Many churches have very large services for Christmas Eve. It is a special time with the church filled and sometimes overflowing. I give thanks to God that so many will hear the Word of God proclaimed that night.
However, in my congregation, it is quite different. Many of my folks leave the area at Christmas and so for us, Christmas Eve is not a large, overflowing service, but a much smaller and intimate gathering of the faithful. It took me a little while to get used to that, and though I sometimes miss the full church, I have come to love this time with my flock as well, as we ponder the mystery of the incarnation.
I wonder how many churches are like mine?
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It is the Christmas morning service that becomes the gathering place of the few. I always love the smaller gatherings for the reasons you list. Sometimes I feel selfish for it, but there is a much different quality to the Christmas day service, when most people are not willing or able to leave their activities to attend a service.
This year I asked that communion be served, and so it was!--my pastor afterward said, "You know, for years now I've always felt something was missing from our Christmas Day services, and now I know what it was! Having the visible Word in our midst is so much more complete and satisfying!"
The intimacy of course is at the cost of having many fewer people celebrate with us, but it wouldn't be intimacy otherwise, and from time to time, it is valuable and even necessary.
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