The Christmas Mass schedule was made public this morning. Let's see how well I remember it from Father's announcement:

Sat. Vigil (for Sun.): 4 PM and 6:30 PM
Sun. morning (for Sun.): 10 AM

Christmas Vigil (on Sunday):
4 PM, 6 PM and Midnight

Christmas Morning (on Monday): 9 and 11 AM

The conundrum this year is that Christmas falls on a Monday. And the concept of "vigil" complicates things. This all may be moot for me anyway, as I may be in the hospital.

Last year, as Christmas was on a Sunday, I remember that most Protestant churches in the South, where we were visiting family, didn't have services that Sunday at all. I was actually quite shocked by that.

But they made up for it on January 1, 2006, another Sunday, with SRO capacity, as people's New Year's resolutions of "attending church regularly" kicked in.

Of course, for us, 1/1 is a holiday whether it falls on Sunday or not. But I was happy to see Protestants in church on 1/1, even if it happens only every five or six or seven years (but the last time was in 1995. The next time is 2012, 2017).

Father says he needs time to get the church ready on Sunday for Christmas Mass. I don't know what that entails. The banners and other linens need to change from purple to white. But, I imagine that he'll have decorated trees up already and a nativity / crèche. So I can't think of what else needs to change.

I can't remember the last time that I was in town for Christmas because we usually travel.