Are all the museums closed over the holidays. Thinking of booking a vacation for our family with four children. Any plays or concerts we should see over X-Mas? Are there any White House tours? Any suggestions for accommodations or anything else would be appreciated. Thanks

The Smithsonian museums/attractions are open every day of the year except Christmas Day. You can visit their website for information about all of the Smithsonian museums at www.si.edu.

Information about White House tours can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/tours/ or by calling 202-456-7041. The site currently says that White House tours are only open to school, veteran, or military group tours.

The holidays is an excellent time to see DC since it is off-season. If you main interest is to see DC and not visit historical attractions in the suburbs, you would be fine with choosing a hotel in the district close to a Metro station and avoid the need to rent a car. Dealing with DC traffic should be the last thing you need to do on the weekend. If you want further suggestions, I would suggest that you post a separate post looking for family hotel accomodations in the district with things like desired amenities and general price range. Since I live in the area, I will readily admit I am not a great source for specific hotel suggestions.

There are holiday concerts at the National Cathedral and the Kennedy Center. Ford's Theatre does The Christmas Carol every year. There are concerts assocated with the National Christmas Tree (called the Pageant of Peach I think). There's plenty to do including the Smithsonian which is only closed on Christmas day I believe.

Check out the Weekend section of the Washington Post (published on Friday) or the Washingtonian Magazine for more detailed lists of holiday events.

Another place worth checking out is Mt. Vernon, which does some special stuff for Christmas. You might also check the National Cathedral website and see about tickets to Christmas Eve services (or Christmas day services) at the amazing Cathedral or even the Catholic Basilica. Even if you aren't Christian, just seeing the buildings at Christmas time are great.

Somewhere on the Mall grounds there also a display of fifty State Christmas Trees which can be fun after dark; and there is a small skating rink in front of the Nat'l Archives. It's very difficult to get into the White House tour around the holidays... you must either line up for the tickets at an ungodly hour of the morning (5 am, say), or try to get them in advance from your Senator or Congressman, a request which usually must be made months in advance. It's not that great a tour, anyway, so I'd advise against it.

Check out washingtonpost.com, and click your way over to their entertainment directory, which is chock-full of holiday stuff already. Get tix for Kenedy Center or Ford's Theater ASAP!