Evening star., 1923-12-21
Christmas Suggestions

/ ing, or music or drawing, will be ap-
preciated more and more from this
age on. If you wish to give some
thing to little girl who is learning
to sew send her a bagful of odds and
ends of ribbons, silk and more sub
stantial materials or give her some
paper dolls to cut out, some sheets of
different colored tissue paper and a
tube of paste, and let her make the
dresses for the dolls.
A general rule to follow when
choosing presents of playthings for
all ages is that the more they can
be worked over by child, and the
more they can be used and adapted to
bound to one special mechanical per-
formance. the more enjoyment they
will afford.
snowbank for Table.
Decorate the dinner table in a way
10 suggest Christmas as much as pos
sible. 1t can be done inexpensively
Having "a good time at Christmas
does not necessarily mean giving a
large party and spending a good deal
of money. over the table covering
place thin cotton batting sprinkled
with diamond dust, then scatter over
this sprays of holly leaves and holly
berries. At each corner of the table
place a candlestick with a shade of
holly leaves and berries. When these
are lighted and the CLEANS fall on
the uldfnOHu hIlTS, lne erect Is
fascinating. 1t looks as if you were
setting the table out on untrodden
snow.
| Make a ''snowbank" in the center
with boxes of various sizes covered
with batting and sprinkled with dia-
| mond dust. Heap il with winter fruit
and it stick gay paper cornucopias
| filled with nuts and raisins. To the
| large end of each of these attach a
| green or red ribbon and run ii to each
| persons plate. After the seating, the
| hostess asks every one to pull on the
strings and the cornucopia is kept as
| a souvenir. II hostess wants to add
! to this incident. she can put a simple
| gift in the small end of each cornu-
! copia. snugly wrapped In tissue paper.
! The finding of these will be = delight
| full surprise. Thimbles, needles, a new
J penny, bright dime or a fourleaf
, clover are suitable trifles-
To Decorate the Tree.
Select n good shaped tree about six
| feet high. After il is in position,
! wrap the base with white cotton,
! then take small pieces of cotton and
| throw them all over the tree. and
along the main branches place large.
| irregular pieces of cotton. Buy some
| silver paper. Cut il into narrow
strips, half an inch wide, and roll it
| into long rolls. Attach these to the
| ends of boughs with small wires. so
that they will hang down. These are
( icicleS Now throw artificial snow
!
| the branches of the tree. but will at
tach itself to the cotton. When the
| last of this powder has been put in
place, you will have a very unusual
and attractive tree.
Another effective and inexpensive
| tree decoration is made with pop
corn. silver stars and red lights. Cut
some stars from white cardboard
and some from silver paper. To give
! the effect of twinkling stars use tin
cal he tir,Sa al flla
cardboard and silver stars and allow
| il to extend about two inches be-
tween each two star points. String
| the popcorn in five-inch lengths and
! tie them TO the tree SO that they will
/ hang straight down. When the red
lights are shining the eject is beau
tiful.
| Make strings of coIored paper in
! the following way: Cut circles of red
and green paper about one inch in
diameter. Place these in line about
an inch apart, cover with paste, then
place an ordinary cord across the
| center and cover each with circle
of the same size. These are more
| easily made in this way than by
stringing them. and will add greatly
| to the appearance of the Christmas
tree. Stars may be used in the same
way or used separately suspended.
! Cut holly leaves of green paper, poin-
settia flowers of red paper and apples.
pears. oranges and plums, using pa
| per the color of the fruit. Attach by
red cords and hang them from the
branches of the tree. Cover marbles,
reguIar-shaped stones or small nuts
with silver or gold paper and sus-
pend them to the tree by red cord.
Tin foil may be used instead of sill
yer paper.
The paper chain is a decoration
that children enjoy making. Cut
strips of colored paper about three
fourths of an inch by five inches.
Paste the ends together to form
links. which, Joined one to the other,
make chains several yards long, to
be hung on the branches in gay fes-
toons. The chains may be made en-
tirely of one color, or two colors
may be used, or a three or four color
scheme may be worked out.
A few gayly wrapped gifts should
be placed among the branches of the
tree. The more lights there are the
more beautiful the effect. If you
wish a very gay tree. lights of diff
! ferent coiors Will produce the effect.