This past weekend, Joe, Grace, and I met Christie in Valley Forge.

Christie is an incredibly talented photographer who was in town for a few days and agreed to take some Christmas portraits of us. The portraits are stunning.

This shot is gorgeous, but not one that made the cut for my Christmas card. Can you imagine? The other photos are even better.

These photos are even better than our wedding portraits.

I hope Christie intends to come into town every November for the rest of her life because my Christmas cards will never be the same.

Just kidding.

Actually, I’m not.

After meeting up with Christie, Joe, Grace, and I went sightseeing in the rain.

We had taken our photos with Christie at the George Washington Memorial Chapel, a functional Episcopal church adjacent to the Valley Forge National Historical Park.

The chapel reminded me of the cathedrals I visited in France. It’s stunningly beautiful and much younger than it looks. It’s less than 100 years old.

In one of the corridors of the chapel, we found this big blue door. I thought the door was beautiful.

Grace thought its knocker was fabulous.

We peered through the keyhole to see if anyone was on the other side. I think there wasn’t. I hope there wasn’t; we knocked for a long time.

Then we danced in the hallway, and then we knocked on the door again.

There was so much to see at this little chapel.

We went inside the chapel to gaze at the stained glass. We sat in a pew, and we talked to the Lord.

On the grounds of the chapel was this little building.

Grace is infatuated with all things small, so we peeked in the window and checked it all over. There was only a little bench inside, but the door was locked, and we couldn’t go in.

It turns out that the building is a replica of one of the huts in which the 12,000 men in General George Washington’s Continental Army lived over the winter of 1777 and 1778.

In case you can’t read the sign, it says:

On this spot stood one of the huts occupied by soldiers of Washington’s camp during the winter of 1777-1778. This reproduction was erected by Colonial Chapter of Philadelphia Daughters of the Revolution, May 1905.

The soldiers in the Continental Army lived in Valley Forge from December  1777 until June 1778. Despite a lack of food and an abundance of disease, the Army improved under the tutelage of Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, an elite General from Prussia. More than 2,000 men died at Valley Forge even though a battle was never fought here.

Even though the war endured for another five years, Valley Forge is symbolic of the power of a determined spirit. It’s a good message.

We saw a few other little buildings elsewhere on the grounds of the Valley Forge National Historical Park. They were not locked, but the rain drops were falling and parking wasn’t close by. Some day when it’s not raining, we’ll go back and check them out and let Grace do some pretending.

Happily shared at A Thousand Words Thursday, Show and Tell Friday, PhotoStory Friday, Friday’s Foto Finish Fiesta, Give Me Your Best Shot, Finer Things Friday, Family Friday, and Beautiful Life

George Washington Memorial Chapel photo courtesy of Wally G on Flickr