No Christmas Mass at all at my gig (thank you Pope Francis). So "Christmas" for us is Sunday Within the Octave. But I'm guesting, and here's what we're singing.

St. Paul Akron OH: Midnight Mass (Missal of Paul VI)

Choral prelude:
Psallite (Praetorius/Robinson)
Jesu Redemptor Omnium (Monk of Strasbourg/N. Montani)
Gaudete (arr. RJ Batastini)
Ave Maria (solo) (Lorenc)
In natali Domini (anon Specialnik Codex)
Puer natus in Bethlehem (arr. CCRS)
Ave Maria ("Arcadelt")
Plus instrumental bits TBA

Nativity proclamation
Processional: Adeste fideles
Dominus dixit ad me (chant)
Mass VIII
Tecum principum (chant)
Alleluia Dominus dixit (chant)
Credo III
Tollite Hostias (Saint Saens/Montani)
Silent night
In splendoribus (chant)
Ave verum Corpus (chant, arr. Heath Morber)
Alma Redemptoris mater (simple tone)
Recessional: Joy to the world

SAB sextet (including the DM Heidi Guttermuth when she's not at the organ) and a violin. Decent people, clean product.

No Christmas at all for me on account of ditching the parish life for academia...

But here's the hymn sing my wife and I did a couple nights ago, plus the readings for Catholic Lessons and Carols, while the cat made a nuisance of herself:

Compline
Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen, Op. 122 no. 8 - Johannes Brahms
Once in Royal David's City - descant by Sir David Willcocks
Lo, How A Rose - first verse by Jan Sandström
O Come All Ye Faithful - descant by Sir David Willcocks
Conditor Alme Siderum - Guillaume Dufay
O Magnum Mysterium - Tomás Luis de Victoria
Ave Maria - my setting based on Kapsperger
Silent Night - descant by me
Reges de Saba - Sethus Calvisius
Verbum caro - Sethus Calvisius
Viderunt Omnes - Léonin
Hark! The herald-angels sing - descant by Sir David Willcocks

On the plus side, not a single person complained about "too loud" or "too much Latin," but attendance was rather sparse.

St. Mary's (Norwalk, Connecticut)

Choir with Baroque String Orchestra

Prelude at 11:30:
1. Handel, Pifa from Messiah
2. O little town of Bethlehem (St. Louis)
3. What child is this? (Greensleeves)
4. Praetorius, In dulci jubilo à 2 & à 4
5. Holst, In the bleak midwinter
6. Guerrero, Niño Dios
7. Silent Night

Mass at Midnight (Extraordinary Form)
Adeste Fideles (Willcocks but in Latin)
Gregorian propers
Charpentier, Messe de minuit
Victoria, O Regem caeli
Victoria, Christe redemptor
Victoria, O magnum mysterium
Postlude BWV 729

Christmas Day
Gregorian propers
Victoria, Missa O magnum
Lassus, Resonet
Sweelinck, Hodie

St. John Paul II Scioto Catholic Parish, Portsmouth, OH
St. Mary of the Annunciation

Prelude: Of the Father’s Love Begotten (Wohlgemuth)
Nativity Proclamation
Procession: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Introit: Gregorian
Ordinary: De Angelis
Psalm/Alleluia: Bartlett/S&S
Offertory Proper: Gregorian
Offertory Hymn: Silent Night
Communion Proper: Bartlett/S&S (English)
Communion Motet: O Magnum Mysterium (Victoria)
Recessional: O Come, All Ye Faithful (Willcocks)
Postlude: Adeste Fideles (Dethier)

Old St. Mary's | The Cincinnati Oratory

Carols at 11.20p
Oratory Choir, Laudate Pueri Children's Schola (37 children)
Modern Instrumentalists (2vln, French Horn)
Historic Instrumentalists (Vln, Cornetto, Sackbuts)

Once in Royal David's City
Lo, How a Rose - with historic instruments
Angels We Have Heard - with modern instruments
O Holy Night - verses sung by trebles, with modern instruments
Gaudete

Interludes: Christum wir sollen and Von Himmel hoch, S. Scheidt, Geistliche Konzerte - historic instruments

Mass at Midnight
Oratory Choir, St. Philip Neri Choristers (13 children)
Historic Instrumentalists

