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2-C—THE CHRONICLE, Clinton, S. C., Dec. 36, 1969 OKLAHOMA BROWN CANDY 1/4 teupoon mxU 1 teaspoon vanilla 4 can broken not*. (black walnuts are best) S caps eSok ssflk or UilbESto or laargarlne 2 cups of the sugar into a heavy sUnet. Drop the 4 caps Into a large, deep heavy kettle. Carmelke sacsr In the sldllet by rtirring constantly over low heat I? Is melted. Go slow: don’t let It smoke or tarn brown. about one half hour to mdt completely without ,, | | m When the sugar in the skillet Is Just about melted, mt ketflewtth the sugar-milk mixture in it over low heatand Jat K simmer as you continue stirring the melting sugar. Whoi pour carmelteed sugar in a very fine stream into the bettle, staring all the time to blend. This is an important jfcp. Cook and stir until mixture reaches firm ball stage, 244 “ 248 (Immcs on the enndy thermometer. Bemove from the addl/4 teaspoon soda and stir vigorously as it foama or margarine and stir until it melts. Set aside at ■ temperature for 20 minutes. Add vanilla and beat until tfciA «««d gloss turns dulL Fold In nuts and turn into p*" about 15 by 10 Inches by one inch deep. When slightly cooled cut In squares. For economy, thk can be made using less than the 4 cups FLOWER The Greeks had a special name for Carnations — The Divine Flower. They grew wild on the sun-drenched hillsides of that ancient land, 3000 years before the birth of Christ If you select this exquisitely fragrant, long-stemmed flower to beautify your home for the holidays, you will be carrying on a revered tradition. The Romans called the carnation Dlanthus Carolphyllus, The flower of God. During the Renaissance, kings, noblemen and their merchants sat for their portraits sometimes holding ' auta f: at all. Place one alone in a dainty vase, or assemble two dozen in an exuberant floral explosion. The lovely blossoms await the dictates of your own imagination. The furled and feathery petals of red and white carnations have an especially festive holiday look when combined with variegated holly. Carnations will monetary investment for they are the longest lasting repay you well for your relatively small nt. Their fragile appearance Is deceptive, rest lasting of all cut flowers. $ v* THE MANY SONGS OF CHRISTMAS At about this time of year it becomes very apparent that caroling is about as much a part of Christmas as the ex change of presents. In fact, caroling is nearly as old as Christ mas itself since it was In the second century that the bishop of Rome urged his people "to sing in the celebration of the birth of our Lord." However, St. Francis of Assisi, who lived in the thirteenth century, is regarded as the father of caroling as we know it. The most familiar of the carols we sing today were composed in the 18th and 19th centuries. "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" — 1703 "Joy To The World" - 1708 "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” — 1739 "Silent Night" - 1818 " Little Town of Bethlehem" - 1868 *♦»¥*******¥#*¥*¥******¥»¥** im 1# ; ijg MM! m your home be warmed by the spirit of the Christmas spirit. And to our loyal patrons and neighbors we extend our thanks. Maxwell Bros. Furniture 0X May you tee the fulfillment of your prayon in this Holy Soason. 204 N. Broad St. 833-2628 Ruby's Beauty Shop 121 a Broad St 833-1711 »+*##***#**+*¥************#* '£_A. A * t * $ W4 CHRISTMAS pi-1 l The sounds of Santa’s sleigh- bells fill the air with music, and every home is kindled witb the warmth of good cheer. May you and your family enjoy all the blessings of this happy holiday season. Heartfelt thanks for yaw trust and support. We greatly enjoy the privilege of serving you MSgg&m ' : v x LEONARD CAR1COW, 126 Musgroye St Clinton. S. C. au-u«i When Families Gather, It’s Christmas! Through the years, the ways of celebrating Christ mas have taken on many different forms. Today's Christmas tree Is apt to be plastic or alumi num, rather than nature’s own flr, spruce or pine. The glow of tiny beeswax candles on a tree is only a memory, replaced now by strings of twinkling electric lights. Jolly Santa, once trans ported only by reindeer- drawn sleigh, may now ar rive by helicopter or Jet plane. But in spite of changes, the essence of the season, the basic spirit of Christmas, stays the same. Christmastide is, above all, a time for togetherness and rejoicing. And a modern Christmas, Just like an old- fashioned