given over to mere selfish, physi- cal,indulgence. oat -cakes make a first rate breakfast for each child, eaten with a hilarious There must be some feasting, ac- sense of independent unusualness. cording to custom. Eating together "Their father and I have our bas- in joy is a deeply significant act—a ket lunch Iike the rest and my morn - sort of sacrament. In choosing the ing work is cut just in half. bill -of -fare for Christmas meals, a "The presents are put—wrapped up mother can give prominence to foods in a washtub or clothes basket and that will appeal to the aesthetic sense one of the boys or girls acts as Santa and which will gratify the palate Claus dressed in a big adjustable suit. while not overloading the system and over -stimulating the animal which lives in all of us. I once attended a Christmas dinner where we were served with soup, coast turkey, goose, baked ham, tongue, both sweet and Irish potatoes, four kinds of vegetables, half a dozen varieties of pickles and preserves, pumpkin pie, mince pie, plum pudding, cake, fruit, nuts, candy, ,coffee. Similar meals, although perhaps rot all do it together. This means that the tree spells nothing but pleasure and costs no more than a few pennies now and then, during the year. "I fill the stockings early—a month beforehand if I can. To accomplish this somewhat surprising feat, I made pretty, bell -trimmed, good-sized red - and -white stockings, which are used every year. I fill them when I can, with inexpensive odds and ends. "On the shelf by each stocking I place a strong pretty basket used only at Christmas, full of fruit, nuts and We all sit in the library awaiting the jingling of bells. He distributes our gifts to each of us. • There is this rule, however,, that each gift must be open- ed and looked at by the recipient be- fore another can be presented; so each anxious little giver sees his long - planned offering properly appreciated by everybody. These presents repre- sent weeks of enthusiastic planning— and lanningand •I see that they should have the staging they deserve' and be featured quite as "bad," are npt at all unusual. by themselves. Is it any wonder that long-suffering "After the tree and church and dinner there is the afternoon when the children can entertain their friends and go to their friends' homes. In the evening, we all get together stomachs rebel and that the post - holiday season is marked by numerous rases of dyspepsia end doctors' visits? A strange way indeed, to celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth! for a regular program of Christmas A sane bill -of -fare makes vegetables pictures on the screen. One of the and fruits more prominent than meats boys tells the Christmas story.. This i th Ch ' tmas dinner and In all la a me dinners, for that matter, A. normal child wilt not be likely to over -indulge at any meal in which vegetables and fruit play a promir•ent part from start to finish, There is need t- guard against too is an honor, for it is told each year. We cannot afford not to keep alive the heart and spirit of Christmas• -by year- ly recalling the Old --Story. "We make three distinct celehra- tions over the Passing of the Tree. We all get together to dismantle it much sweets. Cakes end cookies seem and put everything away. The tree is to ee demanded by ca -tom but they then taken to the yard with various can he sweetened by currants, raisins, dates and other• fruits, thus avoiding an excess of refined sugar. If parents could take their children the birds.. In early spring with song through the. Christmas season with- and dance it is burned. Everybody out giving them candy, it would be helps at our house with Christmas." ceremonies and there trimmed with -ears of corn, netted chunks of suet and little boxes of wheat and oats for Christmas Eve. Oh, hush thee, little Dear -my -soul, The evening shades are falIing,— Hush thee, my dear, dost thou not hear - The voice of the Master calling? Deep lies the snow upon the earth, But all the slay is ringing With joyous song, and all night Iong The stars shall dance with singing. Oh, hush thee, little Dear -my -soul, And close thine eyes in dreaming, The angels fair shall lead thee where The singing stars are beaming. A shepherd calls His little lambs, And he Iongeth to caress them; He bids them rest upon His breast, That His tender love may bless them. So hush thee, little Dear -my -soul, Whilst evening shades are falling, And above the song of the heavenly throng • Thou shalt hear the Master calling. —Eugene Field. A Fireside Talk. The main thing to remember about Christmas is NOT to keep it to our- selves. If Christmas is anything, it is the season of the open hand and. the warm heart. When one thinks about it, one feels that it is the only time in the course of the year when the Christian world really gets anywhere near the pattern it is supposed to be always copying. Christmas does one thing; it brings us all tip to scratch, It says: "Look _.L'rel For 364 days you have thought Mainly of Self—for one day think of Others:" If we could only spread Christmas out a bit, we should arrive presently, without any fuss, at that pleasant hostelry "The pour F's"-- Fermanent Peace and perpetual Prosperity. It sounds simple, and given Goodwill, it is simple. Our Best Holiday. If all the children were entitled to a vote in a referendum upon the most popular