Ellsworth American., 1926-12-22
CHRISTMAS CARDS.


Those friends that walk with us
awhile,
Perhaps they leave us at the stile,
But others join us on our way,
And these we turn to greet!
We often wish this were not so,
Acquaintance might to friendship
grow,
IF cross roads came less frequently,
Or fingered we awhile!
But Life and Work both prod us on:
New faces come! Then they are gone
Along another path! And we
Diyerge for many mile!
Rut Christmas comes! And with it
brings
Its Christmas cards-gay, CHEEKY
things
proc1aiming memories still aglow,
From friends who crossed our path'
New warmth they kindle in the heart!
These passing friendships play part
More genuine than we can know
Until the aftermath!
Ruth .Blodgett.
Selected by Aunt Susan-by-the-Sea.
| Daar Aunt Anne and the M. BIS:
The parade of Christmas cards Is
such a pleasant custom. They oegn
to arrive early with their cheery mes
saees. and they last well into the ne"
wear. often enjoy mine more ai'eF
Tho hustle of the holiday is over
| The Christmas card world is always SO
| bright and gay.
| The time has arrived when gifts are
| being assembled-the old-fashloheo
house is putting on holiday appear
ance with red and green gariands,
and wreaths in the windows anu
boxes are being brought out nlleo
with fancy wrappings. tinseis' prisht
ribbons, and all the paraphernalla ieit
over from last year to be useo 10
make our simple offerings thisyear
more attractive-even frivolous. All
are a part of the Yuletide season.
Yes. the Christmas spirit is rampant
And what is the Christmas spirit!
The real Christmas spirit, it seems
| to me, is the desire to make some one
| happy-the desire to give without
| any thought of getting something in
| return The late Helen M. Smith of
Sullivan, whose life was snuffed out
| during the holiday season of 1923,
| told the story of a little box coming
to her in Boston containing bud-laden
spruce twigs from the Maine woods.
| The cost of it was only the money 1T
| took to mail the box, yet she wrote
| that the Christmas spirit that sprang
| from that box with it's emblems and
odors of the Maine forests made sew
eral people happy for days.
My earliest memories cluster around
Christmas when 1 lived as a child at
my grandfather's, while my parents
| house was being built. We children
hung our stockings. No one had trees
| in the homes in those days, but every
one participated in the community
| tree at the church under the super
vision of the Sunday school. The
| children gave recitations and sang
carols 1 hear myself now reciting
that well known children's classic:
| And then in a twinkling l heard on
| the roof
The prancing and paving of each
| little hoof;
| AS l drew in my head and was turning
| around
Down the chimney Saint Nicholas
! came with a bound"
| And how real it was-fancies OF
by-gone day long since exchanged Tor
| a few prosaic facts! But when one
| has lived to be a grandmother, there
are many sad recollections as well as
| gay at the holiday season. The first
Oh ristmas message chorused nineteen
hundred and twentysix years ago
was
And on Earth peace, good will
| toward men,"
We who have experienced pereaVe-
ments know that the promise OF the
angels song so many years ago IS 1or
the sorrowful as well as the gay. so
"Twinkling candles of Christmas eve
Shed your radiance on hearts tha'
| grieve
! Although we do not realize 1t, there,
tucked away in corner of our heart,
we carry the Christmas spirit from
| one December to the next There is
nothing so tempting, so Christmas-y,
as the old fashioned Christmas dinner.
| Our grandmothers, nor our mothers
| even knew nothing of cocktalS.
| Salads and ice-cream had no place in
their plans Pies of different kinds
and a plum pudding always graced
the holiday table,
l am sending my mothers Christmas
pudding recipe, and the sauce which
| she always used, but hard sauce or
any preferred rule is allowable for in
dividual tastes. If any pudding is left,
| it can be kept indefinitely and
! steamed over, if unexpected guests
arrive or any other urgent demands
| on the larder.
NV little granddaughter, nine years
old, has been doing her bit and IS
helping the agent here, who is in high
school in an adjoining town, sell
health stamps. In one day she sold
| over $6 worth.
| wonder II Aunt Mary's John hasn't