$20 DINER At Caphe Banh Mi in Old Town Alexandria, the pho and vermicelli bowls — not the namesake sandwiches — are the draw. 8

MOVIES There’s something for everyone, including inspirational true stories (“Hidden Figures,” “Lion”) and crooning animals (“Sing”). 23

H o l i d a yF a v o r i t e s

Seasonal delights, from light displays and stocking stuffers to

festive meals and cocktailsPAGE 16

Weekend  THE WASHINGTON POST . GOINGOUTGUIDE.COM  . FRIDAY,  DECEMBER  23, 2016   

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CelebratingThe season

From the Cover

MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST

MLADEN ANTONOV/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES

The “Season’s Greenings” exhibi-tion at the U.S. Botanic Garden ismy favorite holiday tradition in

Washington, and not just because it’sopen on Christmas Day. The modeltrains chugging around the room re-mind me of going to see similar displayswith my family when I was young, andthe rotating themes, from Maryland

I don’t believe a house can ever havetoo many Christmas decorations. Inever get sick of Christmas music.

And the weeks between Thanksgivingand Dec. 25 never feel like enough timeto make all the cookies I want. Call me aChristmas maximalist. So when I mar-ried into a family from Baltimore, myhusband knew the one place that woulddelight a holiday-pajama-wearing,kitschy-decoration-loving holiday glut-ton like me: Baltimore’s Miracle on34th Street, a street in the Hampdenneighborhood that takes holiday lightsas seriously as Clark Griswold does.

Traffic around West 34th Street snarlsas everyone comes in to gaze at theover-the-top, coordinated light displays,many of which have a Baltimore theme:Christmas Natty Boh or crabs, or light-uppink flamingos, a reference to native sonJohn Waters. Some people get creative,constructing Christmas trees out of hub-caps or filling their lawns with inflatableSantas and snowmen — and shruggingoff what I’m sure are costly electricitybills. Grab a mug of hot chocolate and stroll down the block for the most con-centrated dose of holiday cheer around.

Miracle on 34th Street, 720 West 34th St., Baltimore. christmasstreet.com. Lights are on 5:15 to 11 p.m. nightly through Dec. 31. Free.

— Maura Judkis

M y husband and I have a long-standing annual ZooLightsdate, typically paired with din-

ner somewhere in Cleveland Park. Yes,the light displays at this National Zoo tradition are often the same year to year,but we enjoy revisiting them anyway.Despite the hordes of children, an eve-ning spent under the glow of LED ani-mals is romantic, especially when youhave to cuddle for warmth on a frigid December evening. There’s also some-thing that feels vaguely rebellious aboutroaming the zoo at night. And since it’sfree, the price can’t be beat.

National Zoo, 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW. nationalzoo.si.edu. 5 to 9 p.m., closed Christmas Eve and Day. Free.

— Becky Krystal

Is there a time of year more bound in traditions than the holiday season?

Probably not, and that’s fine with us. There are certain things during these

festive weeks that Must Be Done, from light displays to shopping and trips to

the ice rink and zoo. But even if your agenda is rapidly filling up, perhaps you

can still pluck a new holiday favorite from this list.

U.S. BOTANIC GARDEN

lighthouses to national parks, makeannual visits fresh and interesting. Plus,there’s nothing like wandering into themuggy orchid hothouse on a cold De-cember afternoon.

United  States  Botanic  Garden,  100Maryland Ave. SW. usbg.gov. Open daily through Jan. 2. Free.

— Fritz Hahn

M y sons and I love to go iceskating at the National Galleryof Art’s Sculpture Garden

around the holidays. The scene can’t bebeat: I feel like we’re in a NormanRockwell painting, and we always bumpinto someone we know. All skill levelsare welcome at the rink. It’s easy to holdonto the wall for support, but confi-dence grows with each lap.

Of course as soon as little toes andfingers get cold, we hit the Pavilion Caféfor hot chocolate and watch all theskaters twirl, fall, trip and laugh. Skat-ing at the National Gallery reminds meof how lucky we are to live in this city.Also, you can’t beat that Zamboni. Ifonly little boys’ dreams of driving itthemselves could come true . . .

Ice rink at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street and Constitution Ave. NW. nga.gov. Open through March 12; closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. $7.50­$8.50; $3 skate rental.

— Amy Joyce

I t wouldn’t be Christmas at our housewithout stockings filled with good-ies from the quirky little Washington

institution, Rodman’s. For several dec-ades, part of my holiday ritual has beena solo expedition to the no-frills Wash-ington location: I fill my basket withchocolate confections and marzipanfruits from Switzerland, Belgium andLatvia; pick out some French milledsoaps; search out my family’s favoriteGerman gingerbread cookies and may-be throw in a Hungarian salami to stickat the bottom of a stocking. This littlepharmacy turned international foodmarket, which dates to 1955, always hassome new tasty surprises.

Rodman’s, 5100 Wisconsin Ave. NW.rodmans.com. Additional locations in Silver Spring and Kensington.

— Jura Koncius

A few years ago, I was singingChristmas carols in a senior cen-ter and I flubbed the words to

“Silent Night.” “Sorry,” I whispered tothe woman next to me. “I’m Jewish.” “Metoo,” she whispered back.

Since I came out of the closet as acarol-loving Jew, I’ve found that I’m ingood company. Perhaps we are just amusical people, or maybe it’s somethingdeeper: After all, some of the best Christ-mas songs were written at the turn of thecentury by Jewish Tin Pan Alley song-writers, recent immigrants with EasternEuropean folk tunes echoing in theirears. It’s probably not a coincidence thatthe opening bars of Irving Berlin’s“White Christmas” sound a lot like theIsraeli national anthem, “Hatikvah,” notto mention the Yiddish songs my great-grandparents used to sing.

