Evening star., 1941-11-28

It is q task that is fraught with
delicate decisions. One OF the nrst
that has to be made concerns the
"put-out as compared to the haul"
There is no sure way of determine
ing just what your friends and rela-
tives are going to send you, and
consider it ostentatious, If not down.
right foolhardy, to give out OF pro-
portion to what you receive.
Such an exchange makes both
parties feel unhappy. If you SEND
a friend a whiskbroom and he sends
you a smoking jacket, you never
can feel entirely comfortable While
wearing the jacket for worrying
about how he feels when he whisks
himself off with the measly OLD
whiskbroom. It Is even worse when
YOU get the whiskbroom after haV-
ing souandered the money on the
smoking jacket. All you can do Is
hope that, when another Christmas
rolls around he'll feel so ashamed
he'll square accounts and send you
| some handsome gift.
But YOU never can be sure. and
that presents another problem. Do
you dare risk sending him some
thing nice again? What does Mrs.
Roosevelt do about a situation like
this? Does she just shoot the works
and hope for the best? Or is she
one of those people I have read and
heard about who feel that the re-
membrance is more important than
the gift?
would like Mrs. Roosevelt's solu-
ton for this problem. too. What
does she do about a gift for friends
who, say. have three children. Your
allotment for them, based on years
Of careful study of their present to
YOU. is SO. Now which is better, to
spend all of the SO on single gift
for the entire family. or to break 1t
down into FIVE parts and send a
present to each member of the fam
ily? With SO you can get a good
present that parents will like, but
for so cents a head the children
may like their gifts for few min
utes, and you can be sure the par
ents aren't going into ecstasy over
theirs. So. what to do?
And what do YOU do. when makint
out your Christmas list. about tn
person to whom you sent somethini
last Christmas without getting any
> thing in return? Is he going to re-
member how embarrassed he va!
and shoot along something this year
or has he made up his mind thai
you are sucker and decided JUS
to sit back and let you feel blessed
by giving to him?
Another thing I would like Mrs
Roosevelt to explain is how she
thinks up enough different pres
ents to send out. In recent years il
has become questionable to seno
presents that are practical and
when opened, are Immediately recog.
nizable for what they are. Every
one feels they must send out some
thing different" even if it Is sc
different the recipient can't tel
what it is to be used for.
I was q victim of this fad las
Christmas and you must have beer
too. I received what Later turned ou
to be a combination key ring, fash
light, bottle opener, nail file and bill
clip. I could have used any one
of the things myself, but until the
day I finally dropped it through g
subway grating I never had mastered
the act of cleaning my nails "
the glow Of a filashlight while {;
bottle opener chafed my wrist.
Married shoppers would appreciatC
Mrs. Roosevelt explaining how She
settles on which relatives-those o1
the husband or those of the wife
are to get the better presents. Thi:
involves the balance Of power in tht
home, and to settle where it lies il
one afternoon, as Mrs. Roosevelt
must have done, Is q remarkable
feat.
1t has been a moot question i
our little nest for seven years an
will come up for another settling tn
first time we reach the bargain base
ment in search of gifts for the Nc.
Lemores and the Conrads.
Distributed By McNausht Syndicate, Inc