Procession: Adeste Fideles / O come, all ye faithful
Proper: Full Gregorian
Ordinary: Missa 'O magnum mysterium', Victoria (with historic instruments)
Credo III, Et incarnatus est, Botkins
Motets: Quempas, Praetorius (with historic instruments - trebles solo verses)
O magnum mysterium, Victoria
Alma Redemptoris, Palestrina
Puer natus in Bethlehem, plainsong
Silent Night / Stille Nacht
Joy to the World

Interludes: In dulci jubilo, Hans Leo Hassler (instrumentalists only)
Elevation, Dom Paul Benoit (a Christmas tradition for me)

Postlude: In dir ist Freude, BWV 615 or, if the fatigue has gotten to me, I may punt to BWV 729

That does look like a great lineup. Praetorius is one of my all-time favorite composers/arrangers. We didn't do the Quempas-Lied, but we did one of the duets on In dulci jubilo, and his two-part writing is a masterclass in inventiveness (as is every other kind of writing he does).

Which words did you use for Lo how a rose? I love P's harmonization of that dearly, but I find the protestantization of the words unfortunate. Several years ago I stumbled on the very nice Hymnal 1940 version, which has an English translation of the older Catholic words, in which Mary is the rose.

Sacred Heart Church (Savannah, GA)
Christmas Day - Extraordinary Form

Due to illness we found ourselves without tenors, but still managed to keep the spirit with S(S)AB.

Mass Ordinary - VIII Missa de Angelis
Credo I with fauxbourdon at "Et incarnatus.."
Gregorian Propers

Motets:
Gaudete (traditional)
Beata Viscera (Perotin)
There is No Rose (trad., Carols for Choirs II)
Angelus ad Virginem (trad., Oxford Book of Carols)

Procession Out: O Come, All Ye Faithful (Willcocks)

(Vln, Cornetto, Sackbuts)

Who is playing early brass down there? As a retired sackbut player, I'm curious.

Merry Christmas to all! I have included a small selection from our Midnight Mass attached!

@trentonjconn

Yes, multiple recordings were made as it turns out! Attached you’ll find the Quempas. Taken by one of my basses with his phone somewhere in the loft, but it came out quite well.

I’ll hold off on sharing other things until the downstairs recordings become available to me!

@Charles_Weaver

In German we use the Catholic words, but I was unaware that there was an English translation that mirrored them. I will have to bear that in mind for next year!

Praetorius and I met in middle school, at the hands of a very disinterested general music teacher who shared the recordings that she was supposed to share with us one day in class. It was mind-blowing for me. He’s been an absolute favorite ever since.

@MatthewRoth

The same! Years ago on Facebook he posted a video called, “Fun with Credo III” which included this stunning Et incarnatus and a fanfare for Et resurrexit. I asked him for the music once, and he said it was probably something he had just scribbled down. I believe he’s OK with the fact that I transcribed it and sing it now… If he’s not he can let me know here ha ha!

@Jeffrey Quick

There’s a sackbut player in town called Sean McGhee (I was led to him by a gamba player that I have worked with). He had a friend willing to come in from Bloomington to join him (cornetto), and another who was in town on a different gig for the other sackbut.

My violinist, who is a member of our choir, brought her gut instrument, but unfortunately we couldn’t tune it up to the organ reliably, so she’s on modern strings, but I think she does a fantastic job getting it to fit in with the sound.

@Abbysmum

Our lineup is basically necessitated by liturgical expectations. Carols are great, but I do hate to see them displace the actual liturgical music of Christmas. Once the culture is built, however, the carols reinforce the liturgical music, and vice versa. Especially if you line up the carols right, there is a sense of going deeper and deeper into the mystery that is naturally answered by the deeper and more resonant liturgical music.

For the "Et incarnatus est" with Credo III, I've used an excerpt from the Lassus Missa Pilons l'orge, as sung by the Westminster Cathedral Choir in this video (score at CPDL).

Thanks for the ideas @rich_enough (one for Christmas to Candlemas too!)

@NihilNominis if you post it we’ll find a way to use it. I enjoy mixing it up.

