Holiday Happenings Fill The Weekend
It is December, and we are in the final countdown to Christmas. Many of the DMV’s annual Christmas attractions like the National Christmas Tree, Downtown Holiday Market, Christmas at Mount Vernon, ZooLights at the National Zoo, Seasons Greenings at the U.S. Botanical Garden and the Festival of Lights at the Mormon Temple are all now open. For the complete listing, click here. Listed below are a few things that you can only enjoy this weekend.
The Red Line shut down between Fort Totten and Glenmont continues with buses replacing trains. Trains are operating every 12-15 minutes between Shady Grove and Fort Totten with additional trains between Shady Grove and NoMa-Gallaudet from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Blue Line trains single track between Addison Road and Morgan Boulevard on a regular schedule. As a result of the single-tracking, Silver Line trains will operate on a regular schedule between Wiehle-Reston East and New Carrollton ONLY. Orange, Green and Yellow Line trains run on a regular weekend schedule.
Scottish Christmas Walk
Alexandria’s 47th annual Scottish Christmas Walk is Saturday, celebrating the city’s founding by three Scottish merchants in 1749. Dozens of Scottish clans dressed in colorful tartans will parade through the streets of Old Town, joined by bagpipe and drum bands, Scottish dancers amd reenactment groups from around the region, as well as terriers and hounds, classic cars and Santa Claus.
Dec. 2 starting at 11 a.m. at St. Asaph and Wolfe Streets, marches across King Street and winds along Queen and Fairfax Streets before concluding at Market Square in front of city hall with a massed concert of bagpipers. Admission is FREE!
Ice Lounge
CityCenterDC has an Ice Lounge made from 36,000 pounds of ice blocks on The Park at CityCenter this weekend perfect for taking selfies. Styled with a plush interior including a chandelier, cozy blankets, tables and seats by Joseph Ireland of JD Ireland Interior Architects + Design, it took 300 hours to make the ice and 10 hours to assemble the igloo. This one-of-a-kind, frozen structure allows you to fulfill your sub-zero dreams for a weekend. But you better hurry, the is only around this weekend before it turns to a puddle. Post a picture of the igloo on Instagram using hashtag #CCDCHolidays could land you a chance to win a $350 gift cards to center stores.
Dec. 1 from 4-8 p.m. and Dec. 2-3 from 10 a.m.6 p.m. beside the 75-foot Christmas tree in The Park at City Center, 11th Street and New York Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
Christkindlmarkt
Heurich House Museum’s famed Castle Garden is transformed into a German-style Christmas market for Christkindlmarkt this weekend. More than 40 local artisans, including jewelers, ceramicists, chocolatiers, makers of housewares and more will be offering their wares at Dupont Circle’s only holiday market. Get some holiday shopping out of the way and tour historic house, which has been decorated for Christmas in the early 20th century. Food and drink will be available to purchase during the market.
Dec. 1 from 4-9 p.m., Dec. 2-3 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at Heurich House Museum, .1307 New Hampshire Ave. NW. Admission is $10 for adults and $2 for children at the door and includes admission to the marketplace as well as a self-guided tour of the house.
Smithsonian Holiday Festival
Celebrate the holiday season in Smithsonian style at the Smithsonian Holiday Festival this weekend. Over the course of two days, visitors can enjoy live music, food history demonstrations, book signings, a gift wrapping station, a jewelry trunk show, holiday treats for sale and more. Both days feature a chocolate demonstration, episodes of classic children’s TV shows and screenings of Polar Express in 3D. Sunday also features songs of Hanukkah at 2:30 p.m. with local Cantor Arianne Brown
Dec. 2-3 from 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at the National Museum of American History, 1300 Constitution Ave. NW. Admission is FREE, but movie screenings are $12 for adults, $10 for military or seniors and $5 for children.
Swedish Christmas Bazaar
The Swedish Women’s Education Association International holds its annual Swedish Christmas Bazaar this Saturday in Georgetown. Artisans and vendors will offer everything from gifts, crafts, textiles, books and homemade bread to Kosta Boda and Orrefors glassware. Swedish delicacies such as princesstarta and glogg will be on sale at the Swedish café. The day ends with the St. Lucia Procession with traditional caroling.
Dec. 2 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the House of Sweden, 2900 K St. NW. Admission is FREE!
Deck the Halls: A Family at Christmas
Explore the Tudor Place mansion as a history detective, finding decorations and clues to Christmas celebrations past during Deck the Halls: A Family at Christmas. Write a letter to Santa, sing with carolers, make yuletide crafts and nibble on holiday cookies. Refreshments will also be available for maximum merriment. Families and children of all ages are welcome.
Dec. 2 from 1-4 p.m. at Tudor Place, 1644 31st St. NW. Admission is $5 for adults and $10 for children younger than 12.
