On the Carol Services page, I mentioned that one could create one's own Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols by using the following resources:

Readings for a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (the text and recordings of the lessons and prayers).

Plus MP3s of Christmas hymns and carols may be found at:

• Christmas Music (MP3s and sheet music) at Sally DeFord Music.

• Garritan Community Christmas. Three CDs worth of free MP3 downloads.

• LibriVox: Christmas Carol Collection 2006. A dozen traditional Christmas carols recorded by LibriVox volunteers.

As a "proof of concept," I created my own Festival CD. In order to keep it within a size that would fit on a single CD, only a single hymn preceded the service (the processional); each Lesson was followed by a single hymn or carol. The Bidding Prayer and Blessing was followed by two carols.

As I was unable to locate a recording of "Once In Royal David's City," the traditional processional, so I substituted another processional: "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Other substitutions of a like nature to those used at King's College were made. The resulting CD contained the following tracks:

• O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - Daniel Kury

• The Bidding Prayer

•   Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem - Stefan Kristinsson

• The First Lesson

•   Remember, O Thou Man - Jack Cannon

• The Second Lesson

•   Now A Savior Is Born Unto Us - Matej Hrovat

• The Third Lesson

•   Angels We Have Heard On High - Jim Hammer

• The Fourth Lesson

•   Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming - Sally DeFord

• The Fifth Lesson

•   Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine - Sally DeFord

• The Sixth Lesson

•   The Rocking Carol - Sally DeFord

• The Seventh Lesson

•   Shepherds' Cradle Song - Sally DeFord

• The Eighth Lesson

•   We Three Kings - Stephanie Pray-Urech

• The Ninth Lesson

•   O Come, All Ye Faithful - Stefan Kristinsson

• The Prayer And Blessing

•   Hark! The Herald Angels - Mark Zimmer

•   In Dulci Jubilo - Dan Powers

Please consider this to be just an example, not a recommendation.

Enjoy!