Washington, D.C
32 Things to Do in the DC Area This Week and Weekend
Catch the The Hip-Hop Nutcracker. Photograph by Timothy Norris.
Happy Monday, DC!
You can shop last minute holiday presents at a community pop-up market, go indoor ice skating with family, or see a new go-go musical this week in the DC-area.
Best Things to Do This Week and Weekend
December 16–December 22
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- Holiday Skate Spectacular. If you’re a fan of ice skating, but don’t want to brace the winter weather, you can glide across an indoor ice rink in DC this week. The National Building Museum is teaming up with DowntownDC Business BID to invite families to themed skate nights featuring pop music playlists, retro tunes, and special sessions for young children (December 16 through January 4, free, $5 skate rental, Penn Quarter).
- “Annie Costia Beat Ya Feet” musical. The classic comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” turned 100 this year —a perfect time for DC Black Broadway to remix the timeless story to a creative go-go production. The new Annie Costia Beat Ya Feet musical is a local adaptation of the family-friendly narrative portraying an Anacostia-raised Annie learning about African culture (Fri-Sat, $60+, U Street Corridor).
- “The Spirit of Kwanzaa”. The Spirit of Kwanzaa is the Dance Institute of Washington’s longest-running showcase. The local ensemble takes center stage at Atlas Performing Arts Center this weekend to pay homage to the joyous African American holiday through dance, spoken word, and song in celebration of the theme “For the Culture” (Fri-Sun, $30, H Street Corridor).
- Candy Land pop-up at El Techo. Sparkling candy canes and colorful lollipops hanging from the ceiling, along with gift-wrapped treats, have transformed El Techo’s lively heated and covered rooftop hideaway into a holiday sweets wonderland. Throughout December, guests can snap photos with a pink-hued Nutcracker holiday tree—designed by Creations by Brenda—in between sips of gingerbread cocktails and bites of tacos. On Sunday, there’s a bottomless brunch party with a live DJ to add to the holiday fun (through December 29, free entry, U Street Corridor).
- “The Hip-Hop Nutcracker”. Tchaikovsky’s timeless score is remixed in modern-day New York City where the storytellers are contemporary dancers, a DJ, a violinist, and hip-hop legend Kurtis Blow. The high-energy production makes its National Theatre debut this weekend (Fri-Sun, $50+, National Theatre).
Want More Things to Do?
Arts and culture:
- Pick up your next read at Solid State Books’s New Fiction Holiday Book Swap (Mon, free, H Street Corridor).
- Shop vintage clothing, jewelry, and more festive finds at Main Hall Holiday Market (Tues-Thurs, free, Union Station).
- Mold and create your own scented soap at a community workshop led by local artist and author Rain Young (Sat, free, Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum).
- Shop for presents from local artisans and makers at Yalda Winter Market (Sat, free, Brookland).
- Dog Daze Social Club is throwing a humans-only winter après-ski party featuring music from Lans, Concierge, and 9B49 (Sat, $25, Logan Circle).
Community and heritage:
- Walk through historic Prohibition sites with historian Robert Pohl, and sip drinks at Union Pub in commemoration of Repeal Day (Tues, $45, NoMa).
Theater and shows:
- It’s the last day to see Washington National Opera’s family-friendly production of Jungle Book (Mon, $25+, Kennedy Center).
- Experience the African American tradition of stepping at Step Afrika’s annual holiday performance before the show closes at Arena Stage (through Sun, $99+, Southwest DC).
- Best-selling book Life of Pi comes to life on the Kennedy Center stage (Tues through January 5, $49+, Kennedy Center).
- The pop-infused & Juliet musical creates a comedic and new beginning for Juliet beyond a life with Romeo (Tues through January 5, $45+, Kennedy Center).
- See a funny pantomime performance at Synetic Theater’s Little Comedies (Fri through January 4, $30, Arlington).
- Snowflakes, candy canes, and toy soldiers adorn the stage for the Fairfax Ballet Company and Fairfax Symphony’s rendition of The Nutcracker (Sat-Sun, $44+, Fairfax).
- Watch the Nutcracker rescue Clara from the Rat Queen in the Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s remix of The Nutcracker (Sat-Sun, $46+, $36 for virtual, Annapolis).