Holiday Boat Parade of Lights
Dozens of dazzling boats travers the Potomac River from Alexandria’s waterfront to The Wharf on the Southwest Waterfront during the 18th annual Holiday Boat Parade of Lights. There are holiday festivities on both side of the river to enjoy beforehand. Alexandria’s Torpedo Factory Art Center and city’s dock plays host to a festival from 2-7 p.m. complete with a building-wide kids scavenger hunt, open art studios, music by the Alexandria Choral Society Pro Coro and the Silver 5 Brass Quintet with Santa arriving by fireboat at 3 p.m.. In D.C., The Wharf’s festivities from 4-10 p.m. include live music including Go Go Gadjet and the Wil Gravatt Band, ice skating, winter-themed drinks at the Waterfront Wine & Beer Garden, hot cocoa and s’mores by the fire pit, carolers, a balloon artist, cookie decorating, crafts, wooden boat making, pictures with Santa and the first snow of the season. Prizes will be awarded to the best decorated vessels, which visitors help pick by texting the boat number to 501-302-2125. Boats begin their journey from Alexandria at 5:30 p.m., and fireworks cap of the parade at 8 p.m. at The Wharf.
Dec. 2 from 2-10 p.m. at the Alexandria Waterfront, 0 Cameron St., Alexandria, and The Wharf, 1100 Maine Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
Holiday Sing-A-Long
A star-studded seasonal lineup turns out for the Holiday Sing-A-Long at Wolf Trap. Where else can you see local choirs and vocal groups share the stage with “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band? Visitors are encouraged to bring battery-operated candles for a Silent Night procession, bells to ring during Jingle Bells and enthusiasm to sing along to the Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs. There will be a Toys for Tots collection for new, unwrapped toys at the entrance.
Dec. 2 at 4 p.m. (gates open at 3 p.m.) at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. Admission is FREE!
Community Day
On the first Sunday of every month, the National Museum of Women in the Arts waives its usual admission fees for Community Day. If you haven’t see Magnetic Fields, which explores abstract works by African Armican artists, or El Tendedero/The Clothesline Project, this is the perfect afternoon to visit.
Dec. 3 from noon-5 p.m. at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Ave. NW. Admission is FREE!
Holiday House Tour
The 39th annual Logan Circle Community Association Holiday House Tour is back this weekend. The self-guided tour will take participants through 10 houses featuring live musicians and street carolers, as well as the warming wassail reception at the Studio Theatre. One residence is a contemporary condominium in Logan 13, while another is a 1900s rowhouse on Corcoran Street that has undergone a lengthy renovation.
Dec. 3 from 1-5 p.m. starting at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at Studio Theatre on Sunday.
Ongoing Events
Ai Weiwei: Trace from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily through Jan. 1 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street and Independence Avenue SW. Admission is FREE!
Architecture of an Asylum: St. Elizabeths 1852-2017 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday through Jan. 15 at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for seniors, students and children.
Beautiful Blooms: Flowering Plants on Stamps from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through July 14 at the National Postal Museum, 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Admission is FREE!
Crazy for You at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday through Jan. 14 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets are $40-$89.
Divine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Jan. 15 at the Freer|Sackler Galleries, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across Asia from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Nov. 29, 2020 at the Freer|Sackler Galleries, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
The First Lady of Song: Ella Fitzgerald at 100 from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Apr. 2 at the National Museum of American History, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
The Faces of Battle: Americans at War, 9/11 to Now from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Jan. 28 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: The Utopian Projects from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Mar. 4 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street and Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
In the Tower: Anne Truitt from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday through Apr. 1 at the National Gallery of Art East Building, Fourth Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
Making Room: Housing for a Changing American from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday through Sept. 16 at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Admission is $10 for adults and $7 for seniors 60 or older, students, and children ages 3-17.
Mark Bradford: Pickett’s Charge from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Nov. 12 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street and Independence Avenue SW. Admission is FREE!
Marlene Dietrich: Dressed for the Image from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Apr. 15 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Mural from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and 11 a.m-6 p.m. Sunday through Oct. 28 at the National Gallery of Art East Building, Fourth Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily at the Renwick Gallery, 1700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Admission is FREE!
Nina Simone: Four Women at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 7;30 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday through Dec. 24 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. Tickets are $71-$111
Nothing to Lose (But Our Chains) at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday through Dec. 31 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW. Tickets are $20-$76.
Pajama Game at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through Dec. 24 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. Tickets are $50-$99.
Parallax Gap from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. daily through Feb. 11 at the Renwick Gallery, Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street NW. Admission is FREE!
Recent Acquisitions from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Nov. 4, 2018, at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Remembering Vietnam from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Jan. 6, 2019, at the National Archives, 700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Admission is FREE!
Rick Araluce: The Final Stop from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through Jan. 28 at the Renwick Gallery, 1700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Admission is FREE!
Subodh Gupta: Terminal from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through 2020 at the Freer|Sackler Galleries, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Admission is FREE!
The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Sept. 3 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Tamayo: The New York Years from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Mar. 18 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
Twelfth Night at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday with occasional noon weekday matinees through Dec. 20 at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. Tickets are $25-$118.
Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday through Jan. 21 at the National Gallery of Art, Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
What Absence Is Made Of from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily through the summer of 2019 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 7th Street and Independence Avenue Sw. Admission is FREE!
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.