December 1942

Tips for Your Tomorrow

Gentlemen: I want to tell you what a couple of old people are doing about tomorrow.

Christmas Crusade

THIS year we are having what we call a quiet Christmas. There are fewer and less expensive gilts, not so many cards of greeting, smaller trees and simpler dinners. Like everything else, Christmas is affected by the war.

Your Home World of Tomorrow

THIS same lighting expert foresees front-door knobs that glow; glowing buttons for medicine cabinets; glowing strips for stairs. Moreover, he has developed a light panel that's mounted beside the window, and as daylight fades, an electric eye starts the artificial light coming on, so that the panel maintains even light from day to night.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO: Our House FROM: The Family

Christmas WHERE SANTA CLAUS LIVES

"ALASKA!" everybody said. "You're going to live in that bleak and friendless place?" They'd look at our 11-year-old son and our four-year-old son, and say: "And you're taking these children there with Christmas coming on!"

FUN for Everyone

OH, BOY! That hilarity you hear rising from firesides, dining tables, and recreation rooms all around the country means just one thing-- games.

Garden for Winter Beauty, Too!

NOW that snows have come light and clean and active gardening has given way to catalog-dreaming, look thru the window and see how entrancing your garden really is. Stripped of all frills, it reveals itself in its essential form. No cosmetics obscure its features; no flattering foliage hides its defects.

for indoor gardeners

LOVELY gifts, useful gifts, gifts you will be remembered by-- gifts for indoor gardening, priced to fit your bond-buying budget-- are plentiful. To prove it, we've assembled a few. We hope they'll help you avoid the nightmare of holiday rush and make for yourself and family a happier Yuletide season. If you can't find them in local shops, use the sources listed on page 76.

for outdoor gardeners

GIVING plants for Christmas is easy this year. You can order specific plants or bulbs from the nursery for your friend, and the nursery will send out an acknowledgment of the order to your friend and then deliver the materials at the. proper planting time.

Family Gifts You Can Make

FUN at Dad's workbench. saucy bits from your scrap bag, stamped art needle-work from smart New York, and dime-store buys add up to these jolly family gifts you can make. Young, old, and in-betweens all the way down your gift list will love 'em.

"We've Brought 1942 Comfort to Great- Grandfather's House"

JOHN HENRY POLLARD has been dead more than half a century, but his vigorous spirit still lives on in his fascinating old Virginia home at the corner of Duke and Lee Streets in Alexandria. He's not the spine-tingling sort of ghost, you understand, but such a vivid character that five decades can't dim the memory of his robust personality nor of his ship's chandlering business on the Potomac waterfront.

We Raised the Roof!

THE poor woman in Mother Goose had so many children she didn't know what to do. We had only two, but it all added up to the same dilemma.

How to Decorate for Christmas

SCRAPBOOK OF STAIRWAYS

Adventures in Gift Wrapping

"Just what I wanted"

PICK your present jor the person who'll break the string! Doesn't matter if it's a half or a tenth the value of last year's gift. Make up the difference with the swell job you do of tucking yourself into his shoes and rounding up what he'd pick if he were along.

Into the Tub Goes Your Baby!

SPLASH-- splatter-- splash! That's the tale of a tub bath-- and your marvelous baby having the time of his young life-- if you're running things to his liking!

MEET THE WINNERS! Christmas Pudding Scores Over Rib-sticking Salads

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Crowned Queen of Cooks' Contest is the yummiest Christmas Pudding you ever smacked a lip over! It wins for Mrs. Sybil Wright of Parsons, Kansas, $5 first prize in the battle of Winter Salads and Puddings headed up last May.

About Your Turn to Win a Prize!

PLUNK in the dead of winter we're fishing for dog-day desserts! But that's the funny way these magazine contests work-- so cuddle up by your fireplace and let's have a recipe for your most delectably refreshing Frozen Summer dessert and/or your best-ever Summer Pie.

Housework on the DOUBLE QUICK

CONSERVE YOU! That's a big part of today's conservation program. Save your better self for your family and your outside work and play. How? With homemaking short-cuts-- the sort you and your best pals pass along over your back fence or your bandage-rolling. It's the kind we of Better Homes & Gardens get by the dozen every day from you families. And since you can't gather 'round a mail basket, we've corralled some we rate outstanding to pass on to you. They'll aid you in your schedule trouble-shooting.

NEWS About Mattresses

WHAT'S the latest on mattresses? What's to replace the innerspring mattress now out "for the duration"?

Your Gift-Announcement Cards Free

We'll Buy Bonds for You--Merely write us a letter

TO MAKE it easy and convenient for you to buy War Savings Bonds-- and to save your time, tires, and gasoline, we have arranged with the United States Treasury to become an official bond-issuing agency. So you can now buy your War Savings Bonds merely by writing us a letter and sending your check for the bonds you want.

Scrapbook of Stairways

We Found Our Christmas Place Cards in the Old Family Album

IF YOU'VE never raided the old family album for place cards for your clan's Christmas dinner-- do this year! Our family's a whopper-- nine married children with enough wives, children, and grandchildren to bring the grand total to 33. But even with a far smaller family, maybe with guests sprinkled in, it's a delightful idea, bound to reawaken joyous memories.

It's a Mansion for Young Folks

YOUNG folks these days wouldn't have a mansion if you'd give it to them. What they want is a small home that can hold its head high in the best of architectural company-- one that's simply designed but built of the best materials, small size but planned for uncrowded living, and low cost but not cheap.

A Home for Tomorrow

Make Them for Your Terrace

REMEMBER the Christmas people gave you everything you needed and yet nothing you wanted? If you want to please, give what people want; indulge their desire. Give something close to their hobby and close to their hearts. For example, what better gift for a gardener than a table or bench or cart --fashioned with your own hands?

THE DIARY OF A PLAIN DIRT GARDENER

Dec. 3 It has been a guiding principle of my life to prepare for emergencies before they arise. For instance, with Christmas presents I always deem it wise to broadcast my needs and preferences well in advance. That's why I wrote a letter to Mother today and told her exactly what I want her to give me for Christmas.

DOUBLE Your Living Space

I USED to tell myself, "The thing you must have in landscaping your place is vision-- vision and a plan. Before you turn a shovelful of earth you must see your grounds as they'll someday be-- and plan and replan them until you like what you see."

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

You have to be invited to a pretty good party these days to justify burning up a gallon of gasoline.