Christmas comes early at Stonecroft

STONECROFT Ministries held its last tea for 2014 at the Port Shepstone Country Club last Friday.

Anne Brand from Trafalgar showed the women how easy it is to make one’s own Christmas crackers and flower arrangements to enhance the home and dinner table over the festive period.

She explained that Christmas crackers were first made around 1845-1850 by a London sweetmaker called Tom Smith. He had seen how the French made ‘bon bon’ sweets (almonds wrapped in pretty paper).

He returned to London and tried selling similar sweets and even included a small motto or riddle in the wrapping. His product didn’t sell very well. But one night, while he was sitting in front of his log fire, he became very interested by the sparks and cracks coming from the fire.

Suddenly, he thought what a fun idea it would be, if his sweets and toys could be opened with a crack when their fancy wrappers were pulled in half. And so the Christmas cracker as we know it was born.

After the display, there was singing of Christmas carols followed by Ian Moore’s very interesting talk on attitudes. Ian challenged the women to handle their attitudes better and emphasised that it was very important to read the Bible. “The Bible feeds your mind with positive thoughts and helps you maintain a positive attitude,” he said.

Stonecroft Ministries’ next meeting will be on January 16. Guest speaker, Sharon Dobbin, will be speaking about the ebola virus. The cost isR25 which includes tea and refreshments. For more information contact Maria at 039 6812801.