Christmas in the Capital

 We headed to Northern Virginia for our last show of the year in mid-December. While we were there, we spent a little time enjoying the Christmas decorations in and around D.C.

Our first stop was Pennsylvania Avenue and the National Christmas Tree. One of the first years we did the Chantilly art show in 2027, we drove down into downtown D.C. and paid a visit to the National Christmas Tree. The National Christmas Tree first began to be lit in its current location on the Ellipse in 1923. It has been lit in this spot for almost 100 years now! Our tradition to visit the National Christmas Tree began in 2017 and we hadn't missed a year until 2020. We were glad to be able to return to our tradition this year!

It was a very mild night for December and definitely the warmest it has been for our visit to the tree,so we actually decided to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to see the White House more closely before our visit to the tree this year. 

It was not very busy outside the White House gates and while we were there taking a picture, they opened the farther gates and let us go right up to the White House fence. It was the closest we had ever been to the outside of the White House and a very neat experience for our family!

We headed over and spent some time visiting the National Christmas Tree after that.

We enjoyed some of the other beautiful decorations in Washington D.C. as well.

We even got to see a bit of the light show in the Park on the way back to our campsite.

It was nice to be back to our Christmas traditions around Washington D.C. this year and a fun start to the early part of the Christmas season celebrations this year!