Results tagged “holiday”

Susie Cambria, via her excellent Budget & Policy Corner blog, reminds us that there are 900 D.C. foster children who are hoping to get Christmas presents this holiday season, and the Child and Family Services Agency needs D.C. residents to help. If you're able to purchase a few gifts for some needy local foster kids this year, you can find more details on this flier. Just tell CFSA how many children you can buy gifts for, and they'll give you the age, gender and sizes for each child. Delivery dates for gifts for specific kids are Dec. 7 & 8, while general toy donations can be dropped off on Dec. 14 or 15. Also on the flier are details on how to put together a Thanksgiving dinner basket for a CFSA family.

WMATA has posted the holiday transit schedules for D.C.'s transit system, along with the nearby suburban systems. Note that on Monday, Memorial Day, Metrorail, Metrobus and MetroAccess will all operate on a Sunday schedule, with the Metrorail system open from 7 a.m. to midnight. Parking at all Metro-operated lots will also be free on Monday. Check the full schedule for more details.

It's almost time to hit the road for the shore, and AAA Mid-Atlantic has per usual put out its prediction for holiday weekend traffic. Bad news, area drivers: they're putting it a 4 percent increase over last year, and as we recall, last year was pretty terrible in its own right. An estimated 608,000 D.C.-area residents will be traveling by car this Memorial Day holiday weekend, versus 49,000 who will be flying. Please to consider carpooling, fellow travelers. We don't want to have to end up in a road rage-fueled shoulder-driving expedition followed by eventual arrest and the paying of big fines. It'd really put a damper on our BBQ plans.

The Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police are warning area drivers about the following temporary road closures for events scheduled over the Memorial Day weekend.

                     

Traditionally, the White House Easter Egg Roll has been attended mostly by D.C. area families who camped out early with their kids to score tickets to the free annual event. But on Monday, the 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll played host to over 30,000 people from 45 states and the District of Columbia, thanks to a new online ticket distribution plan put in place by the new administration. Local parents grumbled, but 4,000 tickets were also distributed separately to students from D.C., Maryland and Virginia public schools. DCist photographer Meaghan Gay was there to capture what an Easter Egg Roll hosted by the Obama family looks like.

Washington's museums are atwitter with the season, offering many holiday themed events great for visiting family and friends in among other non-holiday themed exhibits.

Veterans Day is Tuesday, which means federal workers have the day off and transit schedules will be different. WMATA says that Metro will be operating on a modified Saturday schedule tomorrow; that means the system will open at the regular 5 a.m. time, but peak travel times will operate on a non-peak basis. In other words, budget a little extra time on your way in to work tomorrow, since there will be fewer trains running than normal. Other changes for Tuesday include that off-peak fares will be in effect all day and parking at all Metro lots will be free. Metrobus and MetroAccess will operate on a normal, non-holiday schedule.

This coming Monday is Columbus Day, which is technically a federal holiday. That being the case, WMATA has announced as it always does that it will be following a holiday schedule for the day, meaning the Metrorail system will operate on a modified Saturday schedule, opening at 5 a.m. and closing at midnight. In other words, there won't be any peak service during rush hour. But how many of you actually have Monday off? More of you than, say, get Veterans Day off? About the same? We're curious.

WMATA has released a schedule for Independence Day -- and it includes a change from what we first told you last week. Metro will open at 7 a.m. and close at 3 a.m. on Friday, July 4. This schedule is different from what was published on WMATA's holiday schedule on their web site last week (it said it would close at midnight), but that schedule has since been updated.

Be sure to make a note of Metro's holiday schedule, which is available on WMATA's web site.

FRIDAY:

>> Congress has taken away D.C. CFO Natwar Gandhi's pay raise in the wake of the Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal. Happy Holidays, Mr. Gandhi! [WaPo]

Though perhaps the inclination when it starts to dip past the point of freezing is to stay inside with a blanket and a cup of something steaming, there are so many things to do and see outside -- whether it's the White House or Capitol Christmas trees or one of the many holiday fairs -- that it's almost a shame to spend all of December on your couch. Flickr user sintixerr caught this scene at the Downtown Holiday Market going on in Penn Quarter, going on every day from 12 to 8 p.m. until December 23. The dapper gentleman looking a bit out of place in the sea of causal shoppers in their puffy jackets gives this photo some amusing character. EXIF.

If you really must attend a holiday concert, make it something musicologically interesting. In what has become an annual tradition (see the 2005 and 2006 installments), the Folger Consort is presenting the most appealing and satisfying Christmas concert in the city. More than just a concert, it is a staged production of the Second Shepherds' Play, an English mystery play from the Towneley cycle.

>> It wasn't too far from here -- just a couple hours south in Midlothian, VA, where Aimee Mann got her start. Now the guitar playing song weaver is a bonafide modern music legend. She's treating The Birchmere to her 2nd Annual Christmas Show, and it's not something you should miss. $45.50, 7:30 p.m.

