Time to head to the lake for the sunset candlelight service to be followed by the Family Service (shepherds, dancing angels, the Holy Family, and so forth) and finally, Midnight Mass.
Whatever you are doing this evening, wherever you are, whoever you are with, may you be safe, may you be warm, may you be gifted much joy and even more hope, may blessings be upon you.
pastorkeith
And Also to You!
I’ll be doing the same here shortly.
Reg
Thanks Keith and all!
A blessed Christmas to you as well!
God in his mercy has granted me relief from the vocal problems that have plagued me all this past month, and I’m looking forward to singing at Midnight Mass with every fiber of my being!
Redwolf
Thanks for the kind wishes.
Have a wonderful holiday all. 
It’s Midnight Mass for us tonight. Which reminds me. I need to phone the padre and see what time it starts this year. It’s sort of a family tradition of annoying the good Father each December 24th. 
I believe he’s come to expect our annual phone call. Last year he referenced it in his homily. Got quite a tittering and a few groans from the congregation. 
Likewise, TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!! 
Merry Christmas Keith and All.
Patrick
Though we are all so different in beliefs, we are united in friendship and the love of music.
Here is a prayer that we might all hear a hint of that angelic music, this Christmas and throughout the coming year!
Gaudenzio Ferrari “Concert of the Angels”
we’ll also be heading out for midnight mass. We’re not playing tonight - Tom’s daughters flew in and I just didn’t know whether their plane would be on time so didn’t want to make a promise to the choir director that we may have not been able to keep.
May your new year be filled with health and happiness!
Yeah, whatever.
djm
Our service was at 6pm. I barely made it by 5. Too much mail and too many packages, grrrr. Anyway it went off without a hitch. I managed the low D while the lyrics to That Night in Bethlehem were read as the prelude to the processional. I am happy. It worked out perfectly and several folks commented afterward that it was lovely…
Then for offertory I had the choir do Wexford Carol.
All in all a nice service and I didn’t mess up too much on organ.
May the light in your heart brighten the way, and its warmth bring the spirits of others close. Happy, Happy Holiday!
We did “O Magnum Mysterium” for an communion anthem (a favorite ot mine!) and “Torches” for an offeratory anthem. That last song almost became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the Advent wreath caught fire! (the first candle had burned too low and no one had noticed). The music director ran into the choir room and brought out a bottle of water (just as I was contemplating trying to put the thing out with my surplice).
And people think that church isn’t exciting! 
I’ve done my Santa duties, and now I’m off to bed. Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone!
Redwolf
As lovely a Madonna and Child as ever I’ve seen.
We did “O Magnum Mysterium” for an communion anthem (a favorite ot mine!)
Same here. It’s my favorite Christmas tune.
the Advent wreath caught fire!
We had a similar experience once. Two wreaths were hung on the brick wall on either side of the altar. The candles caught one on fire during the preist’s sermon and she didn’t know what was going on when several of the congregation jumped up and ran to the altar until she turned around.
I told her to quit preaching such firey sermons.
Evening services seem to be when our excitement happens. Our church still has the original gas lights from the 1800s, and we love to light them for evening services (we don’t have the chimneys for them anymore, but that’s OK…they flicker like candles, and are really pretty). A few years ago, we were getting ready for the Great Vigil. Several of us in the choir had complained that we could smell gas, but we were told that it just takes a while for the gas to burn off once the lights were burning. It got stronger and stronger, but no one seemed to want to listen to us. Things finally came to a head when the 10-year-old acolyte keeled over in a dead faint! At that point, the rector came to her senses and ordered the lights extinguished and all the doors opened. We learned later that we were probably right near the explosive point (the PG&E guy who came out to repair the leaky gas lines kept shaking his head and saying things like “God must really look out for you folks!”)
Redwolf
No whistles??? 
Hi RW/CT,
Which version of O Magnum Mysterium did you use? My church choir usually does the Victoria version, but this year we are doing Morten Lauridsen’s for our L&C.
For Christmas Eve, we did a setting of The Holly & The Ivy during the prelude, Praetorius "En Natus Est Emanuel for an introit, and we then did Poulenc’s “Hodie Christus Natus Est” for our anthem (one of my favorites).
Merry Christmas to all.