Christmas, calls for gatherings of family and friends, with much merri ment, fun and feasting. Right now in this commu nity, families are celebrating the holiday with Just such gatherings, such merriment, fun and feasting. Like families of yesteryear, they celebrate with gifts and greens, with the warmth of a glowing hearth and the gleam of a lighted tree, with stockings hung by the chim ney with care and even with candles, though these beckon brightly from candleholders rather than from the tree. All these ways of celebrat ing are part of the legend and lore of Christmas. Exchanging Gifts Exchanging gifts at Christ mas is one of the most time- honored of customs, and toys, dolls and games for the chil dren have always ranked high on the gifts list. In the not-so-long-ago, however, Just one important present — a doll for a little girl, perhaps, and a toy ac cordion for her brother—was all that youngsters might ex pect at Christmas. Though Santa is more bountiful nowadays, the gifts he brings are like those of yesteryear in at least one way. They reflect the inter ests and fashions of their times. Dolls, yesterday and today, dress In the favorite styles of the moment. Toys, too, show the influence of current events. Toy racing cars, for in stance, came In with the au tomobile, while today more complex types of wheel toys take advantage of modern technological developments. Using Greens Use of greens and garlands to decorate for a festive sea son goes back a thousand years before the birth of Christ. The custom began with the ancient Egyptians. Many of the traditions of pagan festivals were later merged with the celebration of Christmas, and evergreens, because they stay green throughout the year, came to be regarded as the Christmas symbol of eternal life. Decorating the Tree Many ancient legends as sociate trees with Christmas. One is that on the first Holy Night, all the trees of the forest blossomed and bore fruit. The idea of adorning the Christmas tree with orna ments may have started with an attempt to create the ef fect of snow on the branches. Strings of popcorn and tufts of cotton were used. Lighting the Tree Martin Luther started the custom of lighting the tree, legend says. To symbolize stars glowing forth on a snow-filled win ter’s night, he placed lighted candles on his family’s tra ditional Christmas tree. Rurning the Log Today’s fireplaces, though smaller In scale than those TKAIMTIONALLY, CHRISTMAS IS A FAMILY DAY. An old- fufthiontd ChrintmuM, pictured above in an illu»trulion created especially for the enjoyment of the readers of this newspaper, had much in common with a modern Christmas — gifts, greens, trees, flowers and, of course, a happy family gathering. of yesteryear, symbolize at Christmas Jhe age-old cus tom of burnipg the log. The Yule log was adapted to Christmas celebrations from the Scandinavian prac tice of building huge bonfires at the winter solstice. Fire represented the spring sun, soon to return. Hanging Stockings St. Nicholas, so legend says, secretly gave gifts of gold for the dowries of poor spinsters. He tossed the gold down a chimney on Christmas Eve, and on one occasion the gift landed in a stocking hung by the fireplace to dry. A tangerine or an orange in the toe of a stocking has come to be symbolic of the gifts of gold. Famous Writers Find New Ways to Say, ‘A RyghteMerrie Chrystmasse Toe You ’ foychiatrists say you rt if if you’rt Great writers of every age since medieval times have made contributions to the various expressions and phrases that are associated with Christmas. Such expressions as, “A Ryghte Merrie Chrystmasse Toe You,” have now become archaic and the spelling quaint. But the continued exchange of Christmas cards over the years has been a strong influence in preserv ing the traditional words, or greetings, associated with the season. From the very beginning of greeting cards, prime im portance was placed on the message itself. In fact, some of the earliest cards were simply greetings with sprigs or borders of holly on an oth erwise plain card. But then, as early as the 1880’s in England and also in America, verses appropri ate to the season and com posed by famous authors, were proving popular on Christmas cards. One such poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — with a portrait of the emi nent gentleman — appears on one of the antiques in the Hallmark Historical Collec tion, a treasury of more than 