Good morning, Washington. If you experienced a power outage at some point on Sunday, you were not alone. Strong winds averaging close to 40 mph knocked out power to as many as 100,000 customers across the metro area yesterday. While not much ice or snow ever materialized during the weekend's storm, Sunday's chilly wind made for an uncomfortable time walking through downtown D.C. for many holiday shoppers -- we spotted at least one woman near Chinatown whose skirt was blown up almost entirely over her head. Slightly less strong winds are expected to continue throughout the day today, so if you wore anything billowy or potentially revealing, we hope you picked out some nice underwear this morning.

At this point in December, holiday concerts and Handel's Messiah have completely hijacked the classical music schedule. Here are a few other events, not all of which avoid the spirit of the season. After this post, the Classical Music Agenda will take its end-of-the-year hiatus, to return in the New Year.

FRIDAY:

It's Friday, Washington, and reactions are still rolling in to Metro's approval of its largest fare hikes ever. We all knew this was coming, but we're curious to hear if any of our readers actually plan to make changes to their commuting habits come January 6, when the increases will go into effect. Do you think you'll ride Metro any less, or finally make the leap to using SmarTrip? Let us know in the comments.

If you're a regular reader of the Arts Agenda, be sure to check out yesterday's summary of the benefits of becoming a member of one of the local arts venues in D.C. Right after we put that online, we heard that WPA is relaunching their online database ArtFile (one of the benefits of becoming a WPA member is a free artist profile on the site, where you can store images of your work). Visitors can browse the site for free and save "lightboxes" with work of their favorite local artists.

I love holiday photos like this, warm with just a hint of sparkle, rather than the garish no-holds-barred plastic Santa light display preferred by those with the festive spirit in overdrive. DC Jeff took this postcard perfect image somewhere on the Georgetown campus. Happy holidays indeed. Have you submitted your application for DCist Exposed 2008 yet? No time like the present! The 2007 winners are all over the place: mark your calendars for 6...

The First Family has put out another one of their cringe-worthy "BarneyCam" holiday videos, featuring stilted conversations between them and their dogs, Barney and Miss Beazley. This year's video features the two dogs sitting around with blank stares while the Bushes tell them that they want to be Junior Park Rangers. It doesn't make any more sense when you watch it.

NBC4 reported last night that food banks are not the only local charities feeling the holiday crunch this year: the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program in D.C. also says it is suffering from a decline in donations compared to last year. So we are posting this photo of a crying baby we found to make you feel bad -- bad enough to donate some toys to needy local kids, that is. There are something...

Monday >> It’s Saint Lucy’s Day! Hej Hej, the DJ night dedicated to Scandinavian pop and rock, is getting festive for this start of the Christmas season with drink specials and holiday hits in addition to their regular fare. Pop into Café St.-Ex in your finest crown of candles, and you might even get a free drink. 10 p.m., FREE. >> Le Loup are also celebrating tonight, in a homecoming of sorts for the local...

Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping are of the opinion that the masses have an opiate other than religion. And if it's the merchandise that keeps us in line, then there is no time of year when we binge on our fix of choice like the holiday season. Bank accounts and credit card statements across the nation can do the testifying for us on this point. And so it is at the most...

Many people only think to donate non-perishable food items to food banks during the holiday season, but it seems this year in D.C., not enough people have gone even that far -- on Saturday the Post reported that area food banks are critically short of food donations at the very same time that demand for free and discounted food is going up. The Capital Area Food Bank reported that it only had about 230,000 pounds...

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,...

The swell of holiday concerts and Messiah and Nutcracker performances has reached a deafening level this week. Still, there are some excellent concerts to hear, if you just need to get away from the tinselly, Santa-hatted madness. HEADLINES: >> Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero will give a nearly sold-out Washington Performing Arts Society recital on Saturday (December 15, 2 p.m.), Sidney Harman Hall. This new downtown venue, if an article in The Economist is to be...

FRIDAY: >> Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are at the 9:30 Club with Kristeen Young and Partyline, $15, 9 p.m. Also Saturday with Kristeen Young and Ris Paul Ric. >> DC9's Liberation Dance Party hosts Brooklyn's Jaguar Club. $6, 9 p.m. SATURDAY: >> The Historic Sixth and I Synagogue hosts The Eight, D.C.'s part of a "worldwide Hannukah party" featuring the LeeVees, DeLeon and D.C.'s own Black and White JohnsonsJacksons. $12/$18, all ages, 9 p.m....

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on DCist. Dewars Repeal Day, because you shouldn't take the right to have a drink for granted. Go Eight, a Hanukkah party on December 8th at Sixth & I. Love is a Mix Tape, Rob Sheffield's book about women, music, and love. Busted Tees, where they've got naughty holiday-themed shirts. If you're interested in advertising on DCist or any other site in our...