Peppermints

The McCauley's daughter, Miriam, who spent the week stranded in England, after Heathrow airport shutdown last weekend, finally made it home on Christmas Eve. I joined the McCauleys and a few other ex-pat guests for candy-making and baking, followed by tacos last night.

Although, like me, Miriam isn't Dutch, she attends Dordt College, and now goes to a Christian Reformed Church. (She also happens to be friends with one of my pastor's six daughters - small world I tell you!). We were telling our dinner companions of that amusing CRC habit - as soon as the sermon begins, everyone breaks out the Wilhemina mints. No one had heard of such a thing before - not the McCauleys, or Mike and Colleen, a Canadian couple from BC who are working on a food relief project in Lilongwe.

I'm not sure of the origin of this sacrosanct custom, although it does make me wonder - were mints historically used as a form of crowd control during extended sermonizing?

Invariably, as Miriam explained to the rest of the group, as soon as the pastor starts talking, "You can hear the rustle of packages of candies and mints being opened."
This morning, most of the group reassembled at the McCauley's home church, which is an international Baptist church, for a Christmas morning service.

Imagine our delight when, as the sermon was beginning, Mike pulled out a handful of - Lifesaver mints!