Midnight Mass

[MinnieMouse200]

Does anyone go to midnight mass with young kids or to Church on Christmas Day?

Young children would find a Christmas Eve crib service better, usually on CE afternoon.
Many midnight masses don't start at Midnight so check out times.

Yes. We have always been a church going family. We have attende borh depending on what is held.

When mine were small we sometimes did Christmas Day - short service about 10am so after the presents and before lunch - everyone invited to bring a present to show

They liked Christingle services and nativity family carol services too

Never did midnight mass with them

All in local Methodist Church

Christmas morning here. It used to be stockings before church. Smoked salmon sarnies, champagne and presents after church.

Thanks for the responses. We have always done midnight mass. Didn't last year because little one was a baby but would like to go to church either on CE or CD going forwards. I'm trying to work out how doable either are. Unfortunately our church doesn't do a CE crib service.

No.

I found it exhausting with a baby / young child and my son was extremely cranky afterwards as it interrupted his sleep schedule and took him days to properly recover.

We much prefer the early morning one (our local has one at 8am and 10:30am).

Keeping the kids up on Christmas Eve and going to midnight mass meant that ours slept through till about 9.30 on Christmas morning. It worked for us.

We usually went to the 8pm mass on Christmas Eve (first mass of Christmas) when ds was small. He was also an altar server so you were looking at 10pm before it finished. I can remember me and my db going to midnight mass with mum and dad when we were kids but I don't know if it was every year.

My priest does a compromise and has it at 8pm :)

We do a Christmas Eve service - crib, cristingle or carols late afternoon timed so we leave in the dark. I think one of my favourite parts of Christmas is when they turn the lights out and we all sing away in a manger by candlelight. This sets the children up nicely for a chilled evening. Then after stockings and breakfast in the morning we go to the 10am service. Ours is aimed at families so there are lots of children running around with their new toys.

My two both started singing in the church choir from about seven years old. So they did both
Midnight Mass and Christmas morning from that age.

Mine are 8 and 6 now (8 and 7 by Christmas) and I was just thinking the other day about when to bring them to MM. Haven't done yet. I don't remember not going so I suppose I must have been fairly young.

We have a crib service too that I will take them too. We have Children's Church once a month during the normal morning service and in the November one (this year it actually falls nicely on Stir-Up Sunday) they make Christmas and call them birthday cakes for Jesus!

I loved midnight mass as a child although because the memories are so special it maybe wasn't every year. We dressed up with scarfs and gloves and I remember it always being sparkly and frosty and holding my grannies hand tightly.

The church would be lit by candles with a twinkling old fashioned tree, beautiful old hymns and the odd drunk coming in from the pub.

I'm not sure how accurate these memories are. It's nearly fifty years ago but I treasure them

No it's too long for young kids and too late. You have to get to our church around 1030 to get a seat.

We always do 7.30 am. Light the Weber, go to Mass, come bwck and Weber is ready to go.

Our parish does a 6pm Mass outside as the sun goes down and they get over 2000 people. Byo rugs and chairs and it’s quite lovely. Cockatoos, kookaburras, galahs all having an evening squawk.