_Raw Oysters_, _Horseradish_

_Roast Goose_ _Apple Sauce_ _Celery_

_Mashed Potatoes_ _Lima Beans_

_Tomato Jelly Salad_

_Plum Pudding_

_Fruit_ _Nuts_ _Raisins_

_Coffee_

The first dish to make, strange to say, is the last one on the list, and the plum pudding is better if made several weeks before it is needed, and then simply steamed up again for a couple of hours just before serving. A fine old recipe that had been in a friend's family for years, was once given me, but as it filled six molds I reduced it to the following proportions, which is ample for a mold large enough for eight people:

PLUM PUDDING

One-half cupful b.u.t.ter, three-quarters cupful sugar, one-quarter pound suet, two and one-half cupfuls flour, one-half pound seeded raisins, one-half pound currants, one ounce citron, three eggs yolks and whites (beaten separately), one-half cupful milk, one-quarter cupful almonds (blanched and chopped fine), one-quarter cupful brandy (or boiled cider if preferred), one-half teaspoonful cloves, one-quarter teaspoonful nutmeg, one teaspoonful cinnamon.

After getting all her ingredients out on the table and ready, the little cook should cream her b.u.t.ter and sugar, beat in yolks, add milk, and then stir in the flour alternately with the stiff whites. Then put in the brandy and spice, and last of all the fruit and nuts, dredged with a little flour. This should be well stirred, and then packed in a thoroughly greased covered mold and steamed for four hours.

HARD SAUCE

Two kinds of sauce are nice for this pudding, served together. A hard sauce is made by creaming one-half cupful of b.u.t.ter in one cupful of fine sugar, adding half teaspoonful of brandy or vanilla and one teaspoonful cream and stirring until light and creamy. It can be set in a bowl of hot water at first to help make the b.u.t.ter cream, but after being beaten light should be set in the cold to harden. A teaspoonful of this hard sauce is served on each portion of the pudding.

HOT SAUCE

The following hot sauce is poured around: one-quarter cupful b.u.t.ter, one cupful sugar, one teaspoonful flour. Mix flour and sugar, add b.u.t.ter and one cupful cold water, and stir until it boils and thickens. Flavor with nutmeg.

The day before Christmas repeat the lesson in dressing a fowl, and let her make the stuffing from the recipe used before, only this time she should omit the sage or oysters and season with a small onion chopped fine.

APPLE SAUCE

For the accompanying apple sauce, let her peel and quarter half a dozen tart apples, put on to cook in a cup of cold water, and when tender press through a colander, sweeten to taste, and then put in a pretty gla.s.s dish and grate nutmeg over the top. This should then be covered and set away until ready to be carried to the table.

OYSTERS ON THE HALF Sh.e.l.l

As we intended to have as little work as possible about this particular dinner, I have suggested raw oysters for the first course instead of a soup. Serve on the half-sh.e.l.l if you can get them that way, putting a little chopped ice on each plate to hold the sh.e.l.ls in place, giving four or five oysters to each person, and putting one empty sh.e.l.l in the center to hold the horseradish or slice of lemon. If the oysters are opened at the market all you have to do is to see that they are kept on ice until served.

TOMATO JELLY SALAD

For the tomato jelly salad, first boil together until very tender one quart can of tomatoes, one small sliced onion, six cloves, one-half cupful chopped celery. Strain through a jelly bag, season with salt and pepper, and add gelatin which has been dissolving in a few spoonfuls of cold water. As different brands vary, however, study the directions on the box in order to get the right amount to stiffen one quart of jelly.

If the gelatin does not thoroughly melt with the warm tomato juice, set over the fire for a few moments, and then pour into small molds (wine gla.s.ses or after-dinner coffee cups will serve nicely), and set away to harden over night. Next morning fix the required number of salad dishes with lettuce leaves or tender cabbage cut in strings, and turn out carefully the molded tomato jelly. Over the top of each drop a large spoonful of thick boiled dressing.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

A pretty idea for a Christmas table is to carry out as fully as possible a color scheme of red and green. The centerpiece, of course, should be of holly, and a novel one it will be if large beautiful pieces are put in the upper part of a double boiler and set out to freeze. I did this once by accident, and when I went for my holly there it was--imbedded in a solid block of ice. The shape of the oat-meal kettle, like a flowerpot, allowed the ice to turn out easily, and it could then be set on a plate and trimmed around the bottom with the holly leaves. A couple of bolts of red baby ribbon will be enough for streamers from the chandelier to each plate, at which should be a pretty piece of the holly--or better still, if you can get them, three or four red carnations for each lady, and one for the b.u.t.tonhole of each gentleman.

COLOR SCHEME

To carry out this color plan, the oysters should be served with catsup and garnished with parsley, the tomato jelly be turned out on lettuce, the plum pudding (ablaze with a spoonful of alcohol) decorated with holly, and the candy--red and white peppermint wafers--tied with green baby ribbon.

If the details of preparing the dinner have been followed out as I have suggested, and everything possible done the day before, on Christmas morning there will be little to do: the goose to put into the oven and roast, the potatoes to mash and the beans to dress, the plum pudding to heat up, the sauce to prepare, with the gravy and the coffee to make at the last moment. Our small cook of course has the celery cleaned preparatory to cutting up, and the nuts all cracked, and she can tie up the candy and a.s.sist with the decorations. Having helped set the table for the Thanksgiving party, she will feel perfectly competent to undertake the arrangement now, alone, and you, Mother, can say, "You have gotten along with everything so nicely, and remembered so well, I will let you put on the dishes and silver all by yourself." Then when she reports that all is ready, look over the work yourself and see that it is all right. Possibly she will have misplaced some pieces, forgotten others, but if you point out the errors and have her remedy the mistakes herself, she will likely remember next time and make her table a well-appointed one.

CHAPTER XIV

Delicious Home-Made Candies

All children love to make candy, and the home-made kinds are much purer and better--besides being much cheaper--than those usually sold at the small confectionery stores. Every mother will do well to help her little daughter master this branch of cookery, for it will not only enable her to make wholesome sweets for the family when desired, but also to prepare a dainty box when she wishes to make an inexpensive present.

NUT CANDY

For fine nut candy, have the child first pick out half a cupful of nut meats. Put on in a small saucepan two level cupfuls of light-brown sugar, one-half cupful of water, a level teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter and a tablespoonful of vinegar, and boil without stirring until the candy crackles when dropped in cold water. Pour into a well-b.u.t.tered pie-pan that has been sprinkled with the nuts, and as soon as cool, mark into squares.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HOME-MADE CHOCOLATE CREAMS AND FUDGE]

MAPLE FUDGE

For delicious maple fudge, take one and one-half cupfuls of light-brown sugar, one cupful of maple sirup, half a cupful of milk, and a level teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter. Boil slowly until it makes a soft ball when rolled between the fingers in cold water, then set aside until cool.

Then beat with a fork until a creamy, sugary ma.s.s, turn quickly on to a b.u.t.tered plate and mark into squares. If the little cook finds it is soft from having been taken off a moment too soon, she will have to let it stand longer to turn to sugar, but the fudge that stands overnight will be particularly smooth.

CREAM CANDY

Cream candy is made by boiling two cupfuls of granulated sugar, _without stirring_, with three-fourths cupful water, two tablespoonfuls vinegar and a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter until brittle when dropped in cold water.

Pour on to a b.u.t.tered pan, but do not sc.r.a.pe the sugared edge of the kettle, and pull as soon as cool. If a little care is exercised in handling at first, it will not stick to the fingers. The b.u.t.ter or flour sometimes put on the hands to prevent this only spoils the candy. When pulled perfectly white, cut with scissors into small cubes. The longer this stands, the more delicious it becomes, and if flavored with a few drops of essence of peppermint when first put on (so it can be well stirred through) and then put away when done in a gla.s.s jar for a couple of weeks, it will make delicate "after-dinner mint."

CHOCOLATE CREAMS

Easy chocolate creams require two cupfuls of confectioner's sugar, with a few teaspoonfuls of milk to moisten enough to work like dough, and a quarter teaspoonful of vanilla. Knead well, and work out into small b.a.l.l.s. Melt one square of unsweetened chocolate by first grating and then setting in a pan of hot water, and drop in the creams, one at a time. Roll around quickly with a fork, and lift on to a sheet of b.u.t.tered paper. Put in a cool place to harden. Different flavorings can be used instead of all vanilla, and half an English walnut stuck on the top of each cream before the chocolate hardens will add to the attractiveness. Or, instead of dipping all the creams in the chocolate, they can be cut in half and wrapped around with figs or seeded dates.

They will grow more creamy if allowed to stand a day or two.