Advent Calendar: December 11, 2015
Christmas at Church: Post # 11
From now until Christmas Eve, I will be participating in the 2015 Edition of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories by Thomas MacEntee and the Geneabloggers. If you would like to know more or even join in, please see This Link. I’d like to personally thank Dawn Williams-Kogutkiewicz of Dawning Genealogy for sharing this idea on Genealogy Bloggers.
Church on the Green in West Haven, CT – Photo Courtesy of Dan Shine
December 11 – Christmas at Church
There are a variety of activities at Church during Christmastime, and they can vary based on your denomination or church. From the lighting of the Advent Wreath to Midnight Mass or Christmas Eve church services, for many, church is a central focus of the Christmas holiday. If you are not a church goer, did you grow up in a family that went to church activities during Christmas – what are your memories?
My Memories: My family was never a “every” Sunday go-to-church family. The Methodist church was where I was baptized and where I attended MYF for teens. I’m sure there were times we went to Church, but I just don’t have memories of it.
Marrying into an Italian family, I discovered a new religion – Catholic. I remember a Catholic church built just before I left Perry in 1971; it was a new religion to many there, as Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian were the prominent faiths in my town.
Today we attend Christmas Eve Mass with my son and his family and I’m looking forward to this year as my oldest granddaughter Ella is singing in the children’s choir. The “midnight mass” doesn’t seem to be celebrated actually at midnight any longer; ours will be earlier in the evening. It’s actually even hard to find a church open now at midnight.
My Husband’s Memories: Going to St. Paul’s church every Sunday was not something my family did weekly, but they did go several times a year. My best friend, Louie, went to church every Sunday with his parents and I usually went with them.
My family never went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve – why I don’t know! I remember a couple of my aunts would leave near midnight to go to mass, but the majority of everyone there that night, did not go.
Like to read more ~ Click on 2015: Advent Calendar of Christmas
© 2015 Jeanne Bryan Insalaco
Everyone Has a Story 
I was raised and baptized Methodist as a child and remember church was every Sunday morning, evening and Wednesday evening. My most vivid memories of Christmas activities are as a teenager in Huntsville, Alabama at the Church of Christ. We always gathered at church Christmas Eve for singing and fellowship. We would go around the neighborhood singing and some of us would drive out to various neighborhoods for singing.
I didn’t attend church much as an adult but would attend many Christmas services with friends at their church. I remember a midnight mass at a Lutheran Church in Macon. It was a midnight service as everyone gathered around 11:30 and services began at midnight.
I began attending a Pentecostal church locally many years ago and their Christmas Eve services included plays depicting the journey of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus.
The last few years have been spent with my husband’s family in Ohio and their church is non-denominational and the Christmas Eve service is filled with singing and a story read to the children as they gather around the story teller, followed by a sermon.
All in all, I think spending Christmas Eve in church is the most important reminder of why we celebrate the season.
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