The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-12-17
APPROPRIATE CHRISTMAS GIFTS.

Afectionate Giving = Useful Hand
Made and Home Designed Presents
Make Early Purchases - Valued
Christmas Donations From Country
Friends.
There are several considerations that
go to make up the value of a Christmas
gift, entirely Independent of the price
paid for it.
one Of these is the spirit in which it is
given. y duty present-one that is made
SIMPLY because it is expected. and not be-
cause Of real affection or esteem that
flowers out in the snaps of a gifts
valueiess, no matter how much money it
has cost.
Another consideration is the appropri-
ateness. You may love your friends
most devotedly, but if you present a
Smoking-cap to man who never smokes,
or teapot to a woman who abhors the
Chinese herb, or a spectacle-case to the
one who never uses glasses, they will
probably one and all unite in thinking
that your good Will is in excess of your
perceptive qualities.
Still third consideration adds value to
a gilt. Something that is the work of the
donors own hands almost always possess
ses value in the eyes of the recipient
quite beyond that Of a purchased gift.
The reelection that love and thought had
gone into the making Of the gift en-
hances its preciousness.
And the moral Of all this, as the Duchess
IN Alice in onderland" would say, is
that 1t behooves the people who mean to
recognize Christmas by presents to firmly
resolve, in the first place, to make no
gifts out of regard for appearances, or
from any motive except that Of a desire
to cause happiness to some one they love
or honor; in the second place, to bestow
enough thought upon the presents they
90 give to insure their commenting them
selves by their appoSiteness; and last
but not least, to make with their own
hands as many of the gifts as possible.
COMMON SENSE IN BUYING.
Christmas gifts should never be bur-
den; but. alas they often are Many a
woman of light purse looks forward to
the holiday season with positive dread,
toreseeing the expense she can i'll afford
to bear.
81 don't recover from the effect of
Christmas for three or four months, !"
laments one Of these unfortunates, whose
generosity is sadly out of proportion to
her income.
The only time in the year when 1 wish
that [ had fewer friends and relatives is at
Christmas-time," signs another OF the
same stamp.
This is ali wrong. The blessed peace
time OF the year ought not to bring with
1t burdens too heavy to be borne. Yet
what has one to do who has a large fam
lily circle and many friends? She does
not wish to lay herself open to the sus-
plclon OF stlnginess, neither does she feel
that she can with justice to herself and
others eXpend upon the luxury of giving
the money she should reserve for the
payment of just debts and for the pur-
chase Of necessaries.
NEAT HOME PRODUCTIONS.
A common suggestion offered to such a
problem is the suggestion that the pres
ents should be homemade. The woman
who is skilled with brush or pencil NAV.
indeed, evolve calendars, photOpraph-
cases, picture-frames and eaSels, panels.
card-trays, and scores of other pretty and
dainty gifts from cardboard, drawing
paper, ink and paint. The cost OF ma
terials need not be large
Far different is the case with the woman
who can only WELD needle, no matter
how skillful she may be in its use, With
the best will in the world the fabric for a
handsome gift cannot be purchased ex-
cept at a rate that pulls hard upon her
purse.
l stood in a Broadway shop one dav
during the last holidays. and in the inter
val of waiting that elapsed between the
payment for my purchase and the return
of my parcel and change, | watched with
interest the mental struggles of a woman
near me.
She was plainly, rather poorly dressed,
and as she explained to the not over
sympathetic saleSwoman, she wished 10
lgrXr I1ln f,,Es L.
was seven inches square, of yellow satin.
with white lace over it, and there must
be bow of satin ribbon at each corner.
There was something pathetic in the
dismay of her face when, after having
matched the sample of yellow satin in
ribbon Of the width she wished, she found
that the four yards needed for the four
bows would cost a dollar and thirty
cents. She was still hesitating when I
came away.
This is Il sample of the experiences
known to all women who undertake to
make Christmas gifts.
HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS.
The best plan to pursue, considering all
things, is TO buy Christmas gifts early in
the season, and to pick up little trihes
that commend themselves by their beauty
and cheapness. Alter you examine YOUR
purchases you will seldom fail to find that
corning whose gifts you have been in un-
certainty. y pretty cup and saucer for
this one, memorandum book for an
other, a letter-opener or q cOurtplastar
case Tor third, paper-weight or a letter
clip for q fourth.
While large and handsome gifts, like
sota-cushions, worked foot-rests, table
covers, and the like, cannot be made ex-
cept at considerable expense, there are
smaller gifts that need cost less. The
woman who knows how to do drawn
work, hemstitching and fringing as we'll
as embroidery, can work wonders with a
piece Of fine linen and handful of silks.
She can produce bureau and sideboard-
covers, toilet sets, doilies, center-pieces
carving cloths, tray-cloths, and a variety
of other dainty tribes. The chief expense
about many Of these things is the staInD-
ing-an expense that is removed in the
case OF a woman who can draw her own
designs or possesses stamping outfit"
TO COUNTRY JEWELLERS.
But some one may say, 'All this is
very nice for the people who are in town.
but what shall be done in preparing
Christmas gifts by those who live in the
country, and cannot pick up Bargains at
every corner ?'
Then send what you can get.
l wonder that more country people do
not appreciate how much they can do
with what they have. There are few city
people who would not appreciate the off.
of a box or bag of chestnuts, walnnfs
hickorynuts, butternuts, hazelnuts or
beechnuts. Still fewer are there who
would not delight in the arrival Of a
small rustic ferneTy, filled with fine ferns