Best Places In and Around DC to See Holiday Light Displays

Recently on the Cleveland Park Listserv a poster wondered where to go to see the best displays of holiday lights.  List members had a number of great suggestions, but please feel free to add others by using the comments section below.



This one is pretty remarkable. It's at 1602 Collingwood Road, Alexandria, VA.  You can read more about it here:  http://bit.ly/fvM69P



See the house at the far northern tip of DC at N. Portal Drive and Birch Drive.  The house, known as the Bishop's House, attracts crowds every year. It was written up in the Washington Post in December 2003.


Outside of the Mormon Temple, just beyond the Beltway in Kensington, MD, there are thousands of lights on the grounds that you can stroll around.  (Note: Only members of the Mormon church are allowed to go inside the temple.) For information and directions go to: http://dctemplelights.lds.org/.


If you're willing to go slightly outside the DC area, Baltimore's 34th Street is always worth checking out. I once saw a busload of Japanese tourists there snapping pictures.

Incident

Drawing by xkcd

Buy a Christmas Tree from the Boy Scouts

Boy Scout Troop 100 will hold its annual Christmas tree sale this Saturday, December 11th. Come early for the best selection of Frasier Firs, Canaan Valley Firs (similar to Balsam but a local variety), and table top Blue Spruces (2'-4'). The trees will be very fresh, cut this week. Scouts will be available to load your tree onto your car or, if you are nearby, to carry it to your door.

Boy Scouts Christmas Tree Sale
Saturday, December 11 8:00am - 5:00pm
River Road and 45th Street NW (next to Washington International Church).

If you are buying a tree, please consider supporting the Scout Troop 100, which is Washington's oldest Boy Scout troop, founded in 1918. If you have a boy who might be interested in scouting, please check-out our web site,  or talk to any of the adult leaders at the tree sale.

Christmas Tree Fight in Chevy Chase

Christmas. A time of joy and happiness. A time to consider what's really important in our lives.

Except.  Except if you live in the Chevy Chase neighborhood where there's an annual fight over whether or not certain holiday tree vendors are complying with the Montgomery County law that bars selling trees in lots in residentially zoned neighborhoods prior to December 5th. The fight is heating up the Chevy Chase listserv, where neighbors are arguing over whether those business that have already --illegally-- started selling trees have an unfair advantage over tree companies that follow the law and have not yet opened for business.

One Chevy Chase resident wrote on the local listserv, "The NorthStar lot, at Norwood and Wisconsin  is the first lot you would see heading south on Wisconsin from Bradley. In recent years, NorthStar has consistently opened early, well before the legal Dec. 5 date...Please consider which dealer is a responsible member of the community, carrying on holiday traditions in a respectful manner."

Other neighbors chimed in and pointed out that many community groups, firehouses and schools sell trees, and buying from one of these groups helps raise money for them: You get your tree and you help your local school all at the same time. Buy your tree from your local school only, is their chorus.

The debate over who should be allowed to sell holiday trees and when has become an ideological dispute. Said one Chevy Chase resident, "I am afraid I cannot get incensed over this issue. We buy our tree from NorthStar each year on Thanksgiving weekend.  And, while I am not an advocate of breaking the law, I would like to suggest that perhaps it is the law that needs to be changed rather then boycotting an independent local business that employs many of our neighborhood high school and college age children. In an era when many feel there is too much government regulation, I can only respond to a law that determines when I may decorate for Christmas with a good grief!"

How You Can Give DC's Neediest Kids a Holiday

Every holiday season, volunteer Santas across the DC-metro area adopt children through Children’s Law Center’s (CLC) Holiday Hope Drive, helping hundreds of the District’s most disadvantaged children celebrate the holidays. This December, the still-troubled economy is hitting these children the hardest, and CLC doesn’t yet have enough Santas to help. Over 700 children have signed up to participate so far – and they are counting on you.

Each child in CLC’s Hope Drive has his or her own story: some live in foster care or group homes, some have been abused or neglected and some have never had a “real Christmas.” However, they all would not be able to celebrate the holidays without the volunteer Santas who buy two items from a child’s wish list, one full outfit of clothing (including shoes) and a grocery gift card to help provide a holiday meal. Santas can schedule a time to drop off these unwrapped items between December 4th and 11th at Children’s Law Center’s office in downtown DC. After signing up, each Santa will receive a letter with their adopted child’s story as well as the child’s sizes and wish lists.

Please consider giving the gift of hope this holiday season. To become a Santa or to donate, visit www.childrenslawcenter.org/get-involved/Hope-Drive or email emanderscheid at childrenslawcenter.org.

About Children’s Law Center Children’s Law Center works to give every child in the District of Columbia a solid foundation of family, health and education. As the largest provider of free legal services in the District, our 75-person staff partners with local pro bono attorneys to serve 1,200 at-risk children each year. We use this expertise to advocate for changes in the District’s laws, policies and programs. For more information, visit www.childrenslawcenter.org.