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

1. 1. 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).
   2. “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).
   3. “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).
   4. 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).
   5. “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.

The last time Donald Trump won the presidency, there was a lot crowing in Washington’s beau monde about how the new administration would upend the city’s social life. D.C. has never been a particularly friendly town, but in 2016, its residents decided to take a harder stand than usual. The capital’s hostesses linked arms against any top Trump officials seeking invitations to their homes. The region’s restaurateurs, though expected to serve everyone, vowed to make a night on the town for Republicans as unpleasant as possible. And those in chattering classes remarked with much glee that at no point in the city’s recent history had the place been so socially divided.       

The result was that, rather than integrate into Washington life, as staffers and officials from every other presidential administration have, Trump’s coterie was forced to build its own parallel society. Soon, largely undeveloped neighborhoods—Navy Yard and the Wharf prominent among them—became hot spots for young staffers. And no wonder. Those places fit well with Zoomer taste: new construction, rooftop pools, parking everywhere. Meanwhile, more senior officials colonized Kalorama, on the grounds that it was just like Georgetown, but even more insulated from the hateful public eye. 

Eight years later, the situation is pretty much the same. D.C. exists as two parallel societies stuck within the bounds of late 2016. On one side, the greater part of the city is trapped in an Obama-nostalgia doom loop: Le Diplomate still dominates the scene on Fourteenth Street. The establishments of Dupont Circle are still celebrating Obergefell vs. Hodges as if the decision were just handed down last week. And, in Shaw, you can still find the odd “Chicago” bar, a tribute to the 2008 Obama campaigners who have long since left the neighborhood. 

The Trump version of D.C. is no more vital. Those shiny buildings on the river are still obliviously humming along, worlds unto themselves. Mission in Navy Yard is still a hot bar with a certain sort of person, despite, or because of, its vulgarity. Shelly’s Back Room over by the White House has lost none of its luster, in large part because it is one of the only places in the capital that allows the public to smoke inside. The only major change in this world’s social setting from the first Trump presidency is a loss: the Trump International Hotel, which closed down shortly after the president’s inglorious departure in 2021. I can’t say I regret it: Every time I visited in those four years—whether for a gala, dinner, or some other evening event—I was always struck by how hollow, cavernous that main hall was.  

How did the city get stuck in 2016 for so long? Typically, each president makes a mark on Washington’s local culture that survives his tenure, usually in the neighborhoods where his staffers settle. Bill Clinton brought in the crew that made Adams Morgan a hip area. George W. Bush oversaw the revival of Georgetown and Glover Park. And Barack Obama’s team gentrified the historically black neighborhoods around U Street. (Obama himself liked D.C. so much that he still lives here.) Trump, as I have said, built his own fantasy version of the city. 

But something funny happened when Joe Biden took office in 2021. Rather than making his own mark on the city, here, as in so many other things, Biden was like a ghost, and the D.C. continued to function as if he were never here at all.

There are a few possible explanations for the cultural hole. The first is the fact that Biden was elected and took office during a pandemic. He famously campaigned out of his home in Delaware—where he spent much of his presidency anyway—and did not arrive in D.C. with an army of staffers looking for places to live. The second is related to the first: Hardly anyone in the federal government goes into the office anymore, meaning that there is little incentive to form a distinctively Bidenesque after-hours culture. And the third reason is the hazy temporality that surrounds all things Biden. No one was ever going to stick around for him.

Now that Trump is back for round two, everything will change. Once again, the city will renew itself. There is no stopping it now. There is no Resistance to lock the Trump administration out of polite society. For better or worse, Trump will remake Washington, D.C. in his image.

The Boston Celtics cruised to a 112-98 win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday night, but they won’t leave the nation’s capital unscathed.

Kristaps Porzingis left for the locker room during the second quarter and was ruled as questionable to return due to right heel pain. The C’s big man did not re-enter the game.

Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with a game-high 28 points and 12 rebounds. Payton Pritchard (15 points) and Sam Hauser (12 points) picked up the slack following Porzingis’ injury with nine combined 3-pointers off the bench.

Check out our live blog below for a full recap of the Celtics’ victory: