12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Christmas Eve Service

 

One of our most meaningful traditions is to attend a Christmas Eve evening service every year. We have gone to a service every year we've been married except one year when Christmas was on a Sunday so our church held their Christmas service on the morning of Christmas Eve.

We've gone to a midnight candle-lighting, a children's service, and a few 'regular' services. At our last church I was able to be part of the service. One year we did a 'family' theme and pulled a fireplace mantel, sofa, coffee table, and tree onto the stage. We had a story time where one of our lovely, older church ladies read the Christmas story to all the children, we sang, and in general had a relaxed homey service.

The next year we went a lot bigger. We did a Victorian Christmas theme complete with Dickensian lampposts, full costumes, and Victorian traditions. It was lovely.

A cappella caroling before the service

 

The following year I put together the service with a 'Colors of Christmas' theme. We had four monochromatic trees on the stage and four of us dressed in black with either a solid colored scarf or tie in one of the four colors (red, green, white, and gold). We did readings about how the colors are represented in Christmas and sang songs that went along with them.

We're no longer at that church so we've been just attending candle-lighting services at various churches the past few years since our home church doesn't have one. No matter where we choose to attend, it's always a time to pause and reflect on what Christmas is really about.

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2