DC Decorates

Yes, they do. But not as whole-heartedly as in years past. We were out and about in our nation's capital just the other day, looking at the Christmas decorations; and they weren't all that easy to find. Admittedly, we were looking in a very small area (around 16th Street and the Old Post Office), and didn't hit any of the hot tourist areas (we'll try to get there next week). Still, I was a little surprised at how Grinchy the whole place looked.

In the past, when I used to work in Washington, I was always excited to see all the festive touches each business and agency would display every Christmas season. Huge wreaths on all the doors and windows and porticoes; beautifully decorated trees in all the lobbies; garlands, ribbons, bells and Santas everywhere. But this year, it's hard to find even a sprig of holly. I guess the recession really has curbed the decorating urge this Christmas. The Old Post Office building had some nice trees inside, although the outside of the building wasn't decorated with quite the pizazz of years gone by. And besides that, the only noticeable decorations were at the Treasury Department and the Willard Hotel. Well, I guess that's where the money is, right?

One of the two large trees in the Old Post Office. I love their black and white floors.


Another of the Post Office trees, this one made out of shiny gold bows. This is the food court there; they have musical acts entertaining the lunch crowd everyday. It's a popular place with tourists and locals alike.


I've always heard about the magnificent Christmas decorations in the Willard Hotel, but this is the first time I've ever ventured into the place to see them for myself. And they are definitely splendid.


While we were there, several groups of sight-seers stopped by to take family photos in front of the beautiful tree.


The rest of the lobby is nicely decorated, too - with garlands on all the columns and stair railings.



And here's the Treasury Department Building, wrapped up in lots of bows. Had to climb over piles of snow and several tourists to get to the fence and take this shot. It was a popular subject - well, as I said, there's not a lot of holiday adornment to choose from this year.




Just want to say thanks very much to the Holidailies panel of readers for choosing my post A Doll for Christmas as one of the "Best of Holidailies" selections. I've read a lot of the other entries, and I'm not sure I'm really worthy of that company - there's some pretty impressive writing in the bunch. So it's quite a thrill!