of our holidays, surely Christ- mas would pile up a remarkable ma- jority; and, while it makes its strong- est appeal to the boys and girls, Christmas is not without a compensa- tion to every member of the family from grandmother down to the mite that coos in its crib. Of course, those occasion.,)' out- croppings of ill humor, those Scrooge - like bursts of temper at annoyances, come when our digestion is a little off and we are in the swirl of the Christ- mas mob. The pushing, crowding, twisting and squirming one is obliged to pass through to get even a glimpse of the face of some cheerful but over worked clerk is indeed trying. But all this,' when compared with the sum total of anticipation and realization on the part of those within the family circle and among the close. relatives and friends, makes the joy of Christ- mas time the greatest joy of alt Then, too, as we look back over the Christmas festivities of the years gone by and reflect upon the joyous family reunions when we sort of cut loose from ,the workaday world, gave freedom to the spirit of ' love and friendship within us, got real close to those of our own .neighborhood and blood, yes, and when this very spirit was everywhere in the air, it had a compensation that could not be reck- oned in dollars and cents! And so, we feel strongly that the strengthening of family ties and the actual building up of that bond of brotherly love among folks make Christmas really the best and most valuable of all our holidays and the one fullest of the reel • joy of life. -a* For somehow, not only for Christmas, But all the long year through, The joy that you give to ethers Is the joy that comes back to you; And the more you d,iend in blessing The poor and the lonely and sad, The more of your heart's possessing Ratites to make you glad, �-Whittier. "Dear' Santa vwanna doll, thole all." Now does It seem 'that that Is asking much? For thus. It Is that tiny little tots. fingers- scrawl - A plea that's based on Santa l,'•llel' and 'Mich. A raged little urchin who has never come to know That money brings oar fondest wishes true, Just writes, in wonder Innocence, a jagged flue or :so! )ler faith In pants, Claus Is up to you!' "Dew Santa Clans -•-d kinds like an_.engine and a.,ear." The note is printed ---letters large and bold! The youngsters mother reads it and it leaves a heartache soar; Somehow, it seems, the urchin must be told That Santa's oxilY.mys'tic end that wiahes lade au -d die; And yeit it hurts to kill a elaild% belief. So mother watts—so hopeless --as the shopping days It',s up to you! Real happiness, or grief! ass by; "Dear Santa alaus---i lease don't forget my mama and my tkv&' _ The -parent -love of childhood's centered there. Such plea alone is quite enough to make the parents, glad, It simply means, to mom and dad, "I care!" But Santa often fails to heed the note an urchin writes; That fact, it seems, should interest you .and me. For we can save the wishes, of the world of needy miles, Making Christmas- spirit what it's meant to. he! c71. Ckri&tntas JESEDTIUIJg 5T KAT Santa Claus is coming to visit you to -night. After you are sound asleep he will slip down the chimney or maybe through the front door, and he is go- ing to leave you presents. And he will Ieave hurriedly, for he must see all the millions of little boys and girls who are waiting for him to come. All year long he'has been waiting for the time to pay youthis wilt. In his home in the far north he has worked day and night to have a well- filled pack of joy for little boys and girls. He knows that he will make you happy. And to -morrow, wink you see what Santa has left for you, you must be happy: It will be impossible for him to see every little boy and girl and there Christmas without the happiness you will have. Even though he may not bring you everything you have wished for, he will. leave you everything that he can. He must save something for the other little girls and boys. Little Jimmy Thompson must have' a sled and Mary O'Toole would cry if she didn't get a big doll to play with. ' So to -morrow when you go out to play, remember that Santa Claus has been very good to you, and if you see a little girl or a boy whom Santa missed, give them -some of your chndy. Or let them play with your toys. For if you do Santa will like you And -when you grow to be a great big man Santawill bring - you joy for having remembered to help him spread Christ- nlas happiness. For Santa loves those who love will be some who will pass their others. HOMES. WITH WINDOWS DOWS AGLOW WITH C ' DLES INVITE CAMAS S SPIRIT Windows should be bright and shin ing before Christmas preparatory to the candle light illumination, - It is. pleasant to realize that this idea of having candle -lighted windows on,. Christmas eve -is becoming, a nation- ' wide custom., This yeas homes far and near, in cities throughout the length and breadth of our country, will have the windows illuminated. THE BEAUTIFUL LEGEND. Like most customs, this •one, of the candle light in the window on Christ-, mas eve, has its legendary origin and significance. The candles are typical of the Star of the East that so un- erringly led the three wise men to Beth::thein, where the Christ child lay on that glorious holy' night long een- tunes ago. The years since then have come and gone., yet the spirit of love is still sought to -day. The