A Christmas Recital, Visiting Some Historic Houses and Other Cool Sights Around DC

December means a piano recital for my students. They all did a great job.

Here's what the invitations looked like. The music printed on the front was "Joy to the World."

I had fun with the burlap theme and made a couple of wreaths,

plus lots of other ornaments that I hung on the walls. The burlap ribbon on the top of the walls was printed with music notes and the words, "Joy to the World."

These are the stocking ornaments I made to give my students this year.

After the recital Kent and I went to a historic homes tour in Fredericksburg, VA.

We went with our friends, the Haderlies. We didn't get to see all of the homes because we spent so much standing in line. At least we had good company to spend the time with.

While we were waiting in line, Santa stopped by in his fancy red sleigh.

This is the front of our favorite home, which had a view of the Rappahanock River from the back windows.

The next week I organized a tour of the White House for my friends from my Bible Study group. I toured the White House a few years ago but didn't have my camera with me that time, so I was sure to take it this year.

Note the nativity and the picture of George Washington in the background.

This replica of the White House is made out of white chocolate.

It's hard to see, but there's a big gift out on the lawn with a red ribbon around it.

One of the rooms in the White House.

There were portraits of all of the presidents throughout the house.

I liked this shot because of the antique piano and the picture of Pres. George W. Bush on the wall behind it.

Most of our group.

Outside on the steps on the back side of the White House, not usually seen by tourists.

This is the national Christmas tree, which is on the grounds in front of the White House. I'm sure it looked better at night!

After the White House tour I went to the Library of Congress to see the Magna Carta. It's on loan from England for ten weeks.

This is the original document from the year 1215.

This was the Christmas tree in the lobby of the Library of Congress.

It's always cool to see Thomas Jefferson's Library, which is on display at the Library of Congress.

Nearby are the US Botanic Gardens, which always put up a display at Christmas time. This is the toy railroad with landmarks from around the country.

And last, but not least, Arlington Cemetery decked out with the wreaths for Christmas. It's cool that we saw the town in Maine where they started "Wreaths Across America" when we were there in August.

They always look more Christmasy when there's snow, but it didn't snow before Christmas this year.

There are always lots of neat things to see and do around DC during the Christmas season!

Christmas Lights Make the Season Magical

We did lots of fun Christmas-y things this year, too many to fit into just one post. One of the first places we went was to Busch Gardens' Christmas Town, near Williamsburg, VA. I found some discount tickets online and we went on opening day, November 21st. It wasn't crowded at all it was a clear, not too cold, day.

 We arrived around four in the afternoon while it was still light. So the following shots show a scene in the daytime, then again when it's dark.

The scene below was the most dramatic change.

The next few photos were just fun shots of the cool lights.

We took this picture from a cable car gondola that took us from one side of the park to another. We did it about three times because it was such a great view of all the lights in the park seen from above.

 We had a really good time, and liked the European look of the buildings. We drank lots of peppermint hot chocolate to stay warm, and spent about five hours at the park.

 It's always nice to see a nativity scene to remember the reason for the season.

 The next three pictures were taken at a home near Richmond, VA. We saw a TV show about extreme Christmas light displays, and this was one of the homes highlighted in the program. Naturally, since it's relatively close, we had to check it out.

 It's difficult to grasp the magnitude of the display from these pictures!

All these Christmas lights inspired Kent to make a display of his own. He posted pictures on Facebook and titled it "Kent's Festival of Lights."

 This is the path leading down to the back door where the piano students come in. I'll take credit for the snowflake lights. I found them at Five Below and thought they were a nice addition.

Below is a close-up of the water-bottle flower garden Kent made. (They're on the far right in the photo above.)

 This is the side of our yard nearest to the street. We received many compliments on our lights this year.

 Of course, no collection of Christmas lights photos would be complete without some pictures from the always spectacular light display at the Washington, DC Temple. I think we've gone to see them every year we've lived here.

 One more with the temple in the background, because it looks soooo pretty!

More blog posts about December still to come!!

By the way, I also went to see the Zoo Lights at the Houston Zoo with Adri and Russ's family, but I'll put those pictures in with the blog post about our trip to Texas.