CHOICE OF THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 164, 23 December 1926, Page 3

CHOICE OF THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT.

NOVELTIES OF THE SEASON. (By Cynthia). “ Half-a-dozen handkerchiefs for Auni Fanny, a pocket-book ior Uncle Geo. go, a puwurr-puff for Gertie, a doll for Flossie, an engine for t uy Tim, iiaif-a-puuad of t.a for old Betsy. Yes, .ha will do. It's pretty much what I give them every year.” Armed with that list and a stern determintalum not to deviate lToin. i one “Quick march” to the shops! So do we make of the choosing of our Christmas gifts a duty rather than a pleasure. So, leaning to Tic side of safety, do we shut out the heaven-sent aid of imagination. We might do worse. We might make the fatal mistake of sending the half-pound of :ca to Gertie, sweet and shingled and twenty, and the powder-puff to old Betsy. But the poor old woman must be .so tired of seeing that half-pound of tea appear regularly every Christmas morning. She has become accustomed to expect it —and it is the unexpected that brings that special Christmas thrill. I am not suggesting that old Betsy be presented with a gold wristlet watch or crinoline-lady cosy, but why don’t we use our imagination a little and choose something that would make this a very special Christmas Day for her? And Aunt Fanny, too —do we ever think how tired she must be of writing annual thanks for that half-dozen liandkerch:efs, or how full her handkerchief sachets must be by this time? How should we like this treatment ourselves? Whose Choice? I-lere enters the difficult question — Shall w r c choose gifts to please ourselves or to please the recipients? Tennyson may be my favourite poet, but wTiv send him to Sylv’a. wdicn hors is Browning? Or "why force a jazzcoloured cushion upon Aunt Sally when her eye takes most delight in neutral tints? Can we not, somehow, strike a happy mean? Taking account of the individual preferences of our friends, we should, within certain limitations, choose articles that we ourselves would willingly possess. Granted that our days for playing with dolls i-ay be over, let us choose, not just ; iv doll, but a doll that is attractive, i r asing to the eye. And if our inter t, at present, is weak as regards sliav. ’s and mufflers and bedroom slippers, r cl all such gifts marked down as eminently suitable for the aged and infirm, let them, too, be as pretty as possible. An act never appreciated as one of kindness is that of adding to other people’s collections of white elephants. Distance from the shops can be no excuse nowadays for a monotonous stameness in' our present-giving. If we do not go to them, they reach out. towards us by means of their advertisements setting forth attractive novelties. If w’c live near the city, we can go to seek out novelties for ourselves, keeping in view all the time the colour of the eyes or the turn of the mind of each individual “gift.” It is better to set about the business early, not waiting for inspiration to come at the eleventh hour. It probably won’t, and the discomfort of crowds and heated atmospheres which ensue will only make us more particularly sorry for ourselves.

“Some New Thing.” It is wonderful how soon after the winter the influence of Christmas makes itself apparent in the shops. Their windows brighten up. There is more colour everywhere. An atmosphere of expectancy seems to brood over them. If you penetrate within, as I did the other day, you will find the Christmas atmosphere everywhere evident inside. Being anxious, like the Athenians of old, to hear and tell of some new thing, I had various novelties pointed out to me. Among them was a golfer’s cruet —three china golf-balls adhering close together, as is the way of receptacles for pepper, salt, land mustard, on a green ground. Near-by there were some heat-resisting mats, lined with asbestos, for the teapot —a now idea, this. Others in electro-plate were lined with baize. From amongst a large tarray of clocks, an alarm clock with a luminous dial looked forth, suggesting a present of an extremely useful nature.

I was especially attracted by a counter containing Italian art wood. Here are all manner of pretty things, adjuncts for the toilette table, trays, boxes, candlesticks in carved wood, hand-painted with flowers. A beautiful box had four flower-licads in blue and pink, purple, and red. Little trinket boxes can be had much cheaper, but on all of them roses and poppies and clematises and violets do disport themselves with most bright and cheering aspect. For the Bobbed Girl. A dainty little gift for a bobbedhaired girl is the bobbed hair brush, very small and handle-less; in its own little box, it is eminently suitable for the handbag. This brush can be had silver-backed or in plain wood. Full toilette-sets of brushes arc offered in all kinds of pretty colourings to match the colour-scheme of the bedroom. In a new substance, crystallate, they can be had in infinite variety. Few of us can ever hope to afford the beautiful brushes and mirrors in shining, clear enamel, blue, pink, and heliotrope. The crystallate sets arc offered in equally pretty colours, and are much less expensive. Bags—and More Bags. The section devoted to ladies ’ handbags is one in which a large choice is offered. In all departments colour, since the war,* has assumed a place of superior importance, and not least here. Very popular at the moment are the