50,000 greetings which pro vides a variety of the ex pressions of good cheer and Christmas wishes by famous writers over the years. The age old message of the season is to be found in to day’s Christmas cards, ex pressed in poetry and prose by such outstanding literary figures of the past and pres ent as William Shakespeare, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sara Teasdale and, more re cently, T. S. Eliot, Archibald MacLeish, William Carlos Williams and the late Rus sian writer, Boris Pasternak. Pasternak’s "The Christ mas Pine Tree” has been ex cerpted for a greeting card which reads in part: I love her to tear*, ut Mglit, from the first. As she comes from the wood* in storm and snow. So awkward her branches, the shyest of firs! We fashion her threads un hurriedly, slow. Her garments of silvery, gos samer lare. Patterns of tinsel, and span gles aglow Befana’s Search Ancient Legend An ancient legend tells of Three Wise Men stopping to ask directions of an old woman, Befana. They invited her to go with them to wor ship the new-born King, but she would not leave until she had swept her house and baked her bread. So the Wise Men left without her. When her housework was finished, Befana packed a basket of toys for the Christ Child and set out after the Wise Men, but she never over took them. So every Christmas she searches for the Christ Child with her basket of toys, leaving gifts for the children in each house she passes. From branch unln branch, down lo the base I love her to tears, from the first, so bright In a crowd of friends on Christmas night.” Portions of Sir Walter Scott’s “Marmion” have been used for still another Christ mas card verse: “F.ngland was merry England when Old Christmas brought his sports again. The damsel donned her kirtlr sheen; The hall was dressed with holly green; Forth to the wood did merry- men go To gather in the mistletoe. Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale; Twas Christmas told the merriest tale; A Christmas gambol oft would cheer The poor man’s heart through half the year.” In a lighter vein, one of America's most popular vers ifiers, Ogden Nash, has con tributed his own inimitable style and thoughts to the spirit of Christmas greetings with several mirth-provoking stanzas such as the follow ing: “Our halls are decked with houghs of holly. And trimmings red and green and jolly; We get that old time Christ mas feeling While tacking wreaths from floor to ceiling. To you we sipped a Yuletide cup While hanging decorations up; Oh, how we wish you were in town — So you could help us lake them down!” r 6 perfectly normal if you’re feeling tense and a little de jected despite the spirit of the Christmas Season. Like practi cally everyone else, you have a Christmas neurosis. It is also known as the "Bah, Humbug! syndrome." Symptons are easy to spot; In the middle of a Christmas party you want to go home; you argue over what color balls should go on the tree: and on Christmas Eve, as you rush to wrap the last of the gifts, there’s a burst of tears One psychiatrist says, "Christmas puts an unusual straim ou otherwise happy people. * "It creates very high, expectations, some so high that ■ reality can never really match them . It is inevitable, the realities of Christmas contrast sharply with the highly fantasized memories of childhood Christmases. Inner conflicts arise when people try to act in ways they feel they should act. The worst thing in the world is to be told to be happy and loving when you don't feel that way. Adults, particularly moth ers, feel under some pressure to demonstrate their love for their families during the holi day season by giving lavishly of themselves, buying gifts, baking favorite foods and decorating the house. "Mothers may also burst into tears because they're ex hausted", says one doctor. YARN FOR DECORATING A little imagination can turn ordinary materials into works of art Take knitting yarn, styrofoam shapes and a few bits and pieces of dec orative braid and turn them into dazzling trimmings. You then have unbreakable ornaments for the tree and also an ideal project for the whole family to enjoy. You can wrap the yarn around styrofoam cones, circles, diamonds or half circles. For further dec orations add tassels, pom poms, braid or whatever you wish. *: •. vl 7 .1 «?r i ^ M ■ TT2ei*fj r Christmas CDay all your dreams be fulfilled. Thanks for your continued support. C-W-S Ghmo Co., Ik.