Merry Christmas, all!
  • Joe Marier
    Posts: 3
    One quick question: If you're doing a Mass at Midnight and a Mass early in the morning, should you go to sleep in the middle? I would, but I'm afraid I'll lose my momentum...

    ...and to all, a good night.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,021
    My typical Christmas schedule:
    5:00 PM Vigil Mass, in the Parish Hall, English
    7:00 PM EF Mass, in church, with parish choir
    10:15 PM change ringing at one of the Episcopal bell towers in downtown Charleston
    (there is a Midnight Mass, English, I don't play for that one)
    8:30 AM Mass, in church, English
    11:30 AM EF Mass with another smaller group in downtown Charleston

    I do sleep in between. All of the Christmas Eve activity is after a day that usually includes at least 2 emergency organ repair/tuning visits
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    I only wish we were busier! We did the 10am Mass today but it was wonderful. Victoria, di Lasso, Tye, and three propers.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Merry Christmas season everyone! Best wishes for good music to go with a beautiful faith. That's been missing for so long.

    moconnor
  • Tibia
    Posts: 2
    I don't usually sleep in between. I tend to lose momentum when I do, and I take a while to get back into alertness. I know another one who experiences a similar reaction, but I think it depends on how an individual tends to react to short hours of sleep.
  • David AndrewDavid Andrew
    Posts: 1,204
    I'm truly blessed! I have an associate music director with whom I divide the services, as well as a volunteer group of musicians who cover one of the Eve services.

    All told, we have:
    Christmas Eve 3 pm, (associate plays; vocal/instrumental ensemble under her direction)
    5 pm (small vocal ensemble/organist),
    7 pm (volunteer keyboard player with ad hoc vocalists),
    Midnight (full choir)
    Christmas Day 9 am, 11 am (cantors/organists).

    My associate and I do the Midnight Mass together (she plays, I conduct the choir and play some of the hymns as well), then I am given a guest room in the rectory. I return to the church for 9 AM Christmas Day, then it's on a plane and home to my parents'.

    My experience is that there is a natural shift in momentum from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. The concept of "progressive solemnity" aside, it seems that Christmas Day is always a more introspective liturgical experience than Christmas Midnight. We try to honor the level of solemnity and observe the protocols of the rubrics and the like, but it seems that there is a calm about the liturgy; a quiet reserve. This is unlike the shift from the Easter Vigil to Easter Sunday, where the energy seems to carry over and all of the liturgies seem to demand equal alertness.

    Does anyone else have that kind of experience?
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