Music and concerts:
- Listen to Foodman’s techno mixes at Rhizome DC (Mon, $15+, Takoma).
- Dress in your best festive attire and dance the night away to Tate McRae, Meghan Trainor, and other artists at Hot 99.5’s Jingle Ball (Tues, $147+, sold out, but resale tickets available via third-party sellers, Capital One Arena).
- Tango with neighbors at Dupont Underground (Tues, $10, Dupont).
- If you’re feeling down this holiday season, you can attend a heartwarming Blue Christmas Service at Washington National Cathedral (Wed, free, virtual, Downtown).
- Gospel icon CeCe Winans arrives in Tysons to perform Christmas melodies and some of her top songs to a sold-out Capital One Hall audience (Thurs, $111+ from third-party sellers, Tysons).
- Listen to soothing Sinatra melodies at A Very Sinatra Christmas Special at the Washington Hilton (Thurs, $40+, Northwest DC).
- The Slackers band plays live at Black Cat (Fri, $28+, Shaw).
- Bassist JD Pinkus is live in concert at Quarry House Tavern (Sat, $15+, Silver Spring).
Get involved:
- Gamers can play Mario Kart for a good cause at Fantom Comics’ Grand Prix fundraiser; proceeds will help support people affected by recent typhoons in the Philippines (Tues, $10, Northwest DC).
- Participate in a family day hosted by the Washington Capitals and Bethesda Row to help support the Salvation Army. The event features Capitals’ meet-and-greets, hockey photo backdrops, and giveaways (Wed, free, Bethesda).
Bites and beverages:
Things to do with kids:
- Take a family stroll through an icicle walkway, and take photos with giant snowflakes at Franklin Park (through Fri, free, Downtown).
- There’s a three-day fireworks Christmas event for families to experience at the historic Mount Vernon estate (Fri-Sun, $55+ for adults, $33+ for ages 6-11, free for ages 5 and under).
If you enjoyed these events, please don’t forget to share this post with a friend on social media, and sign up for our newsletter for more things to do.
Washington, D.C
12th Honor Flight Tallahassee returns home from successful trip to Washington D.C.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Seventy-two veterans took a trip Saturday to our nation’s capital to visit memorials honoring their service in the armed forces.
This year marks the 12th trip to Washington, D.C. for Honor Flight Tallahassee.
Early Saturday morning, veterans and their guardians met to take a charter flight up to D.C.
Throughout the day, veterans were taken to the World War II memorial, as well as the Korean and Vietnam War memorials. The veterans also visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
More Tallahassee news:
The day ended with a wonderful welcome home celebration.
Our Jacob Murphey, Julia Miller, Taylor Viles, and Grace Temple accompanied the veterans, capturing moments from throughout the day.
The team will have live coverage from Washington, D.C. on Monday to share more from the day’s events.
We will continue to have coverage throughout the month of May, leading up to our Honor Flight special on Memorial Day.
To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor and X (Twitter).
Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here. Please include the article’s headline in your message.
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Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.
Washington, D.C
Storm Team4 Forecast: A chilly, gusty Sunday before a cool start to the week
4 things to know about the weather:
- Chances of rain in the morning
- Gusty Sunday
- Chilly Monday
- Temps will rise again through the work week
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
After a nice and warm Saturday, changes arrive for part two of the weekend.
The first half of your Sunday will have a chance for showers. Winds will pick up with our next system and are expected to gust to about 20-30 mph. Cooler air will settle in, and lows Sunday night fall into the 40s.
Highs temps Monday will reach only into the mid to upper 50s.
However, temperatures will rise through the week, so you won’t need your jackets every day.
QuickCast
SUNDAY:
Showers, then partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 30 mph
HIGH: Lower 60s
MONDAY:
Partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 25 mph
HIGH: Upper 50s
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
Washington, D.C
‘It’s a twilight zone’: Iran war casts deep shadows over IMF gathering in Washington
The most severe energy shock since the 1970s, the risk of a global recession and households everywhere stomaching a renewed surge in the cost of living – hitting the most vulnerable hardest.
In a sweltering hot Washington DC this week, the message at the International Monetary Fund meetings was chilling: things had been looking up for living standards around the world. But then came the Iran war.
“Some countries are in panic,” said the fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, addressing the finance ministers and central bank bosses in town for the IMF and World Bank spring meetings. “The sooner it [the Iran war] ends, the better for everybody.”
Such gatherings are not typically used to fight geopolitical battles. “You don’t get people shouting at one another at these things,” one senior figure remarked. But, as a record-breaking April heatwave swept the US capital, no one could ignore the mounting damage from the Iran war.
Those familiar with the mood over breakfast at a meeting of the G20’s representatives on Thursday, which included Donald Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and the outgoing US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell – said the atmosphere in the room was sombre amid an open exchange of serious views.
“It is such a twilight-zone meeting,” said Mohamed El-Erian, a former IMF deputy managing director who is now chief economic adviser at the Allianz insurance group. “There are several shadows hanging over it: one is the shadow that comes from concern about the global economy as a whole.
“The second is that some countries are going to be particularly hard hit, and it’s mostly countries that very few people are talking about. But the third concern is the adding of insult to injury: the fact that the US, which started a war of choice, is going to be hit, but by a lot less than elsewhere in relative terms.”
Before Thursday’s breakfast, Rachel Reeves had started her day with an early-morning jog. Joined by her counterparts from Spain, Australia and New Zealand for a run down the iconic National Mall, she posted an Instagram selfie with a not-so-subtle dig: “Friends that run together – work together.”
A day earlier, the chancellor had told a CNBC conference that she thought “friends are allowed to disagree on things” as she criticised Trump’s Iran war as a “mistake” and a “folly” that had not made the world safer.
Speaking at a venue just steps away from the White House, before a one-on-one meeting with Bessent, she said this “fair message” was needed because UK families and businesses were feeling the pain from higher energy prices triggered by the conflict.
Those close to Reeves insist her meeting remained cordial. Britain and the US have significant shared interests in AI, financial services and trade. The chancellor also said the UK government had little time for the Iranian regime.
But with the IMF having warned on Tuesday that the Iran war could risk a global recession – in which Britain would be the biggest G7 casualty – it was clear Reeves had travelled to Washington ready to pick a fight.
“I’m struck by how vocal she has been and the words she used,” said one global financier. “We know the disagreement between Bessent and [European Central Bank president] Christine Lagarde earlier in the year. But that was in private.”
At a cocktail party held at the British ambassador’s residence for hundreds of diplomats and financiers – including the Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, the chief executive of Barclays, CS Venkatakrishnan, and dozens of senior figures – this transatlantic tension, weeks before King Charles’s US state visit, was a major topic of conversation.
The other, in the balmy residence gardens, was one of its former occupants, Peter Mandelson, as revelations about the former ambassador’s appointment threatened to further rock the UK government.
Before the war, the agenda for the IMF had been about global cooperation; the adoption of AI, jobs and work to eradicate poverty. Each of those tasks had now been complicated, but not least the task of countries working together.
For many at the meetings, the focus was on forging closer global cooperation without the world’s pre-eminent superpower.
“Everybody is talking about how you hedge against American decisions,” said David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary, who now runs the International Rescue Committee. “You can’t do without them, because they’re 25% of the global economy. But, in a lot of fora, they’ve pulled out.
“So everyone has to think, how does one structure international cooperation? The old west is not coming back. And so everyone has to figure out how to position themselves for that world.”
For those gathering in Washington, there was irony in the fact that they were meeting in the halls of institutions founded, under US leadership, to promote global cooperation after the second world war. The whole idea of the Bretton Woods institutions was to avoid the dire economic conditions and warfare of the 1930s and 1940s. Yet this year’s meeting was taking place amid these intertwining problems.
In their conversations about the best economic policy response to the shock of conflict, the economists also knew the real power to make a difference lay two blocks across town from the IMF and the World Bank – behind the security cordons and construction equipment blocking the White House from public view. “It is not clear they can do anything about it,” said El-Erian.
Still, with a booming economy driven by AI – including Anthropic’s powerful Mythos model, the topic of much conversation – most countries cannot afford to completely break off US ties.
“People want to find ways to insulate themselves from the mess. But, on the other hand, they admire the US private sector,” El-Erian said. “The best way I’ve heard it put, is: they want to go long the private sector and short the mess. But it’s almost impossible to do.”
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