The Christmas Season has Officially begun

Well, it's officially started for me at least... I made it to Monday night's Christmast at the Cloister program. In talking with friends about the program in advance, I kept getting quisical looks when I'd say, "it's a Lesson in Carols", so I decided to record the program.

You can listen to recording through these links:
Streaming audio / Downloadable audio in mp3

Not wanting to be conspicuous, I recorded it on my Sony CLIE holding it as steadily as possible between my knees for the full 43 minutes. The quality is sub-standard, but it should give you an idea of the content of a Lessons in Carols service (apparently a full service has 9 lessons). I think I was pretty effective at keeping the noise interference down except for in between songs. I was afraid my hand would go numb, so I would move around after each piece. It's hardest to hear the Reverend read the scripture passages and his prayers. Here are the passages he's reading from:

First Lesson - Isaiah 11:1-5
Second Lesson - Micah 2:1-5
Third Lesson - Luke 2:1-7
Fourth Lesson - Luke 2:8-16
Fifth Lesson - Matthew 2:1-11

I purposely didn't sing hardly at all so my voice didn't wreck the recording. I did catch the final service at 9pm Tuesday night and sang to my heart's content. Let the Christmas Season begin!