The Guardian Kfodsy, Dec. 20, 1954

Give A Festive Look To Home

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Sing the Answer to This

Decorative Wonders Can Be Worked By s - Simple Ingenuity

On Christmas Day

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. floral wire and artificial frost and

by Viola Newlm.

Holly over the fireplace. and mistletoe iii the hall - are these your usual Christmas decorations"!

Why not be more enthusiastic this year? Spend a little extra time and a few pence on the Job, and give a really festive look to your home.

In the lust place, while holly Ind mistletoe are the best main theme, they need not be the only plant decorations. Laurel, ivy, pine branches and cones are attractive. too, either as main pieces, to back other foliage, or to enhance a few choice iloiiers.

But don't think you can produce really sumptuous displays without I few accessories. Your greatest helps will be gold or silver paint,

glitter, with, of course, the USLIEA tinsel, glass 0l'naf'llt'lll5, candles and iloloiired ribbons.

COLORS TO CHOOSE

If you seek your green decora- tions about a week before Christ- mas, you should find a good selec- tion in the shops. Put your pur- chases in water when you get them home, and. when arranged. vihercver possible, keep them in it. Live leaves and branches. if they are not to droop and wither, need -water Just as much as other cut plants.

If small Christmas extravagances include a few choice flowers (bought, oi course, near Christmas Day) remember that if they are yellow, mauve or blue they may be disappointing in artificial light Flame, orange, puce, red, pink and white are safe colors.

If you live in the country you have the advantage of being able to gather a winter harvest of de- corations from your garden or the lanes. The delicate traceries at bare branches anc twigs are ma- gically transformezl with gold or silver paint. or frcsting.

The Christmas tree, centre of the festive scheme, cannot really be better dressed than with the traditional tinsel and colored glass ornaments. Tiny, old-fashioned

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are lighted. If you are not lucky enough (,0

have Christmas roses in the gar-

den. buy two or three, and gain

the effect of double the quantity

by P13-Cing them against a mirror.

Small-leaved. trailing ivy lg an elegant companion for these flow. ers.

The economy of a few camations

may be unnoticed if they are used

with I. comparatively large pro- portion of pine. If the flowers are white, they will look seasonally

snowy against a background of

dark green. holly.

Carnations. by the way. if they are fresh, should have tightly clustered centre petals. and the

candles are less safe, but give a'0"t”' P3313 51'W"1d 50 bent It

more romantic glow than the now conventional electric lamps.

An increasingly popular fashion which has ethereal charm is the small, "fairy" tree, placed perhaps in the solitude of the hall. The tiny tree is first covered with flat, white paint, and, when almost dry, sprinkled with glitter. All the de- corations must be dainty and delicately colored - small glass icicles and ornaments in pale shades of blue and green.

A DELIGHTFUL NOVELTY

Although rather tricky to make, I "mock tangerine,tree" is a novelty that is worth a little trouble.

F211 a substantial vase with i-ruiiiplcd wire netting and water. Arraiige in it some large branches of laurel, and strengthen some of them with fairly thick floral wire. On these fix the tangerines after they have been impaled on the ends of slender but strong sticks.

Laurel leaves, covered with silver or gold. tilld l".Slllg from is base of two or three lnrgv pine cones. fit well into a contemporary setting. And laurel branches, with their leaves outlined with glitter, will

brighten a dark hall.

Variegated holly a sometimes; called ”niilkmaid" holly - is al-l ways a colorful change from'the, usual dark green variety. It makes an effective wall decoration when backed with laurel. and worked into a crescent shape. I

Shape the ('Lll'VEEd foundation from wire. pad with moss (about a quartr-i”s-worth will make two or three two-fi-,5-t-lniig crescentsi and cut the stems of the branches on the slant so that they will easily pierce the moss in whit-h the; are arranged.

FOR THE WABLI I

This holly makes a bright table dc:-oration, too. Embed small, single sprays in moss, and lot tlum stray along the centre of the tablel length. Small candles enhance the, effect, and, for a touch of mag- niflcence, use tiible mats cut froml substantial gold or silver paper. g

Mistletoe. alu, is too often lusty bunched, and hung with I piece of string to a lamp. For its decora- tive value alone, It should have better treatment. One variation is, ta hang a bunch at the bottom of' a suspended kissing ring, This is made with a wooden hoop. covered. with colored silver paper, or folded

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right angles to the stem.

Don't attempt to give a festive look to a gift of a bunch of roses or other Christmas luxury flowers. Rather. place them in vases which harmonize with their line and color, and the size and character of the room.

The potted solanum, or cape cherry. is a popular present. It is

-a good decorative proposition, be-

cause it will outlast Christmas. All the solarium needs is a festive paperlfrill round its container. But don't expect it to live in 9, room with a gas fire '- it won't,

TIPS TO REMEMBER

These odd tips are worth re- inembering:-

FOY Wplllhg up water in which carefully arrange-d displays stand, use an old teapot, and they won't be disarranged. '

tive leavw and fruits. wipe with cotton wool moistened with olive

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In your enthusiasm. doii't.. absent. inindedly. place decorative group- Inns in the way of the Christmas party. or as a partial barricade to

To give an extra gloss to decora- .

Away In A Manger

The Stable of Bethlehem did not in any way resemble the airy por- tlcos-oomplete with plaster of paris animals and adoring shep- herds-so dear to the heart of mod- ern Christendom

With comfort increasing through- out the western world, the poverty of the Nativity scene simultane- ously startles and fascinates us- as perhaps Matthew, the publican, was impressed by the story of the Wise Men; and St. Luke, who had been a. ship's doctor and probably knew very little about shepherds. was charmed by the shepherds abiding in the field.

