A different kind of Festival of Lights

[bironic]

I haven't mentioned here yet that there's a Mormon temple nearby. When I get on the Beltway going west and turn the first corner, it appears above the trees like Cinderella's castle. It's hard to describe how unreal it looks: like a matte painting in a movie, flat and oddly lit, golden-tipped towers glinting in the sun. It is, however, quite real, as I confirmed last night when the Laundrys and I went to see the forest of holiday lights set up out front.

Teaser:




From the highway over the summer. Don't ask how I took this picture.





A few of the reported 450,000 lights adorning the trees in front of the temple and visitor center:





Some of which are cute tulips:





The temple continues to seem not-quite-real when viewed from inside the visitor center:





Exhibits in the center included a collection of small, stylized nativity scenes from around the world, including several from Africa—between them and the palely shining samples from the U.S. and Europe, no further proof was needed that Jesus takes on the appearance of the culture envisioning him—and two adorable ones from New Zealand made of shells and pearls:





Lastly, an unrelated sunset from a few months ago that I've been meaning to show roga: