The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-12-25

article. as completed or procured, is
carefully laid away in the big Christ
mas box till needed. Said box con-
tains. in addition to the ''wish-I-had''
| tottings just mentioned, lists and ad-
/ dresses. expenditure limit. etc, and all
| the perfectly good wrapping paper,
| boxes, strings, tags. rubber bands,
cards and narrow ribbon accumulated
since last Christmas. While the
! children are at school she land after
they're abed she and her husband)
makes new toys and mends the old !;
! doctors and bcwigs old dolls and re-
| plenishes their wardrobes. repapers.
refarnishes and reupholsters the big
| handed down playhouses; and. Is
therefore, ready during the children S
spare time to devote herself to their
/ Christmas preparations.
Sundays Arc Happy Days.
Sunday afternoons the family take
walks in woods and fields, whence
they return with all sorts of raw ma
terial to be transferred into Christmas
tree trimmings, and with red cheeks
and tremendous appetites for supper.
Commencing with Advent Sunday. she
gathers her flock around the piano
after tea and leads them in singing
the quaint old Christmas melodies
Vel CIliiuiSH idFt btNh wa ciA"S
| for centuries. and the new ones her
own Gretchen and Hans are learning
in school and kindergarten. these az
ternon walks and evenings being
part of every fair Sunday until Christ
mas. Bad-weather afternoons and
evenings in between Sundays are all
( devoted TO the manufacturing of the
/ chi!dren's gifts to the family and to
! the gliding, bronzing Cor only just
! cleansing and varnishing) and supply
! ing with strings all the things collect
ed on the Sunday walks. Long, shiny
pine cones, painted with strong alum
water solution; small woody ones
dabbed with white oil paint or with
tuft of white. diamond powdered
wadding seeming realistically showed
upon and rime- frosted; larch tassels,
acorns, imson-weed and locust seed
pods; maple burrs, gallstrings and
sycamore balls. looking very pretty
when gilded or yasnished and fes-
TONED upon the tree.
On st. Nicholas Eve December g.
the various "wish-lists" are written
or shakily printed, or even just only
dictated TO mother and supplemented
with a straggly cross-and laid on
mantel-shelf or chimney corner for
the good old Saint who will take them
and see That the WlsneS-lr. not 100
exorbitant--are fulfilled, While the
little ones are crowding round the
! fireplace depositing their missives,
there is rustling, rafting rain of
goodies-small cakes, nuts and the
rare German supar plums-down up
! on the table behind them: and it is
/ white the little ones are shouting
and jolifying over the lollypop deluge
and busily gathering it in that the
wish-letters usually very mysteriously
/ disappear.
Little Fingers in the Pie"
The making of Christmas cakes
takes SO long and is attended with so
many delicious tand utterly unmis-
takable) odors of sugar and spice that
the German mother wisely invites her
brood to join in helping the 'Krist
kitchen with its annual baking" Ac-
cordingly for three or four happy
days the children--enveloped in huge
checked aprons and with hands
scrubbed scrupulously clean--are set
to stoning ra.sins. blanching almonds,
chopping citron and orange peel,
! pounding cinnamon, cloves and all
spice German home-mothers having
insurmountable objection to using the
bought. eadypulverized arttcle) and