CHRISTMAS IS JUST ROUND THE CORNER

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 29, 11 December 1930, Page 3

CHRISTMAS IS JUST ROUND THE CORNER

- Although Christmas comes every year •with the most precise and punctual regularity, yet the week preceding Christmas always finds the housewife overwhelmed with last minute preparations. There is the nerve-racking experience of shopping in. jostling crowds; a jumbled list of presents, food, Christmas stationery, stackers, and decorations and the menus of three days to juggle with: so that when Christmas morning dawns, it often finds the mistress of the house thoroughly exhausted, and quite unable to enjoy to its utmost this merriest festival of the year. So few women seem to realise that it is possible and thoroughly worth while to get their Christmas preparations down to a routine. December 25 should find the housewife not only ready, but also' fresh, to enjoy every moment of the great moment of the great reunion of families and friends. A well-planned Christmas is quite a r -feat of household organisation^ and this year it requires more forethought than ever, for there will be three full days to •cater for while all the shops are shut. The routine of Christmas preparations remains the same from yeaT to year, so that it is well worth the time to set one's plans on paper. Every woman knows that liarassing sensation of keeping her mind continuously fixed on all the things which have^to be done. There always seems to be something that one thought of yesterday and simply cannot remember to-day 1 Writing things down saves

so much mental effort. Now what exactly do Christmas preparations involve? ... ..^' 1. Letters and- parcels to- distant friends which must catch an early mail. 2. Christmas-card .greetings to be addressed and posted. , . 3. Presents to be bought and packed. 4. Entertaining to be planned. 5. Table-and other decorations to be thought out. 6. More than three full days. to foe catered, for. ■ ■)- . ■ 7. L,ist of Christmas boxes and gratuities to tradespeople to be prepared. AH these items are listed in the order in which they should be attended* to, and there is no reason why—with the exception of the actual shopping of perishable foods and flowers —all these preparations ■ could not be complete-by December 16. The easiest method to follow is to take a large block of writing-paper and carefully analyse all one's plans and duties. \ After, making out your own special lists of Christmas requirements, there is no reason why the actual menus themselves for the Christmas week-end should not be thought out early in December. A specimen plan of menus is given y at the end of this article. Against each day's menu make a list of the perishable .foods that must be ordered, and this will provide a complete shopping list for the last two days before Christmas, and that is all the shopping- which a housewife w.ho is a really good organiser should have-tci do on these two days. A Christmas Party.—lf you intend giving a dance or other Christmas party,

then a special sheet in the Christmas Folder," should be devoted4;o it. This sheet -will have a list of all the gaests expected, menus for supper and buffet refreshments Mth the column on the right, .with the requirements for these menus. . _ / The''^^ntertainment of the guests will also' require some considerable forethought, such as music for dancing, the ordering of a jazz bandi in good time or a stocktaking of gramophone dance records, if the gramophone is to be used. Then there is the devising of a surprise for the distribution of Christmas gifts and souvenirs—which all have to be bought. These may be packed into a I giant cracker which, when pulled, not only showers down gifts, but also balloons, paper streamers and confetti. Or the gifts may be concealed in a snow mountain dut of which grows the Christmas tree. The ' ' mountain is made by draping a large sheet round the table on which the tree stands. The mountain is covered with cotton-wool and frosting and a paper band depicting pines makes it look more realistic, A small mountain can be used -as a "lucky dip"— each guest drawing out a present from between the folds of the sheet. But if the mountain is large enough, leather Christmas himself could! emerge and distribute the presents. At Christmas time, people, both old and young, love games as well as dancing, so a few jolly Ciiristmas games should also be planned—and plenty of cosy places for sitting out. : ■'• Christmas preparations certainly are an arduous task. But don't, don^t leave j

them so late that they will spoil your Christmas I > '