Since I now have my own family, I have had the opportunity to establish my own holiday traditions. There is still a sing-a-long on the list of holiday activities, but the musical quality is much, much higher and the people in attendance (with the exception of me) have no problems hitting the high notes. My family and I always try to make it to the Holiday Sing-a-Long at Wolf Trap. The music is played by the U.S. Marine Corp Band accompanied by a large choir made up of local singing groups. The audience is invited to sing-a-long to all of the holiday classics. There is a “jing-a-long” during the singing of Jingle Bells, so you can bring your bells. The event always ends with the singing of Silent Night and the lighting of candles as everyone slowly leaves the theater (bring your own candles). I always love this event – it is very highly recommended.

Details: Wolf Trap’s Holiday Sing-a-Long is this coming Sunday, December 6th and it starts at 4:00 pm. The event is FREE. Wolf Trap has requested donations of unwrapped toys for the “Toys for Tots” program that the Marines sponsor, but this is not a requirement. We always try to get there very, very early, so that we can get a seat inside the house, and not have to sit on the lawn. (You need to bring a blanket if you wind up on the lawn.) It is an outdoor event, so you should dress warmly. Be sure to bring your jingle bells and a candle. Wolf Trap is located at 1645 Trap Road in Vienna, Virginia. In the past, the snack bar has been open for the sale of hot drinks.

We own a high def TV and my son plays with his Nintendo DS as much as we will let him. So I would not be confused with one of the Amish. But I have been mulling over this “black Friday” phenomenon – the rush to acquire stuff. We happened to drive by a Best Buy store yesterday morning and saw people camped out with tents and sleeping bags, waiting for the stores to open at 5 am today. What in the world is going on here? What are we celebrating anyway?

In my house, we celebrate Christmas – the birth of the Savior. Its hard to remember this with the constant ads and the call to the sale. I figure I am not the only one looking for some alternative input on this day after Thanksgiving. So here are a few links to other articles that buck the trend – that encourage us to make do with less and keep some perspective.

Antique Mommy writes about how she is trying to remind herself and her son what is important, and how she is not going to buy “Big Things” for her child this Christmas. This is a nice alternative to the Walmart and Best Buy ads on television.

A while back the Small Notebook blog wrote an article called “Great Gifts for Kids that Don’t Involve Stuff” – the name says it all, really. And this is a nice blog overall.

The Small Notebook blog also did a series back in the summer called “The No Spend Month Challenge.” It documents the writer’s quest to spend only $250 for herself and her family for the whole month of July.

Simple Kids writes about “20 Activities Under $10.” The writer chronicles how she spent $10 and came up with twenty easy activities to do with her small child.

I bookmarked the older articles, because I thought they were good reads. If you have any more links on this topic, please leave the links in the comments. I could sure use more “perspective”! I’m sure I’m not the only one. Thanks everyone…

Okay, okay I won’t go any further. I know that you will hear that song about 6000 times before the new year. That and the Bing Crosby/David Bowie version of The Little Drummer Boy. My son has even taken a liking to The Carol of the Bells as sung by the Ray Conniff Singers. I’m not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

In spite of Bing and David, Christmas is season is still one of my favorites – there are so many joy-filled special events. You can sing the Christmas Carols with the Marine Corp band and visit the Holiday train gardens. You can watch The Nutcracker performed (in more than one location) and other holiday performances. And you can see the Christmas lights in the two big holiday displays in the county.

This weekend, Brookside Gardens in Wheaton opens its Garden of Lights display and the City of Gaithersburg opens its Winter Lights for a “preview weekend” in Seneca Creek State Park. We love them both, and despite the cost we always visit both. Brookside’s Garden of Lights opens on Friday (November 27th) and admission is $15 per car during the week and $20 on the weekend. This is a “walk-through” event, so dress very warmly. Gaithersburg’s Winter Lights opens on Saturday (November 28th) and the cost is $12 per car during the week and $14 on the weekend. This display is drive-through only, except for the special walking night on Monday, November 30th.

My father is an aviation junkie. He served in the Air Force in the 50s and flew two and four seat airplanes in his younger days. So we took him out to the Udvar-Hazy Center on his last visit. In fact, we dragged him over there right after stepping off the plane at Dulles! We figured that it would save us some driving! I am not sure if that was a fun thing to do or a form of tourism torture, but he seemed to enjoy it a lot!

Most people have been to the Air and Space Museum’s location on the National Mall in downtown Washington – and it’s a fun trip. Because of its more distant location, less people have been to the Smithsonian’s Air and Space annex that is located adjacent to Dulles Airport. But I would argue that it is worth the drive.

Mr. Udvar-Hazy is the annex’s chief benefactor – hence the long and interesting name. The idea of an annex can imply that it’s a place to hold the leftovers, but this place is really amazing. It is enormous – with several football fields’ worth of historical airplanes. There is a high speed Concord jet that flew for Air France.

There is a very large section with military jets, covering most eras of military aviation history. My son likes the Tomahawk World War II era fighter the best. I think it’s the big snarling teeth painted on the aircraft that is the big attraction. (It’s a boy thing.) You can see part of the stealth fighter jet at the bottom of the photo, as well.

There is a section on space exploration, with satellites, astronaut’s space suits, rockets and other artifacts from the history of space exploration, along with the real – not a model! – Space Shuttle Enterprize. I learning in this section that the first real liquid fuel rocket was built by a scientist and professor in Worcester County, Massachusetts, which is the town that my father calls home.

Space Shuttle Wheels

For some strange reason, probably associated with my crazy need to try to be to be interesting when I take pictures (or maybe just the fact that I brought the wrong camera lens), I did not take any full length photographs of the retired Space Shuttle that is resident in the Museum. So here is a shot of the Space Shuttle wheels!

Rockets

In addition to all of the airplanes, rockets, artifacts and displays, the Museum has several simulator rides and an IMAX movie theater. There is also a “control tower” where you can learn about air traffic control and watch the take offs and landings from Dulles Airport up close. We first took our son to this Museum when he was four, and he enjoyed it even at that young age. With Thanksgiving coming up, it is a great place to take your out of town relatives!

Details: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center is located adjacent to Dulles Airport at 14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway in Chantilly, Virginia. Admission to the Museum is FREE, but you pay $15 per car to park. There are also admission fees to the flight simulator rides and IMAX movies. There is a McDonald’s restaurant in the Museum, but it costs more than a regular McDonald’s (which is pretty annoying!)