Sleigh bells ring Sheldon's Mini-mart of Winfall has created a winter scene of a community covered in snow. Holidays: Stocking stuffer ideas What are American shoppers looking for this holiday season? "Decision-making will be based on a new set of criteria emphasiz ing old-fashioned quality and con temporary convenience," says Robert L. Cohen, vice president of Yankelovich Clancy Shulman, who monitors consumer trends. "Familiarity and reliability plus value-added extras such as guar antees are at the top of the list, es pecially at Christmas," he says. Several stockings-full of ideas : Under-$6 gifts for children : Scribble Stix are oversized, washable crayons. . Bow Biters are shoe accessories threaded on to laces to help keep shoes tied all day. " aps are glitter-covered And old favorites: Duncan Yo Yo, Slinky, Silly Putty. Easy holiday gifts to sew 'Twas the night before Christma s...andhysteria reigned. No gift for Aunt Mildred, Billy boy or dear Jane. * Jt's an awful poem, all right. . .and an altogether too familiar scene, as well. But Andrea Nynas of Viking Swing Machine Company has a sewing bag full of wonderful, quick, inexpensive holiday ideas ready for rescue. ' ''Gifts you make for others really are special," she said. "Just work ing on a gift means you're thinking about the person and caring about tfiem." *!It helps to create something beautiful and useful and well, she yent on. The items she's designed certainly fit the bill: For those who get started early, she has personal ized Christmas cards made of fab ric scraps, charming tree ornaments, a great Christmas stocking made from ribbons, and trapping paper made from brown paper bags. A cheerful Christmas tree skirt will highlight all the gifts under your tree. ; Christmas preparation is less of a bah-humbug situation when you take a methodical approach to things, according to Ms. Nvans. "First and foremost, START EARLY. It's not just a cliche. Make a list of people and approximately how much you want to spend for e&ch. If you don't know what gift to get them, make some notes about their interest, lifestyle, way of thinking, etc. This will help you fo fug more directly on what he or she would enjoy receiving. - "Create a schedule for shopping and making gifts. Make a list of things to do and the time available to do them in. Be sure to allow time to buy supplies and a realistic amount of time to make the gift. Perhaps you'll need to set aside two evenings and Saturday afternoons each week to get things done. Write down a schedule and stick to it." Andrea Nynas 'Christmas Crafts booklet contains instructions for many other gift and decorative items, too, including sweat shirts, a dramatic cape made from sweat shirt fabric, lingerie case and cos metic bag made from shower curtains, and a leather briefcase. ? For a copy of the free booklet, jostwriteto: Christmas Craft Ideas ^ Viking Sewing Machines I 2300 Louisiana Avenue North ? Minneapolis, MN 55427 Lace Snowflake Ornaments . Needed: ? 18" of 2"-wide white edging lace ;*?" piece of 3/8"-wide grosgrain ?ribbon in red or green ? 6" piece ribbon or perle cotton for :ioop C Stitch with long basting stitch ;akng straight edge of lace. Gather, tie thread ends in knot to secure. Right tides together, stitch short -auk of lace together. Tie 8" piece of ribbon in a bow. Bar-tack in cen ter of lace snowflake. Make loop to hang ornament, i|itfa 6" piece rib boa or string. Hang on tree. The ideas comes from Laurie Kellachan, an editor with the trade magazine Toys and Hobby World, and Diane Cardinale, of the Toy Manufacturers of America, a trade group. Egg erasers? Strawberry cake tape measures? Pineapple sta plers? Thumb tack vegetables? Office equipment is disguised as food in Li'l Fridge, a miniature re frigerator filled with office tools from Banning Enterprises. It comes in three colors ? pista chio, strawberry and french va nilla. The Coca-Cola Christmas bottle, a 6l2-ounce glass bottle patented in 1923 and available until 1937, is be ing offered for sale once again, in a limited number beginning mid-No vember. The "hot" home appliance for Christmas? The automatic electric bread-maker, according to Beth R. Ellis, senior housewares editor of HFD, a home furnishings trade newspaper. A compact road atlas of the United States, Canada and Mexico, is designed to fit into the car glove compartment, or Christmas stock ing. The Rand McNally atlas is roughly 4-by-9 inches. A "Cuddle Up" heated throw from Sunbeam is promoted as a warm, cozy answer to Christmas shopping. Thinking jewelry? Cultured pearls are available as opera-length necklaces, chokers, bracelets or earrings, brooches and pins. For men, pearl studs and matching cuff links. Diamond jewelry apparently re Holiday gift An inscription of "The American Immigrant Wall of Honor" is a most meaningful holiday gift. For a donation of $100 or more, you can have the name of a parent, grandparent, or any ancestor permanently inscribed on this majestic display at The Ellis Island Immigration Museum. This holiday gift will only be available this holiday season by writing to: The Statue of Liberty ? Ellis Island Foundation Inc., 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017-3808 or by calling (21 2) 883-1 986. Students organize club for car thieves only BELLE GLADE, Ha. - Four high school students linked by police to at least three car thefts formed a club called CTO, or Car Thieves Only, authorities said. Officers expect the arrests of the four youths to lead to other arrests and to enable them to clear more cases, said Sgt. Darren Kirch. Officers recovered the stolen cars, stripped of all usable parts, Kirch said. He said the group had sold the parts at flea markets around Florida. "One of them told me they're in competition with a Miami group known as 'The Nissan Boys,' " said Patrolman Ed Anthony. That group specializes in Nissan thefts. The four students, arrested last week, face charges including auto theft, aggravated battery, armed robbery and tampering with evi dence. One 18-year-old was re leased on $5,000 bond. The three juveniles, all 17, were taken to the county juvenile detention center. Dr. A.F.Downum OPTOMETRIST DETECTING GLAUCOMA Like blood pressure in the body, a certain fluid pressure within the eye must be accurately maintained for good eye health. When there is an increase of fluid pressure inside the eye (called intraocular tension) to a point that causes progresive hurtr. to vision, this is a conditon known as gloucoma. It is quite serious and can lead to blindness If UNDETECTED and untreated. If detected and treated early, glaucoma can usually be successfully controlled. Unfortunately, and unlike many other vision problems, the symptons of glaucoma are not easily recognixd by the individual. In many instances, by the time one notices a problem, the glau coma may have already caused serious and Irreparable damage. For this reason, periodic optometric examination are considered essential to eye health car*. These exominatlens-which Include an internal eye examination, a tonometry test and/or a visual field examination-are a good way to protect against vision dam age from glaucoma. Dr. A.F. DOWNIIM 103 W. Ed?n St. Edenton, N.C. , ptww>4mw mains popular. Last year, Ameri cans bought an estimated 19.8 million pieces of diamond jewelry with a value of more than $11 bil lion. Forty percent of those sales were during the yearend holiday season, according to the American Diamond Industry Association. A Swiss watch called Maple, by Jean d'Eve, operates without a bat tery, its energy generated by wrist motion. As a possible Christmas gift for fans of the late Andy Warhol, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is offering a full-color limited edi tion 1989 calendar featuring work from one of his last projects, his Mercedes-Benz collection. The calendar, more than 2 feet high, has monthly panels which can be removed and framed. The $35 purchase price will be donated to multiple sclerosis research. To or der by phone, call toll free: 1-9 WARHOL. Women have better diets WASHINGTON- American women are eating healthier diets including more fiber and less fat, but most women still fall short of federal dietary standards, accord ing to a trio of new studies commis sioned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Overall, University of North Car olina Professor Barry Popkin said, his research shows women are eat ing less food and selecting from a greater variety of food groups than they did in 1079. While the three surveys focused on women, the researchers said much of the information can be generalized to include men and children because women often make dietary decisions for the en tire family. "American women have made major changes in their diets," he said last week at the USDA's An nual Agriculture Outlook Confer ence. "Women have considerably in creased the diversity of their diets and are much more likely to con sume a number of lower-fat foods" such as skim milk and lean, trimmed meats. However, Popkin noted that women are eating more of what he called high-fat "Yuppie" foods including cheese, pizza, pasta in cheese sauce, deserts and salty snack foods. Perquimans Middle School highlights The Perquimans Middle School Bands have been very busy this month. Two major performances and the band's annual fruit sale has capped off a Fall of very hard work. Hie 7th and 8th grand band and cheerleaders worked very hard the month of November getting ready for the Hertford Christmas Parade. The hard work p?id off, for they won First Place Band for the 60 members and over class. All total, the middle school marched 90 members in the parade. The group won a trophy ana was pictured on the front page of "Sunday Ad vance" newspaper. On December 20th the bands will be performing their annual Christ mas Concert along with the middle school choirs. Christmas music as well as music they have worked on this fall will be performed. The annual fruit sale is finishing up now with over 2000 boxes of oranges and grapefruit being sold to our county. The money will help all of the bands in our county. This past September, 80 new stu dents joined our band program in Perquimans County. These stu dents are all in the 6th grade at the middle school. This number is about 50 percent of the total sixth grade enrollment, and the band en rollment is about 30 percent over the national average. These num bers show a strong basis for the continuing success of our Band Program. The annual Perquimans County Middle School Christmas Program will be held Tuesday, December '4 20th at 7:30p.m. in the school gym natorium. "Hie first half of the pro gram is entitled "The Gifts of Christmas" and will be presented by the fifth and sixth grade music classes and the seventh and eighth grade chorus, all directed by Mr. Lynwood Winslow. This portion will include a look at Christmas gift-giv ing and its meaning, illustrated by favorite songs of the season. A short play, "The Runaway Pre sents" will be perfomred by Mrs. 1 Sue Leete's fifth and sixth grade Language Arts Class. After a brief intermission Mr. David Zietnba will take the podium to lead the sev enth and eighth grade bands in a concert of Christmas music includ ing many old favorites. The bands are sure to do a smashing job after their successful performance in the Hertford Christmas Parade. All students and faculty involved have worked very hard to prepare ?" an evening of fun and entertain ment. We invite the public to come and join this celebration of the Ch ristmas season. Perquimans Middle School Ti gers dropped their first basketball game of the season to the Camden Cubs by a score of 22-17. The Tigers got off to a slow start and could not put things together. Leading scorers for the Tigers were Clint Winslow, 9 pts.; Kwame Everett, 4 ? pts.; Jeremy Riddick, 2 pts.; and J ermaine McClenney with 2 pts . The Lady Tigers have been unr successful in both games this sea son. Perquimans school menus The following is the Perquimans County School menu for the week of December 19-21, 1988. Monday? breakfast? pancakes, bacon, or cereal, fruit or juice, milk. Lunch? hamburger, bun or chicken nuggets-managers choice bread, french fries, oriental vege tables, succotash, fruit, milk. Tuesday? breakfast? scrambled egg, bacon, toast, or cereal, fruit or juice, milk. Lunch? pizza or fish sandwich, potato wedges, corn on the cob; mixed vegetables, fruit cup, milk. . Wednesday? breakfast? cinna-i mon raisin biscuit or cereal, fruit or juice, milk. Lunch? turkey, dressing, gravy, managers choice bread, or man agers choice meat, sweet potatoes, green beans, managers choice veg etables, fruit, milk, autumn spice bar. CHRISTMAS TREES Old Fashioned Fragrant RED CEDAR At OLD FASHION PRICES ALL SIZES HERTFORD HARDWARE Corner of Grubbs and Church Streets ? ROLL TOP DESKS ? STUDENT DESKS ? GUN CABINETS * ? CURIOS AND MORE! Pick an ornament from our tree. Check the list to see if we agree. If it does a prize you've won. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!