The 24 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week

Festive holiday light displays

Christmas Day — a holiday when the Smithsonian, the Botanic Garden and other attractions are closed — is a good time to pack the family into the car and head for one of the area’s drive-through or walk-through light displays. Options include the Festival of Lights at the Mormon temple, which features more than 400,000 lights (4:45 to 9 p.m., dctemplevisitorscenter.org, free); Ice and Lights at Cameron Run Regional Park in Alexandria, where visitors can hit the ice rink after exploring selfie-ready light displays (5 to 10 p.m., novaparks.com, $8-$20); the 37th annual Winter Festival of Lights at Watkins Park in Largo, which contains more than 2.5 million lights brightening dozens of displays along a three-mile drive (5 to 9:30 p.m., pgparks.com, $10-$15); and Enchant Christmas, the annual spectacle that fills the field at Nationals Park with more than 10 acres of activities, including an ice skating trail, ice sculptures, light displays, a “village” of maker shops, visits with Santa and a special area for kids, as well as numerous paid add-ons (5:30 to 9:30 p.m., enchantchristmas.com, $25-$42, free for ages 2 and younger).

We should note that some popular area displays, such as the walk-through displays at Brookside Gardens and the Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival in Seneca Creek State Park, are closed on Monday.

Christmas Day Organ Recital at Washington National Cathedral

Washington National Cathedral organists Thomas Sheehan and Rebecca Ehren present a program of festive music in the nave of the cathedral. Come to listen in person — or play the live stream as you finish opening presents. 1:30 p.m. Free.

Christmas dining and drinking

For various reasons, Christmas Day is a less isolating holiday than Thanksgiving: Browse through OpenTable, Resy or Tock and you’ll find a wide variety of open restaurants and bars waiting to offer dinner. Ambar locations on Capitol Hill and in Shaw open at 10 a.m. for bottomless brunch, while Succotash in Penn Quarter opens at noon with a holiday menu and cocktails. Blagden Alley’s Tiger Fork has a full Chinese menu from 1 to 7 p.m. Some sports bars, like Caddies on Cordell in Bethesda, are opening at noon for the full feast of NBA and NFL games.

Bar standbys include Ivy and Coney, which celebrates “Chinese Food and Movie Day” on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as part of its annual Hanukkah Bar theme, and opens at 5 p.m. on the 25th; Lyman’s Tavern, which opens at 5 p.m. and serves its traditional dinner of Chinese takeout around 6; American Ice. Co., where the 15th annual Reza Brothers Christmas Night Party serves drinks, but food is BYO and potluck, beginning at 8 p.m.; Trade, which opens at 7 p.m. for “holiday tunes” with DJs Dean Sullivan, StrikeStone! and Barber; Tunnicliff’s Tavern, across from Eastern Market, open from 2 p.m. to midnight; JR’s, which opens at 7 p.m. and usually features showtunes on Monday nights; the Pug, which opens at 9 p.m.; Bedrock Billiards, open for darts, pool and other games in Adams Morgan at 8 p.m.; Toro Bar in 16th Street Heights, where the Cheermister ugly sweater party kicks off at 8 p.m. with DJ Lobo; and Showtime, which opens its doors at 8 p.m.

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