legend as- sures us that wherever even one light- ed candle shines out through a win- dow on Christmas eve it guides the Christmas spirit to that home to dwell there throughout the year. This beautiful idea back of the custom makes it doubly -attractive. So let us remember to have lighted candles in. our windows. It is a happy thought as well as a decorative one. AVOID DRAPERIES AND -DRAUGHTS. All draperies should be either taken down from the windows where the There is a beautiful legend connected with putting Iighted candles in the windows on Christmas' eve. candles are to be lighted, or else they must be pushed far back end be fas- tened securely. Also there should be no draughts, for even a gentle breath of air will make the candles burn un- evenly and far more quickly than they otherwise would._ WITH AND WITHOUT CANDLESTICKS. ' No candlesticks are essential. The end of each candle may be softened just a trifle over a flame and then pressed into position on- the window- sill or frame. When candlesticks are used they are featured and not used in any haphazard way. For instance, seven, five or three branch candelabra are frequently placed on window -sills or tables drawn close to windows. The light from the candles and the grace- ful sticks form the complete `window decoration. SOME ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENTS. There must be symmetry to have i the lighting of the windows artistic and well balanced. All windows should be treated alike, unless the ones that Fare different are introduced as motifs ! in a complete scheme. For instance, a homemaker would scarcely have enough candelabra for every window where several- were to be lighted. The sticks could be used either in the first or the second storey windows. Or if there' was but one candelabrum, it could be put in the centre window where there were three windows in a row. If there were two candelabra r they could be at each side of a central window; etc. During the window illumination there should be no other lights in -the rooms to spoil the artistic effect. The room will be sufficiently bright from the windrows. The Shepherds and the Holy Child. n ���eia :Y• h � r,a �n•r..w�,{�v�a ...y�^s.�•k_;.,ljiir���;_,. - �o ry wPj.It.L/—�Ir,�m'fr!•/ lid ,�,. �r�!►1��� J,1• /'lily%1- opt it l0 } yy Gia Qi •. ter., `N1� CANDLE LIGHTS INVITING. ' ' Candle lighted wiaadows on Christ- mas eve are inviting, Passers-by stop to see their friends. within the„houses. A cordial welcome awaits them. Host- esses expect callers and are prepared with Christmas cakes, confections and hot coffee. There is nothing approach- ing formality about this hospitality, but a hearty Christmas cheer prevails. The whole custom is appealing in its legendary significance and in its beau- tiful development. • The Holiday Cake. Use any good cake recipe that will make three large layers. Bake one layer in a pan at least two inches larger in diameter than the other two layers. When the cake is Bene, put together, with Jour favorite filling, using the largest layer on the bottom. Cut the centre out of the top layer to within' one and a half inches of the edge alli around, thus making a ring and lean -1 ing a hollow place in the centre of the cake. Ice the whole with a cook -i ed white icing. With a. pastry tube filled with, ornamental frosting make roses ; by forcing the icing through a medium "rose tube" and twisting slightly, around at the same time. Before they icing begins to set, thrust a smooth white or red three-inch candle firmly down into the centre of each rose. If the cake is to symbolise the News Year, -space nineteen pf these roses; and candles in the hollow in the centre of the cake. On the rim at the bottom, of the cake, made by the first layer; extending beyond the others, space twenty-five more .roses and candles On the ring on top of the cake space; tiny Christmas trees, each may have; tucked into its branches a little slip, of paper. on which has been written a: wish, greeting or a New Year fora! tune. ` ' The Christmas trees are .;made as follows: Procure very smallan 'pecones and dip them into cooked icing that has been melted over hot water. and tinted a soft deep green, When the icing begins to harden sprinkle. on a little granulated sugar to resemble snow crystals -and touch • the ends of seine of the branches with red fruit coloring. A bit of fresh icing placed on the cake, and the tree pressed down firmly into it will hold it tightly, up-, right to the Bale. A good ornamental frosting is made; by beating an egg white slightly, add g; an a tiny pinch of cream of tartar and enough powdered sugar to make, the icing hold its shape when forced, through the pastry tube:—Elisabeth neat. Christmas Prayer, Greatest Babe of every age, Teacher, Prophet, Monarch, Sage; Send a vision now, we pray; For rampant' sin beclouds our way. While we,celebrate Thy birth, Blind confusion sways the earth; So we kneel and humbly pray, In compassion guide our way. Most gracious God, Lord on high, Spread Thy light and conio Thou ,,, nigh Hells tis tide our fiery day, Lift us from the miry clay, Lift us up and out of self, Cure us of our love of pelf; 'the din and fearsome st;ri 'e, Teach us of tht. higher life. Great Jehovah, only Xing, Thrones aeutl.re, Thy praise -we' sings. Hearts illuminate again, Letgoad will forever, relen, --Anna Wall `Edwards, 'i. i�,i,