There was no room in the inn that night so Jesus was born in a stable: a. place of shelter hewn into a rocky ledge of the Judcan countryside. It was cold and dark and damp, and Judean travellers- frequently "put up" in such caves -welcomed rather than disdained joint tenancy with beasts becIuse the breath of the cattle and the heat of their bodies provided a lit- tle warmih, while the guests inside the inn had no heat at all.

The cave. which was the birth- place of the Saviour. is now a grotto beneath Bethlehem”: Church of the Nativity; and though fasci- nated by the simplicity of the or- iginal Nativity scene, Christianity has been unwilling to maintain its poverty and has covered the en- tire surfaoe with costly ornament- ation.

refreshments.

And. for quiet moments looking out the window. make the trees outside centres of activity by hang- them with pieces of suet and cake. They are the only decorations the birds will appreciate.

By MARGERY ALLINGHAM

Sir Leo Persuivam, the Chief Constable, had been sitting in his comfortable study after a magnifi- cent lunch and talking shyly of the sadness of Christmas while his guest, Mr. Campion, most favoured of his large house party, had been laughing at him gently.

it was true. the younger man had admitted, his pale eyes sleepy behind his horn-rimmed spectacles, that. however. good the organisa- tion. the festival was never quite the same after one was middle- aged, but then only dear old Leo would expect it to be. and mean- while, what a truly remarkable bird that had been!

But at that point the Superintend- ent had arrived with his grim little story and everything had seemed quite spoiled.

At. the moment their visitor sat in a highbacked chair. against a panelled wall festooned with holly and tinsel, his round black eyes hard and preoccupied under his short grey hair.

Superintendent Pussy was one of those lean and urgent countrymen who never quite lose their fondness for a genuine wonder. Despite years of experience and disillusion the thing that simply cant have happened and yet indubitably has retains a place in their cosmos.

He was holding forth about one now. It had already ruined his Christmas and had kept I great many other people out in the sleet all day, but nothing would induce him to leave it alone even for five minutes.

The plate of turkey sandwiches, which Leo had insisted on ordering for him, were disappearing without him noticing them and the glass of scotch and soda stood untasted at his side.

"You can see I had to come at once," he was saying for the third time. "I had to, I don't see what happened and that's a fact. It's a sort of miracle. Besides,” he eyed them angrily, "fancy killing I poor old postman on Christmas morn- ing- That's inhuman isnt it? Un- natural."

RUN powm

Sir Leo nodded his white head. "Horrible," he agreed. "Now, let me get this clear. The man ap- pears to have been run down at the Benham-Ashby crossroads . .."

Pussy took a handful of cigar- ettes from the box at his -side and arranged them in a cross on the shining surface of the table. '"Look," he said. "Here is the Ashby road with I slight beili in it and here, running at right angles slap through the curve. is the Benham road.

"This morning the Benham post- man. old Fred Noakes, a bachelor, thank God, and I good chap. came along the Benham road loaded down with mail."

"On I bicycle," murmured Cam- pion.

"Naturally. On I bicycle. He called at the last farm before the cross-roads and left just about ten o'clock. We know that because he had I cup of tea there. Then his way led him over the crossing Ind on towards Benham proper."

He pnused and looked up from

his cigarettes.

S.'I'I.VIJI 1

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BEGIN WITH THE CORRECT LETTER I

AND FOLLOW ROUND, WIYHDUT JUMPING ANY, Val

WML READ TWO LINES OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL. -A Mystery Sm,-ym

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"There was very little traffic early to-day. terrible weather all the time. and quite a bit of activity later, so we've got no skid marks to help us. Well, to resume, no one seems to have seen old Noakes. poor chap, until close on half an hour later. :

"Then the Benham constable.' who lives some three h undred yards from the crossing, on the, Benham road, came' out of his house and walked down to his gate to see if the post was coming.

"He saw the postman at once, lying in the middle of the road across his machine. He was dead then." ,.

"You suggest he'd been trying to carry on, do you?" put in Leo. ,

"Yes. He was walking. Plishing the bike, and had dropped in his tracks. There was a depressed fracture in the side of his skull where something - say a car mir- ror - had struck him.

"I've got the doctor's report. I'll show you that later. Meanwhile there's something else.”

Pussy's finger moved to his other line of cigarettes.

"Also, just about ten. there were a couple of fellow: walking here on the Ashby road. just before the bend. They report that they were almost run down by I wildly driven saloon car which came up behind them.

"It missed them and oareered off out of their sight round the bend towards the crossing. But a few minutes later. half a mile farther on, on the other side of the cross-l roads. in police car met, and suc-l' ceeded in stopping, the lame so-i loon.

"There was I row. and the driver, getting the wind up sudden- ly. started up again, skidded and Continued on page 8

The Management and Staff of MARITIME CENTRAL AIRWAYS wish their many friends and patrons a Joyous Christmas Season and a Bright New Year

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Iheet cellophane. and trimmed with evergreens. Within the hoop hang silver bells, apples or balloons. i If you prefer mistletoe more dalntily arranged. use embroidery fumes instead of one large hoop, Bind them with tinsel, and sup-; pend with bows. - 1 with some of the berries fl'0lU!d.l mistletoe. in ii silver bowl, is In exquisite decoration. ” A showy maintelshel! dressing can . be made from pins bruichel. Bind l the shell with strong wire. and, fix the branches into it. Allow

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