Easter dinner

When I was a kid, my Easters were mostly non-religious. My mama said that the communion was a thing of the heart and soul and should always be in the back of our minds. Where we went to church, each Sunday morning service was was ended by the Communion. However, she did like to buy me and herself each an outfit of new spring clothing which we wore on Easter Sunday; I suppose that was Dot’s Easter religion. While we were at church, many more of our clan were gathering at grandma’s house for a big dinner. Grandma, always an early riser, was up by 3:30am to start the day’s food preparations. Her day began by building a fire in the living room fireplace and then doing the same in the kitchen cook stove. She then donned a coat and used the outdoor facilities which were on the hilltop back of the house. When Dot and I got home from church at about 12:30pm, the food was generally ready, the table was taken up by men-folk, women were serving, and kids grabbed a plate and, if the weather was good, went outside to the porch to eat. In bad weather, which we had most of the Easters I remember from those days, kids were sprawled all over the living room floor while they ate and made a mess. After the meal was finished–women ate last–the entire crowd would gather inside or outside and the reminiscing about Easters past would begin. Men talked men talk and smoked and women (according to the men) gossiped. I couldn’t tell much difference between the two. Sooner or later, Jim Butler would go to his car and retrieve his guitar and a couple of hours of picking and grinning would ensue. If we were trapped inside by bad weather, kids had no choice but to endure but if we were outside, we scattered into small groups as far away from the adults as possible. Where ever we were, we managed to hide our colored Easter eggs and then tried to find those of the other kids. Many of the family would leave for home or other amusements as the afternoon dragged on, but a few would stay for supper which was leftovers usually served with fresh bread at around 4:00pm. My day normally ended by accompanying Dot back to church no matter how hard I plead to stay home “just this one time”.

Have a Tuesday!