bags of bright green leather, and after ■ them, come those of brown and red! Black, because of its useful quality of “going” with anything, of course i maintains its sway, but the coloured bag is now well to the fore. Beautiful I bags in crocodile skin, backed with horn, in lizard skin, and—another novelty—in ostrich skin, make delight- ! ful presents. Near-by arc bags in gold j leather, in tapestry, in bead-work, in [ silk, and pochettes in brocade —the last ! fastened with an ornament of steel beads. Bags, too, in Batik leather, and bags in repousse leather, to which a spray of autumn leaves, or a cluster of fruits or flowers, or even a bright plum--1 aged bird, contributes a cheerful note. For Mademoiselle. I The exigencies of milady’s toilette • make many claims upon her nowadays. ! Did you ever ponder the mystery of i that compact, neat little case that she j carries around with her, on tlic street, to the theatre and dancing-hall? These ; so-called vanity cases arc fited up with 1 all kinds of necessaries. Then, passing 'to electric shades, and shades for ( candles and lamps—transitions are 1 never very clearly defined in presentchoosing! —there is abundant variety of these in vellum and crystallate, showing all kinds of exquisite designs and colours. Shell-flowers for table and lights decorations may not, perhaps, attract one’s fancy, as presents, but with one’s Christmas party in view, they 1 will, no doubt, appeal as an additional j attraction —a cluster of yellow poppies ' for the electric light in the hall, sprays j of scarlet japonica to lay on the table. Very artistic arc the powder-boxes of j Italian make, their figures gaily robed I in delicate pink and green —these are I very dainty and charming adjuncts to , the toilette tale. A small gift, but one popular at the moment, might take the 1 form of one of those di amen to orna- ( ments, which, in all shapes and forms, Paris has declared to be le dernier cri when attached to our hats. “ Useful * I Presents.

The problem of “a suitable present for a gentleman” is often fraught with difficulty. With the lure of colour gone, one seems much more pinned down to what is strictly utilitarian. I noticed a novelty in a revolving calendar, nieklc-plated, which adjusts the dates simply by being turned over. A leather pocket-case for holding keys asserts its usefulness —no more holes in the pockets! A cigar light, in the form of a dog’s head, had an attachment linking it up with the electric light. Cushions, too, there are, soft and silken, in all manner of art shades, for milady’s boudoir. _The Kiddies’ Fairyland. Very important, perhaps most important of all, is that large space where Santa’s sack is annually filled. Here trains occupy an important place, and, incidentally, require a good deal of space to demonstrate their efficiency to the full, for there must be room, not only for the trains themselves and the railway lines, but for bridges and viaducts, and junction signals, and lamp standards, and all manner of waggons and guards’ vans, and breakdown vans and cranes, and tunnels, and level crossings, and all the rest of the paraphernalia! Platforms, too, complete even to the barrows and the milk-cans and other platform accessories! For the girls, a new doll has arrived —‘ ‘ the new-born baby. ’ ’ It has come with its most new-born-likc expression and its most realistic infant wail! It is to be had in long clothes or short clothes, completely equipped, in different sizes, and it is unbreakable. Apart from the new-born baby, the dolls appear to be growing m size; some of them are of a largeness and a style of dressing that point to babyhood’s years long left behind. A quaint little menagerie can be had, with the little animals inside —animials that can be taken out and played with. Amongst the toys arc snowmen, filled with crackers; motors, carrying black cat mascots, laden with crackers, ready to contribute to the merriment of the children’s party. The Personal Touch. Yes, I hear my reader say, were funds forthcoming, Auntie Fanny and Uncle George, and Gertie and Flossie, and tiny Tim, and old Betsy and the rest, should all have the very present of their heart’s desire. But, surely, suitability is not always synonymous with costliness? Let tlic present have something of a personal significance, showing that one has remembered some personal preference or need. Its value will then be multiplied many times