A Christmas Experience at The Washington DC Temple and Visitor's Center

For the past few months Barry and I have tossed back and forth the idea of taking the kids to see the Christmas lights at the temple.  We always strive to keep Christ the center of our celebration and we really wanted to share the spirit of the temple with them.  Life threw a few unexpected punches....our van had been having problems and these problems were becoming more and more pronounced.  In the end, after my Dad did some research in helping us find out if the van could be fixed, (mechanics were never able to find the problem when we would take it in and we recently paid out $500. and it still didn't run well.)  All in all, we decided it was time to get another vehicle. However, this transaction took the money we had set aside for the trip.  We threw caution to the wind and went anyway... thank goodness for savings...right?!! (Besides, we already paid for our hotel accommodation-- $44. a night, we couldn't give that up!)
 Even though I was nervous about using savings money for something that was clearly not an emergency, I'm sooooo so glad that we did.  It was an amazingly fun, family bonding, spirit filled trip.

Don't let Connor fool you, he had a great time...he just HATES photos and will act stiff and morose just to make a point!

We enjoyed looking at many wonderful trees decorated by various wards from the surrounding area.  We watched a live musical performance by a classically trained husband/wife duo who was accompanied by their son (and others) on the piano.
The kids loved watching "I'm a Mormon" videos in the "home" area of the visitors center. Brianne has many of the couple missionaries crooning over her.  We also liked to look at the many nativity scenes they had on display from many different countries. We played a fun game quizzing everyone on which continent each country was located.(..and I learned we need to keep working on geography.)

After the concert we took a walk around the temple.  Barry led our family in an impromptu Family Home Evening lesson on the temple steps.  We sat and discussed  the importance of the temple to us, families and the Lord plan.  Although it had been rainy much of the day, when we got there the weather was warm and the rain had stopped.  Our bottom ends were a bit soggy, but who cares, the spirit was so strong and we loved being there.  We continued to walk around the entire temple grounds and sadly left for the hotel.  Once there we continued to have warm family moments reading scriptures and enjoying hot cocoa.  This truly was was wonderful night....I'm sooo glad we came!

Touching the temple doors.  I believe it was either Pres. Hrinkley or Pres. Monson who said, "When we touch the temple, the temple touches us."  We got to share our testimonies with the kids about the temple and our love for them and our Savior.  

In the theatre waiting for the live musical performance to begin.
Hey, could it be, a smile coming from Connor?

The visitor's Center was covered in beautiful colorful lights..  As we entered the parking light we couldn't keep from  ooohh -ing and aaahhh-ing over the amazing lights display.  The kids very much noticed that the temple itself didn't have many lights, and they what few there were on trees, were white.  Barry explained to them that the temple has it's own light and beauty, it doesn't need anything more to make if spectacular...it has a beauty of it's own.