Critic's choice: Top 5 exhibitions

Christmas Past examines Yuletide traditions, Dutch photographer Bert Teunissen borrows from his country's heritage and The Photographic Portrait Prize continues to draw the crowds...

Christmas Past: 400 Years of Seasonal Traditions in English Homes
Geffrye Museum, E1
Set in an 18th-century almshouse, the East End's museum of interior design is the perfect backdrop for this annual exhibition, which takes a closer look at 400 years of Yuletide traditions. Stockings hung on the chimney, for instance - just what makes them so Christmassy? And why are evergreen garlands the festive choice for decorating doors? From the history of the holly and the ivy to kissing boughs and twinkly lights, it's a celebration of all that's merriest about this wintry fiesta. (020). Until 7 January.

Bert Teunissen: Domestic Landscapes
The Photographers' Gallery, WC2
This Dutch photographer borrows from his country's artistic heritage to striking effect. Over the past decade, he's created an archive that captures the atmosphere and light of homes across Europe. So far, he's amassed over 250 images spanning the continent, from the chill north to the sunny south - even visiting our own shores. But regardless of their setting, each image is infused with the aesthetic spirit of Vermeer, Rembrandt and their fellow Dutch masters. A thought-provoking synthesis of the old and the contemporary. (020 ). Until 28 January.

The Photographic Portrait Prize 2006
National Portrait Gallery, WC2
The subject of this year's winning portrait wasn't keen on having his photograph taken. A man named Joe, he was minding his own business on Brighton's seafront one hot June day, when 29-year-old photographer Richard Boll appeared with his camera. The encounter lasted just four minutes and resulted in an informal, enigmatic shot of a bare-chested man bedecked with beads, bracelets, a naval piercing and tattoos. Chosen from over 5,000 international entries, it won Boll the 12,000-pound first prize, and is shown here alongside 60 other noteworthy works, including Eitan Lee Al's portrait of flame-haired model Lily Cole as Elizabeth I. (020 7306
0055). Until 18 February.

Velazquez
National Gallery, W1
Born in 1599, the great Spanish artist Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez had a very modern appetite for naturalism. After becoming Philip IV's court painter in his early 20s, he lived surrounded by glamour and pomp, yet he continued to seek out tragedy and suffering, and his subjects number not only kings and courtiers, but also the crippled and the cripplingly poor. His quest for physical and psychological realism led him to develop an economical style that would later inspire the Impressionists and Picasso. It's all revealed in this rich, career-spanning exhibition that charts Velazquez's development from his Seville beginnings to his move to Madrid and important trips to Italy, where he studied with the masters. The National Gallery's own impressive holdings are enhanced by loans from the Museo del Prado, enabling almost half of his surviving paintings to be shown at once. (020 7747 2885). Until 21 January.

LAST CHANCE: Rodin
Royal Academy, W1
His name connotes kisses, or rather, The Kiss, those legendary lovers whose entwined limbs melt so sensuously into one another, defying the marble from which they're hewn. And then there's The Thinker, his tribute to more cerebral passions. Both are known the world over, yet this is the first major UK celebration of Rodin's work in 20 years. Made up of some 300 pieces, it features sketches and models as well as the finished pieces themselves, leading the viewer chronologically through the Frenchman's career. Inevitably, there's some patchiness, but the odd paw of a hand or vapid society commission throws into relief his magical talent for capturing thought, passion, and most of all action, in marble and bronze. (020 7300 8000). Until 1 January