December, 1889. 
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December— Christmas. 
For the majority of people December has 
come to be synonymous with Christmas. 
The celebration of this holiday is now so 
general and so elaborate that the early part 
of the month is given up to planning, ar- 
ranging, and working, for the season of 
merry making which so many happy voices 
usher in as “ Merry Christmas.” 
The custom of giving and receiving pre- 
sents on that day — a custom almost un- 
known fifty years ago — has become uni- 
versal. There is scarcely a family in any 
rank in life but that makes some effort in 
this direction while among well-to-do and 
wealthy people the practice lias been carried 
to such an excess as sometimes to seriously 
affect both health and happiness. Instead 
of being content with giving appropriate 
love-tokens to members of the family or to 
intimate friends, costly and elaborate gifts 
are exchanged by casual friends or even 
acquaintances. After days or weeks are 
spent in fashioning these dainty trifles, and 
the work and money necessary in order to 
have them all finished and ready to send 
away in time, are a great strain upon the 
system. There are people who give forty 
or fifty presents every Christmas, and that 
means a drain upon the purse as well as 
upon the strength. Many who receive pre- 
sents feel obliged to return something of 
equal or greater value, though the expense 
cannot be well afforded and the gift may 
not be needed or appreciated. 
We Americans carry every thing to an 
extreme, and some of our most sensible 
people are beginning to rebel at our Ameri- 
can Christmas. The matter is at present 
being pondered and discussed by hundreds 
of thoughtful and intelligent women all 
over the land, so that there is hope that it 
will be speedily righted : and that, without 
• oing back to the Puritanical neglect and 
ontempt of the day, its true meaning and 
ignificance may be more fitly celebrated. 
But, as the only way to reform a nation is 
to reform each individual, so the only way 
to check the selfish extravagancies of our 
present Christmas customs is for each one 
of us to decide upon the best method of 
celebrating the day in our own liomes. 
Doubtless we should all agree that it 
ought to be a happy day for old and young, 
and that it is an appropriate time to express 
our love to dear ones by a well-chosen gift. 
Then, too, we ought especially to re- 
member the homeless ones. Hundreds of 
young men and women, who are obliged to 
support themselves, and who cannot afford 
the time and money necessary' to take them 
to their own home friends, find the day 
doleful enough in a boarding house. How 
little trouble it would be for us to invite 
such a homesick one to share our Christ- 
mas cheer. The important part is 
“ Not what we give, but what we share. 
For the gift without the giver is bare.” 
Wonder-balls. 
Among the Christmas gifts, don't forget 
a German wonder-ball for Mother or Grand- 
mother. It is made by winding a skein of 
yam into a ball in which little presents 
are concealed. 
If different members of the family supply 
these gifts and wrap them in mysterious 
paper packages, each one seeing only her 
own, there is great merriment when the 
different things drop out. Of course the 
directions are that the presents must not be 
taken out until the yarn is knit, and the 
nicest one is put at the foundation where it 
cannot be seen until the yarn is used. Such 
a ball is an excellent thing for a girl who is 
learning to knit or crochet, as her curiosity 
will serve to keep her at work. 
Home-made Candies. 
It seems to be as natural for children to 
like candy as to grow ; and so long as the 
candy is pure and not eaten at all hours of 
the day or night, there is no objection to 
it. But those who have investigated the 
matter tell us that few things are so con- 
stantly adulterated as candy. Mrs. Rorer 
says : “ It would be impossible to tell what 
an amount of poison one consumes in every 
pound.” If that is the case, it will pay us 
to make our candies at home. It pays even 
though we save no money by so doing ; 
for, unless the sugar is adulterated, we 
know that the candy is pure and far more 
wholesome than that for sal ) by the aver- 
age confectioner. We give a few tried 
recipes for simple, home-made candies. 
Peppermints: — Take one cup of con- 
fectioner's sugar and dissolve it in as little 
boiling water as possible. Boil five minutes, 
then take from the fire and add a bit of 
cream of tartar the size of a pea. Stir 
thoroughly, then add a teaspoonful of 
essence of peppermint, or four drops of 
“ oil of peppermint.” Beat until the mix- 
ture whitens, then drop quickly upon oiled 
paper. Unless one is very swift, the mix- 
ture will ‘‘sugar” before it is all dropped. 
When this happens, add a little water and 
return to the stove for a minute or two. 
Thise peppermints aie very quickly made 
and are nicer than any that can be bought, 
with the exception of Huyler’s cream 
peppermints. Essence of wintergreen may 
be used instead of peppermint. 
Peanut Taffy : — One cup of sugar, one- 
half cup of molasses, two-thirds of a cup of 
water, two cups of peanuts, a piece of 
butter the size of an English walnut. Boil 
half an hour. 
Chocolate Caramels: — One cup of 
sugar, one-half a cup of grated chocolate, 
three-fourths of a cup of water. Boil twenty 
minutes. "When nearly done, add a piece 
of butter the size of an English walnut. 
Walnut Candy: — Two pounds of sugar, 
one cup of w'ater, one gill of molasses, one 
coffee cup of walnut meats. Boil until it 
hardens when dropped into water. 
Cream Walnuts :— Stir powdered sugar 
into the unbeaten white of one egg until it is 
stiff enough to handle. Flavor with vanilla. 
Carefully crack English walnuts so that the 
meats may be unbroken. With the fingers 
mould the cream into little balls and place 
between the two halves of the walnuts. 
Dates may be used in the same way. 
Cocoanut Creams : — Use water enough 
to dissolve two cups of sugar. Boil ten 
minutes. Add a pinch of cream of tartar, 
then a cup of grated cocoanut. Beat to a 
cream, then drop in little cakes on oiled 
paper. — M. C. Rankin. 
Christmas Giving. 
Christmas giving is too often regarded in 
the light of debit and credit. “My friend 
gave me a handsome and expensive present 
last year; I really can’t afford it, but I 
must I suppose, get something equally hand- 
some for her,” while the true Christmas 
spirit is that which so pervades the giver 
that no thought of indebtedness in the past, 
or of gain in future Christmases presents 
itself, but only the feeling “ I love my 
friend, and send this little gift as a memento 
of our friendship. ” As a rule it is best not 
to give expensive presents unless where 
near relationship or exceptional intimacy 
justifies it, for a part of the pleasure of the 
recipient is destroyed by the feeling of in- 
debtedness. Some small useful gift, or one 
really orna mental made by the giver’s own 
hands is best, but so many useless trifles, 
given for the sake of giving something, 
are current at Christmas, that they soon 
pass under the head of what the house- 
keeper denominates “clutter.” Many 
pretty bits of pottery are quite inexpensive 
now, and when no suitable hand-made pre- 
sent suggests itself, these are nearly always 
acceptable, from the dainty cup and saucer 
with the injunction, “For your own use 
every day,” to the fancy flower pot cover 
for a favorite plant. But perhaps most 
appropriate to the day are the anony- 
mous gifts to the poor, especially 
to children to whom the blessed day 
would otherwise be a meaningless blank. 
It takes so little to please a child and give 
it a pleasant memory through all its life. 
A funny white Canton flannel rabbit and 
her little family with bead eyes, and pink 
lined ears, made out of the scraps from 
your rag bag will do it, or a home-made 
doll. Your own children would enjoy their 
Christmas more after manufacturing a set 
of furniture, or pasting a scrap picture 
book, or making some candy or cake for the 
little children near by whose past experi- 
ence has given them no pleasant antici- 
pations of Christmas. — Abby Spearman. 
One quart of country, not city, milk set 
in a cool place for twenty-four hours will 
yield enough cream, when well whipped 
with a Keystone or Dover beater, to furnish 
ten cups of coffee. 
