Midnight isn't always midnight.

Coleman: "I'm gonna go to Midnight Mass."
Carol: "Is it at midnight?"
Colemam: "Well, yeah, by definition."
Carol: "Ours is at 9pm."

Christmas Eve for my family is pretty low key. We usually got to Midnight Mass, though in recent years, this has occurred at 9pm. I haven't been big on Mass in the past few years, which most of my friends and family know. I'm still wrestling with some fundamental issues with my faith and so I chose not to attend Mass on a regular basis.

I do like Christmas Mass though, especially at my parents' church because the priest usually cracks a joke to begin his homily and he actually gives a good talk on something that I can usually relate to. Sometimes, though, my mind wanders during the homily and I find myself thinking of strange things. Like this time, I was trying to figure out how many times my dad has sat through the same Catholic Mass. He's going to be 60 next year and he has generally never missed a Mass. So you can guesstimate that he's attended Mass about 60 times a year (each week plus holy days) for 60 years, that's roughly 3600 Masses. But then he'll tell you that as a child growing up he went to Mass every day, so that's even more. That's a pretty serious number. That's some pretty serious faith. I can't imagine doing anything that many times.