December 1937

THE THRILL OF Christmas

THE Christmas spirit is exemplified in the love and kindness and joy and self-sacrifice, the practical realization of the spiritual thrill with which we forget our material worries. Along with meanness, envy, spite, greed, and pettiness, they're shed like an old shabby coat.

ON GUARD!

Christmas Comes

CELEBRATION of Christmas is an ancient custom, but strangely and paradoxically, more ancient even than its own beginning.

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CHRISTMAS DINNER Like Mother used to Cook

THAT some famous people vote for just good, old-fashioned turkey and trimmin's proves something-- or doesn't it?

GIVING A Casserole?

Pie-Plate Frame of chromium-surfaced brass is 9½ inches wide, 1½ inches deep; has walnut handles, and will do extra duty as a rimmed serving tray. Our Scalloped Oysters are baked in a 9½-inch heat-proof-glass pie plate that doesn't come with the metal frame

WHERE THERE'S A Knack THERE'S A Rule

DID you ever try a candy recipe, following the instructions to the last detail, only to end up with a batch of sugary lumps or worse, a goo that gets stickier the more you work with it? Then did you try again, using this time a guaranteed "perfect" recipe, only to find that didn't work out either?

PLAN FOR A Flower Bar

HAVE you, too, carried roses from your garden thru the living-room or hall and left behind you a tell-tale trail of fallen leaves and garden dirt?

"With Crowns of Cold"

WHEN I was a child, a beautiful book with verses and lovely pictures was given me one Christmas morning. The title, "Christmas Roses," intrigued me.

Fun in Church

ARE you having a Christmas tree for the youngsters at your church this year, with a stockingful of hard candy and a pat on the head from jolly Santa for each child? Are you having exercises with a Christmas angel, and songs and recitations? Of course you are! It's one of the things changing times and passings years don't alter.

ANN'S AND JANE'S Store

I MADE this grocery store for my two little daughters, named Ann and Jane-- hence the A & J Store. It's built in excess space in back of the wall and under a sloping roof, and is, therefore, out of the way when not in use. The top panel is hinged at the bottom and when swung down becomes a blackboard to obscure from view all traces of a store.

Saddle Seat

BROWSING around the antique shops recently (browsing only-- my pocket-book won't permit liberties!), I came across some interesting old benches and stools; Early American, most of them. The soft, mellow tones in the wood struck a responsive chord in my mood and I pondered over them as I strolled along.

from many ports

GIFTS for hobbyists-- young or old-- are these folklore dolls. And with the sailors you can go collecting, a doll in every port! For they're right out of a travelog-- gay, picturesque replicas of interesting folk from many lands of the world.

Outdoor Poinsettia

GORGEOUS Poinsettias are traditional at Christmastime. Often we buy them at the florist shop unaware that there are now several distinct kinds being grown in greenhouses which are quite different from the parent species Euphorbia pulcherrima (you-for'-bee-ah pull-ker'-ry-mah) which grows wild in tropical Mexico and Central America.

"We're Always Moving"

TWENTY different homes in 24 years of married life! That's the record held by Colonel and Mrs. Charles R. Pettis, now stationed at Selfridge Field, Wisconsin.

CAMERA SHORTS

DOGGY GIFTS

CURRY COMB, rubber-brush spray (7) is convenience plus efficiency for bathing your dog. Easy to hold, with long hose, it brushes, massages, and washes at the same time: $1.50.... Discipline, protection, and control in one. Strong-braided leather whip (13), with snap on end, ideal lead for large dogs: 60 cents.... For the frisky dog visualizing an elk in the form of a speeding car, two heavy rubber balls (1) on leather straps that snap to collar.

Modern

TWO people-- or three if need be-- can live comfortably and conveniently in the small town or suburb in this modern little house. Built on a hillside, advantage was taken of the opportunity to place the garage in the basement. The long, low lines of the exterior create a restful composition and the house nestles among the trees as tho perfectly at home.

Christmas Fun PARTIES AND PAGEANTS

Holiday Dessert Menu Contest

CHRISTMAS-- and Mr. Sweet Tooth rears his sugary head! The family shouts for good old yuletide dessert-- mincemeat pie, plum pudding, nut goodies, and all the rest! But how do you make it-- and what goes with it?

PERFECT Chocolates

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

So many American tots first become premature pessimists while playing with flimsy Japanese toys which (like life later on) go to pieces right in their hands.

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Like Mother Used to Cook

There are two turkeys, one at each end of the table, carved as they should be, by two of the men guests in the presence of the diners. They're filled with dry, rich stuffing. There are huge bowls of creamy mashed potatoes for which there's plenty of brown giblet gravy. There are creamed onions combined with roasted chestnuts.

Parking-Lot Mantels!

Co-operating With Better Homes & Gardens

New Tricks WITH OLD FURNISHINGS

So MANY quaint old things around the house-- little glass toothpick-holders, a set of sleighbells, that charming but out-dated washstand, Grandmother's cherished wax flowers, and an ancient candle mold or two. But what's to be done with them in this up-to-date age?

ALL SET FOR Holiday Meals

COOKS' Round Table winners in December's "Salad and Sweets Contest" are generously giving Christmas presents to all meal-makers these busy days.

The Picture on the Cover

SUSAN JANE COMES TO Life

PROLOGUE: A nasty, rainy day ... Davy was disconsolate because the weather had spoiled hiking plans. Nancy, playing with her favorite rag doll, Susan Jane, sighed wistfully: "I wish Susan Jane could really walk and talk.."

The Lily

'The Flaming Drama of the South"

RECIPE FOR Christmas Giving

MAYBE you've heard of that potpourri of small gifts called a Christmas Pie? Mince, apple, pumpkin, and plum pudding combined have nothing on it for flavor.

Rainbows ON YOUR HEARTH

YOU don't have to be a magician or even a chemist to make lovely colored flames dance in your fireplace these brisk nights. Just a little practice with solutions of this and that and rainbow fires will double the joys of your hearthside and add keen new pleasures to evenings at home.

THE Diary OF A PLAIN DIRT GARDENER

Dec. 1 There was a one-day garden school on the campus [Ohio State University] today for garden-club members hereabouts, with winter flower-arrangements one of the main items of discussion on the program. Now this is a subject that doesn't interest a PDG to any vital extent.

Winter Protection ON THE NORTHERN PACIFIC SLOPE

WINTER BEDTIME for gardens on the North Pacific Slope is a serious matter, even tho lawns remain green and roses disdain a winter covering. Each warm chinook storm that blows in rouses plants as much as a circus band rouses children. Nature drowns, freezes, rockets to near summer, then sheathes in ice, and repeats.

SPOTLIGHT on Husbands and Wives!

ALONG THE Garden Path

WELL, here it is darned near Christmas once again and I haven't yet ordered presents for half my garden-minded pals, let alone my normal friends.