For those of you attending Christmas Eve church services...

from planet to planet

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

[Refrain:]
O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Refrain

Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.

Refrain

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

Refrain

Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.

Refrain

one in a taxi, one in a car

one on a scooter pipping his hooter

travelling from afar ah! travelling from afar

With infink nephew in tow, this is the first year we're hitting the 4:30 services. Oh boy.

What church?

The local non-denom/"community" church here at Tellico Village, in this knoxville suburb. The kid entertained the two rows behind him when he decided to bust out his motorboat noises.

ON IPHONE

AT CHURCH

And again

whatever you do, DONT TACKLE THE POPE

what I remember from elementary school, did not amuse my mother (who I had never realized was religious to that point)

We three kings of orient are
trying to smoke a loaded cigar
BANG

We two kings of orient are
trying to smoke a loaded cigar
BANG

We one kings of orient are
trying to smoke a loaded cigar
BANG

I went cos of family obligations. I had no idea that my singing voice is as bad as it is. Some of those notes were as far away from me as the moon.

i missed tonight, too drunk.

but that pope thing. wow, fucked up

I was supposed to go to one with my patient and her mother, but no one was at their house when I got there. My agency couldn't get in touch with them--I hope nothing bad has happened.

i guess they could have gone without you? would they not have contacted you if something bad had happened?

I was talking to our overnight dispatcher--she is often the last one to find out about these things.

Why would you change "laud" to "praise" in "What Child Is This?" Not too hard to figure out.

We had a variant of milo's song:

We three kings of Orient are
Smoking an exploding cigar
It goes boom and we go zoom
Over yonder star

Every single time I hear "Silent Night" it makes me think of buffalo wings, "so tender and mild". And then I start laughing. This has happened without fail since I was in about 4th grade.

I am talking to this boy from OK Cupid who I think is so super awesome, and he's kind of weird and nerdy, and he said that my dimples were +300 adorable and that he liked my bearditude. Which I found unbelievably adorable/endearing.

And that was totally posted to the wrong thread.

Every single time I hear "Silent Night" it makes me think of buffalo wings, "so tender and mild". And then I start laughing. This has happened without fail since I was in about 4th grade.

Christmas at Hooters this year, everybody! WOO!

And here we go again

In church right now iirc. Still remember all the alto parts, the rest can bite me.

Lo, the whole 'god was born in a stable and laid in a manger' thing has been so emptied of the potent message of humility it once carried, that nowadays the entire story has about as much emotional punch as Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.

Apparently we say "and with your spirit" instead of "and also with you" these days. I've been home 2 days and I've gone to mass twice.

Also, baby Jesus was larger than an adult sheep according to our church's model

I like "and with your spirit" actually. They don't say it here.

Yeah, I don't disagree with it. I'm just not programmed to say it. I know I need a late card for this conversation though.

I must say that my 5 year vacation from weekly mass has had the intended effect. I really "hear" all of the prayers I've mimed since birth now. I still love the ritual, but I can't even get through the apostle's creed these days without omitting parts and becoming ponderous.

Just came back from singing a lessons and carols service, including a premiere piece commissioned by our director

it was pretty rad

i wanna go to a midnight mass someday. i'm totally the wrong religion, but i'm a sucker for the lessons and carols stuff -- my group just sang that last week, at very non-midnight times.

i don't know anything about this "and with your spirit" business -- i assume that this isn't a universal Catholic thing? b/c they still say "and also with you" at my church.

midnight mass is pretty awesome, actually.

Preacher told a story tonight about animals recounting the Christ story and being stoked that the Crucifixion meant that no more animals were sacrificed for atonement purposes

Apparantly in the middle ages it was believed that Baby Jesus was curled up into Joseph's old socks. Socks were pretty much all that the preacher talked about. Then the choir sang Halleluia from Messiah.

my mother just told me that her church now does "and w/ your spirit" -- apparently, this is a reversion to old form (don't know if it's pre-Vatican II).

church I went to on Christmas Eve did the 'and w/ your spirit'

I'm like, dude, I went to church every Sunday for 10 years, and have been going every christmas since god knows when. you don't get to indoctrinate me with a call and response and then change it! nope. sorry. even if I wanted to say the new thing I still automatically say 'and also with you'. sorry jebus

simultaneous love and am meh about the church we go to. my MIL and I go to the 4pm service on Christmas Eve, which is the children's/family service, so they have a kid's choir and the place is wall to wall. The choir is p cute, and they sing all the familiar carols...but I also get a bit snobby and am I like, "ugh can we NOT clap the hallelujah, does everything have to feel like bible camp itt?"

I'm still fond of the austere non-children service, myself. Then again I'm a protty going to Catholic mass I should probably just shut my piehole, lol

Sidenote: the church is a weird 60's modern thing that looks like NFL Hall of Fame 'juicer' building. It's a fun oddity but I definitely prefer the freezing cold bluestone/stained glass church of my childhood. This one has wooden bas relief carvings, and a huge flying jesus on a cross suspended over the altar, and crazy stained glass flames behind that altar that's kind of in the shape of a giant Christmas tree. It's v 'ye olde suburban American church'