442 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
CHRISTMAS GIVING 
By Elizabeth Atwood 
HE most pleasurable Christmas shopping 
that I have ever done, was, when with a 
little chubby hand in each of mine I went 
forth to guide the two owners of these hands 
through shop after shop, when they went 
forth to buy presents for their own givings, 
that were to be those entirely their own to give. They had, 
been saving their pennies for a long time, and living far out 
of town, they knew nothing of the hardships of Christmas 
shopping. It was all pure joy to them. 
Each had a whole dollar to spend, a large amount in 
their eyes. ‘There were five to whom they wished to give, 
wherefore much considering was necessary, especially as 
each diminuitive shopper insisted that the whole of twenty- 
five cents must be paid for mother’s present. The maid 
and the man servant came next in the order of planned 
disbursements, ‘‘for they will not have so much as the rest 
of us, you know.” 
Then the giggles and the whispers when I exclaimed 
over the beauty of a pitcher which I knew to cost just 
twenty-five cents. (I have it now.) Then the adroit means 
which they took to make me rest out of sight of that particu- 
lar counter. The good, tired clerk did the pitcher up so 
that you would never guess from its shape what that parcel 
contained. ‘Their only real anxiety being ended, their shop- 
ping became one grand carnival of pleasure. They had 
not learned the harm of money-value in their Christmas 
buying. 
If only some strong heart and hand might lead our 
after years through the mazes of Christmas and Christmas 
giving! Some strong sense of love combined with fitness, 
some strong mind, strong enough to convince us that giving 
of great money value does not always bring happiness to 
either the giver or the one who is to receive the gift. In 
fact, if only more love might come into our giving and less 
of commercial barter (am I hard, think you), much of the 
anguish of Christmas would be lost. 
I suppose there is hardly a woman or a girl who is not 
more or less troubled as the Christmas season draws near. 
Men and boys seem to care less, for whatever they do for 
their friends is done by buying the best which they can 
afford. There may be a feeling of disappointment in the 
man’s mind when he finds that he must be content with a 
small gift for wife, mother or child, when he would so 
much enjoy doing more, but that feeling soon passes away. 
We are constantly meeting new people, new friendships 
are formed every year, and if all are to be remembered 
with a gift at Christmas time, one’s list becomes very formi- 
dable. There is pleasure in all this up to a certain point, 
when one’s time is limited and one’s pocketbook even more 
HELPS: TOrthe 
HOUSEWIFE 
TABLE AND HOUSEHOLD SUGGESTIONS OF INTER- 
EST TO EVERY HOUSEKEEPER AND HOUSEWIFE 
December, 1912 
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limited, this pleasure becomes a veritable nightmare. The 
struggle to make five dollars do the work of fifty is enough 
to add gray hairs and turn the joy of Christmas into pain. 
There is a fitness often lost sight of, like the friend, poor 
in money but of large heart, who spent hours and hours 
embroidering a gift for me. Full well I know the strain 
it had been to her poor eyes, and that the time she took for 
that piece of work should have been spent taking a much 
needed rest. ‘“‘But I enjoyed doing it for you because I love 
you,” she told me, ‘‘and just because I love you I wish you 
had not,” I answered. 
What we wish most of all is to be remembered, just to 
be given a loving thought or word. ‘To feel and to know 
that on this day so many loved ones are thinking of us. 
Does it take extravagant gifts to prove this? A letter, a 
card, a photograph—what pleasure we derive from receiv- 
ing them. The loving thoughts expressed in a letter mean 
a great deal, quite as much as the gift which has called for 
the use of so much vital force, or stringent economy. 
It is deplorable to watch the misery of acceptance grow 
in the child, when the spirit of exchange in value takes the 
place of loving giving. Children can teach us much in the 
way of Christmas love. ‘They give for the pure joy of giv- 
ing, for Santa Claus will care for them. Perhaps the 
natural selfishness comes in, just in this sure feeling that 
they will be remembered. As children we talk to them of 
Christmas love, as they grow older do we not, too, help 
to bring in this feeling of exchange when called upon to help 
decide upon the gifts they are to make? 
Love should be the keynote of all Christmas giving. Love, 
not just the love for mother, but love spreading out over 
all, creating a spirit of optimism and joy. Love, which 
will develop all the year, finding Christmas a beautiful time, 
not one of self-imposed trials. These perfunctory martyrs 
to custom who return gifts of like value, whether they can 
afford to or not, these are the ones to be pitied, for they do 
much to kill the love-spirit of Christmas time. 
One way to develop the loving spirit of giving is to think 
and plan for some one who is less fortunate than your chil- 
dren or you. 
boy or girl of your family or acquaintance, of the making 
of one person happy, who, but for their thought would have 
been forgotten. It does not need to be a large gift nor a 
costly one, but the thought that some one in the world had 
in mind such loneliness and deprivation may brighten, for 
one day at least, the darkest and saddest life. 
This should be the main work of Christmas. It blesses 
the giver as well as the recipient. It increases and revivifies 
the love in your own heart. The gift may be only a holly 
wreath or a “Merry Christmas” from jolly children, but the 
loving thought is there to be remembered. That will reach 
any heart, however pessimistic, when real Christmas love 
and cheer go with it, and weigh more than a costly one. 
Point the way to the thoughtless rollicking - 
