December 1953

What you should know about accident and sickness insurance

Everything we have-- our homes, our cars, the food on the table, even our life insurance-- depend on income. If income stops, the very foundation of living is gone. The whole structure topples down.

New musicmakers

Get the most from your lighting dollar

Have you heard the Latest Garden News?

Oak wilt, a serious oak disease, has long been a problem, threatening all species of oaks valued for shade and lumber.

All play and no work

New ways to wrap your christmas packages

More than holiday greetings

The sureness of faith at Christmastime, the hope and comfort for those nourished in it, and the peace it brings. Church at Christmastime, each to his own; the special nearness there to something hallowed and vital and enriching.

Here comes Christmas!

Make decorations of plastic foam

Gay holiday mobiles

These moving, colorful decorations are new --fascinating to put together-- intriguing to watch when they're hanging from your ceiling, a wall bracket, or a light fixture.

Could this happen on your street?

In another few years, will your neighborhood be the same pleasant place it is today? Or will there be run-down eyesores scattered here and there with, perhaps, the beginning of a commercial intrusion? Whether you realize it or not, from the moment you take title, you are committed to a war against the sly, insistent encroachments of time, business interests, and gradual neighborhood deterioration.

Is your home ready for Christmas?

"THERE'S no place like home!" rings more true than ever at Christmastime. For home is where Christmas memories begin, where we share wonderful times with the people we like best. So, the holiday season-- when you stay home more, entertain more, use your home more-- is a time to give your rooms a critical look. Just glance around you right now and make an honest evaluation. Is your home all set to step into the limelight of Christmas festivities? What does it need to make it truly good to live in, fun to entertain in-- now, and all year round?

Good shop space is where you find it

House plants can make your Christmas linger

Three-bedroom house for the budget-minded

The square footage of any house is still the best yardstick for estimating cost. And who isn't cost-conscious when it comes to a new home today? Another factor is obvious even to the most inexperienced: Simplicity-- in plan, design, and details-- is another name for minimum cost.

New and festive for your table

Show your children books are fun

The supper dishes had been cleared away, and we were settling down in the living room for the evening story hour when we heard a gentle tap-tap on the front door.

Outdoor living--indoor comfort

Model railroading means all-family fun

Lester and Isabel Wilbert and their two teenage sons, Dick and Lawson, are partners in a family enterprise which they consider the ideal family hobby-- model railroading.

Gifts for gardeners

It's only as good as its Joints

It's fun to live in the kitchen

How to get the best price for your car

There are three ways to dispose of a used car --turning it in to a dealer as part payment on a new or used car, selling it yourself through a classified ad, or "wholesaling" it by selling it outright to a dealer. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. Whichever way you choose, there are a few preparations you should make before the actual sale.

Make thinking a game for your children

Here's a living-room and dinner-table suggestion for helping your children learn how to think. Mental awareness and the ability to think constructively come faster to children when their parents provide stimulating fun through "thinking games."

How to dramatize your walls

Personal help in home building remodeling, and decorating

When you're looking for ways to make your home more comfortable and attractive, look for this seal. It identifies the Better Homes & Gardens Home Planning Center, where you can get personal counsel on your own special home-planning problems.

Your pet and mine

Here are 10 general "don'ts" in dog training: 1. Don't show impatience or display a loss of temper.

Dress up odd corners

African-Violets

There are three main ways to start new African-violet plants-- by division, from seed, and from leaf cuttings. Here, we show you the leaf-cutting method.

Now's the time to ...

Brighten your flower borders in Lower South with winter color-- set out pansies now. Plant Gloriosa-Iily tubers as far north as Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Tulsa.

The diary of a Plain dirt gardener

Dec. 1 Got up late this morning, and Maggie was gone. On the stove was a pot of coffee.

How to care for Christmas plants

The Christmas plants you receive-- or buy-- are at their peak of perfection. Your florist has used all his skills to present them at their best. Mums, azaleas, cyclamens, poinsettias-- all are fed, watered, trimmed, shaded, trained, and coddled so you can enjoy them with a minimum of care.

Larger than its four walls

Here's a lesson in harmony-- harmony between the inside of a house and what goes on outdoors. In the William Fetner, Jr., home in St. Louis, it was achieved by: uninterrupted glass that visually merges indoors and out, a brick terrace that completely circles the house, indoor plantings to bring outdoor colors inside, and orientation that makes the most of view and light.

Prize biscuits

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

There are times when I know I married a very smart woman. Our home being always a hangout for boys and girls home from college, she never has to wash any dishes during the Christmas holidays. She merely hangs the mistletoe over the kitchen sink.