Festival of Lights

The weather has been dreary (and well documented), but sometimes you just gotta get out.

We found a reason last night, going to the Washington, D.C., temple for its annual Festival of Lights. It was cold (around 25 degrees), damp, and windy. So we bundled up and headed out. We picked up burgers and fries for the drive (to stay warm, of course) and headed the 35 miles south.

It was well worth it. The temple grounds were a gorgeous mix of colors from all the lights. We enjoyed the life-sized nativity scene (as Levi put it, "Look, there's Mary and Jesus...and all that other stuff!" -- we were happy he recognized the important ones). And the temple...well, the temple is always an impressive site. We love being there.



To get out of the cold, we went inside the visitors center and saw a variety of Nativity scenes collected from around the world -- pottery from Peru, stone carvings from Kenya, textiles from Cambodia. One of our favorites was from Mongolia -- a small metal-carved Nativity, housed in the starry crystals of a geode.



Despite the weather, it was a great night together, and a good way to wrap up the holiday season and start the new year. While it was cold outside, we were all warm inside...