Novus Ordo in Connecticut

Before Mass:
BWV 751
Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming (Praetorius)
Away in a Manger (Kirkpatrick / Willcocks)
Ding dong! Merrily on High (Wood)
While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks
Alma Redemptoris Mater (G. P. da Palestrina) a 4
Silent Night

Procession: O Come, All Ye Faithful (Willcocks) vs. 1, 6, 7
The Solemn Proclamation of Christmas
Introit: Dominus dixit ad me
Kyrie: Missa Secunda (Michael Haller) a 3
Gloria: Missa de Angelis
Gradual: Tecum principium
Alleluia: Dominus dixit ad me
Offertory: Laetentur coeli
Offertory: Infant Holy, Infant Lowly (Willcocks)
Sanctus: Missa de Angelis
Mysterium Fidei: Mortem tuam
Agnus Dei: Missa Secunda (Michael Haller)
Communion: In splendoribus sanctorum
Communion: It Came Upon The Midnight Clear (Willis)
Communion: O Magnum Mysterium (T. L. de Victoria)
Marian Antiphon: Alma Redemptoris Mater (simple tone)
Recessional: Joy to the World
Recessional: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Willcocks)
Postlude: BWV 729
Postlude: Movement 4 "Point d’Orgue sur les Grands Jeux" from A solis ortus by Nicolas de Grigny

@Abbysmum
Lots of people do mini-concerts before Midnight, often featuring carols. And even more people do "the carols everyone knows" as part of their 4-hymn sandwich. What doesn't easily find a home is the more esoteric repertoire, or songs in other vernaculars. If your particular parish is attached to the received FCAP model, then "nobody knows them" or "nobody here knows German; it's almost as bad as Latin." If they aren't stuck in that model and have the capability to do that music, they can probably also do Latin motets, and the carols seem a little downmarket.

@Chant_Supremacist.
There's also "Flos de radice Jesse" (O how a rose) and the 2 part Italian "Verbum caro factum est.

@NihilNominis
In the 1980s there was a fairly healthy early brass scene in Columbus. I remember staying with somebody down there, and under the guest bed was a wooden box painted olive drab and stenciled "Property of Burgundian Army." which contained a slide trumpet. When I mentioned it, the host told me that his friend had a similar case in battleship grey, stenciled "Property of Venetian Navy" for his cornetto. We had a few phenomenal players come through the Case program (Justin Bland, trumpet, now in Denmark; Nathaniel Wood, sackbut player and maker, now in Switzerland) but they don't stay in Cleveland.

Speaking of prelude concerts:
Yesterday I heard for the first time Arnold Schönberg's (!) Weihnachtsmusik for piano, harmonium, and string trio, a gorgeous and sophisticated fantasia on Oh How a Rose and Silent Night. If one's organ could convincingly sub for the harmonium, and you had a piano in proximity (and a 2nd keyboardist) and were hiring string players for other things, it would well be worth consideration.

We've often made a hymn-sandwich out of the half-hour prelude, to "let the people sing". They seem to vote with their closed mouths, I usually mutter to myself, but I still have enjoyed Creator of the stars, Lo how a rose, Of the Father's love, O come divine Messiah interspersed with anthems. O Come all ye faithful, O little town, Silent night, & Hark the herald rub shoulders with Midnight Comm. & an anthem, and Angels we have heard, It came upon the midnight, Joy to the world are the invariable hymns in the morning.

Last night I changed the channel from Westminister Cathedral to Köln, where Adeste was immediately followed by a full-registered Stille Nacht with candlelight entrance procession. The Christmas Proclamation followed that, instead of being sung before the Procession as we're used to.

Carols: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Tochter Zion
In the Bleak Midwinter (Holst)
Infant Holy Infant Lowly
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Noel Nouvelet
O Come Little Children
Coventry Carol
Sleep Holy Babe
Lo How a Rose
Angels we have heard
O Holy Night
In dulci jubilo (Pearsall)
Gesu Bambino (Yon)
Sussex Carol

Processional: Silent Night

Propers: as in Graduale
Mass Ordinary " Mass of the Shepherds" Pietro Yon (SATB)

Offertory: Laetentur Caeli (Carturan)
Alma Redemptoris Mater (Palestrina)

Communion: O Magnum Mysterium (Victoria)
Transeamus Usque Bethlehem (Schnabel)

Recessional: Joy to the World
Hark the Herald Angels Singing

Postlude: Hallelujah from Handel's Messiah

We did it a capella with the refrain in SATB. It came together quite nicely, both the choir and the plebs enjoyed it.

@Charles_Weaver
Verbum Patris has become one of our favorites, too. At Midnight Mass we alternated monophony and polyphony.

@Charles_Weaver
Verbum Patris has become one of our favorites, too. At Midnight Mass we alternated monophony and polyphony.

What a delight to hear that! Thank you for sharing!