Sandra and Joan Johnson [my first high heels]
When Easter rolled around, it was pretty much the same every year. We all went to town and bought new outfits...including shoes and the works. Most of the ladies and little girls wore hats for the big day at church.
We usually had a bunch of extra people who only came to church on Easter and Christmas. The Saturday before Easter, the ladies of the church lead by Mother and Mayflower would spend hours "dyeing eggs" . The eggs we had were all hard-boiled hen eggs. There was always a big Easter Egg Hunt across the street from the church on the Cotton Mill yard. The men of the church, always lead by John Austin, would hide dozens and dozens of eggs for us to hunt. There was always a grand prize...a huge Easter basket filled with goodies and toys. This basket would sit on the piano up front all during the service, so the kids could dream of getting it. Since there were no "plastic" eggs, several people would just write their name on an egg and if you found it you would go to that person and collect your prize. It might be candy, money, etc.
After church was over and the last Amen was said, the kids would all be marched across the street to await the beginning of the Big Easter Egg Hunt. The little ones went first followed by the progressing ages. It was all very orderly and everyone had a good time.
I never found the grand prize egg, but would find a few of the ones that had someones' name on them to get a little gift.
In the afternoon, we would usually go over to Aunt Gee's for "dinner" and the eggs would be hidden again for all of us to hunt. The eggs were hidden so many times that by the end of the afternoon, the shells were all so broken that you could hardly tell what their original color had been . I never ate any of them. Maybe this is why?
