I am disappointed there was no choir at 10am mass on Christmas day.

[LynetteScavo]

And because the church was full when we arrived, I didn't have a hymn book, so had to la la la. But no body else seemed to actually sing. Just me and the organist making any nose.

The homily went on sooooo long, we left after communion as I had left food cooking. The service had already been well over an hour long. Surely the Christmas morning mass should be one of the best of the year for families? It's usually lovely, but I'm not sure I will go on Christmas day next year as it won't be on a Sunday. Actually I probably will, for the DC, but may have to ask the priest about the lack of choir.

And yes, this is an AIBU by stealth.

Baroque - dh (who has a lot to do with the music and worship at our church) suggests you play one verse with one tune for Christ Triumphant and then the next verse with the other tune - that should please everybody

Or split the congregation down the middle, do both versions concurrently then whichever side sings loudest wins.

Brilliant!

Our church was very full too - standing room only! There must have been over 500 people there, with lots of faces I did not recognise.

Normally on Christmas Day, we have a single service. We did the same this year, despite normally having 4 services on a typical Sunday. I think that was a mistake because there were almost certainly people who were dipping their toe in and were put off by the heaving nature of the whole thing.

Our choir (from the fuddy duddy service) amalgamated with our praise group (from the happy clappy service) and it was absolutely lovely. They must have rehearsed for ages to work on the harmonies, and for the praise band to work alongside the organ. It worked well in reminding us that we are one church family, despite four congregations.

We had a 45 minute service (normal is 1h15 for us), with a 10 minute break, then a said HC for those that wanted to stay. This was a good thing for those people with one eye on their oven. We also had HC at the midnight service, so we didn't feel we missed out.

That's the one I prefer too Grimma.

Our choir sings at the Midnight Mass, so its a bit unfair to expect them to turn out again, although a couple of them were sitting in the congregation. At least there was an organist, both at your church and ours. Our service was very family orientated, but it was still an hour long.

An hour would have been good.

We have a new priest and a new deacon. The deacon gave the incredibly long homily. I don't think anyone was actually listening to him after the first 5 mins. Babies started crying and toddlers were restless. I think a 10am mass on Christmas morning needs to be a bit fast moving.

Go in, sing a carol, listen to a reading, take communion, sing a carol, go home to baste turkey.

We had done the Christmas eve crib service, and can't do midnight mass with young DC. With Christmas being on a Sunday, and there being no children's liturgy, then I think the whole mass should have been a been shorter and....sing -y-er.