Whatever the reason, I find myselfoddly compelled, every December, togather my friends, pass out Santa hatsand march around my neighborhooddemanding figgy pudding. If you see us,

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Seasonal scenes, from far left: the picturesque ice rink at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden; Baltimore’s cheerful, over-the-top Miracle on 34th Street light display; and the annual “Season’s Greenings” exhibition at the U.S. Botanic Garden, featuring trains and historic displays.

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From the Cover

though, please don’t actually give usfiggy pudding. I think we can all agreethat stuff is gross.

For information about caroling at local senior centers and hospitals, visit the Holiday Project at holidayproject.info/wherewhen. 

— Sadie Dingfelder

L ike many couples without rela-tives nearby, my wife and I alter-nate spending Thanksgiving and

Christmas with our two families. As herfamily grew, they adopted an ItalianAmerican Christmas Eve tradition: theFeast of the Seven Fishes. Althoughorigin stories vary, the dinner essential-ly is what it sounds like: a giant mealstarring seven different types of sea-food. It’s delicious (to everyone exceptmy father-in-law, who dines on ravioli orsausages) and a lot of fun to plan, createand eat.

So the first Christmas we knew wewouldn’t gather with her family, wefound a way to enjoy the feast bybooking a table at Roberto Donna’s AlDente in Northwest Washington. Anumber of restaurants in the regionnow feature the meal in December, andsome, including Bibiana, Centrolina,Equinox and Osteria Morini, serve itonly on Christmas Eve. But Al Dente’smenu, featuring gnocchi with porcinimushrooms and bay scallops, seafood

FROM PREVIOUS PAGE ravioli and sautéed branzino, remainsone of the best deals in D.C. And whilewe can’t replicate the family experience,we’ll have our meal prepared by a JamesBeard Award-winning chef — and Iwon’t have to wash the dishes.

Al Dente, 3201 New Mexico Ave. NW. aldentedc.com. Feast of the Seven Fishes served through Christmas Eve. $50 a person for seven courses.

— John Taylor

V isiting the Garden of Lights atBrookside Gardens has longbeen a favorite holiday activity of

mine — one that began as a familyouting when my brother and I werelittle. Now, my high school friends and Itry to go every year as our own reunionof sorts. We pile into a friend’s minivanand drive to Wheaton Regional Parktogether, catch up as we wander by thelight-up displays we remember fromchildhood (the green dragon slitheringup out of the ground is a personalfavorite) and take a group photo on thebright white Santa sleigh. Because everygood holiday tradition provides ampleopportunity for both nostalgia and Ins-tagram.

Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton. montgomeryparks.org. Open through Jan. 1; closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. $25­$30 per car.

— Ava Wallace

W e don’t participate in Christ-mas, but we do celebrate it. Wegrab chopsticks, anoint our-

selves with oily string beans and fill alazy Susan with enough Chinese food toensure days of leftover noshing. Wel-come to Jewish Christmas. Slurping lomein and painting rice pancakes withhoisin sauce and moo shu pork havebecome comforting rituals on a holidayubiquitous to everyone around us.

Because we live many states awayfrom my hometown delivery joint(shout out to Hunan Emperor of Hous-ton), my wife and I have used Christmasto explore a new Chinese restaurantevery year. We’ve liked Paul Kee Restau-rant in Wheaton (ignore the bare bonesdecor and order the black pepper shortribs) and City Lights in Dupont Circle (awarm change of pace if you come infrom the cold, descend the stairs to thedining room and order a pot of Jasminetea).

Paul Kee Restaurant, 11305 Georgia Ave., Ste. B, Wheaton. paulkeewheaton.com. 

City Lights of China, 1731 Connecti­cut Ave. NW. citylightsofchina.com.

— Gabe Hiatt

L ast year, while covering Miracle onSeventh Street, the Christmas-themed pop-up bar that draws long

lines nightly in Shaw, I asked a patron toexplain the allure of a bar with choo-chootrains, Santa-shaped mugs of spiked hot

cocoa and tinsel dripping from ceiling to trendy concrete floors.

Washingtonians, he’d replied, are farfrom home by definition, and thus cutoff from holiday spirit by extension.

I don’t get Christmas, really, but Iinstinctively understood the guy’s argu-ment. There’s something about a bar atthe holidays. For those of us who feeleven a twinge of holiday-induced loneli-ness, a particularly cozy bar is a gather-ing place for those celebrating a nightwithout work or worry, the ideal re-union spot for far-flung friends whohaven’t seen each other in too long.Patrons seem a little bit kinder, staff alittle more jovial. As others wrappedlast-minute presents at home, I havedanced to James Brown at the Black Catand held a long-distance love tightly atAmerican Ice Company.

This year, the Falafel Frenzy will bringtogether hundreds of young JewishWashingtonians at Eighteenth StreetLounge on Christmas Eve, and Miracleon Seventh will keep the holiday lightsaglow till the wee hours, too. Wherever Idecide to settle in for a hot toddy andnostalgia, I know I won’t feel alone.

Falafel Frenzy, Saturday, 9 p.m. Eighteenth Street Lounge, 1212 18th St. NW. shalomdc.org/falafelfrenzy. $30 in advance; $40 (cash) at the door.

Miracle on Seventh Street, 1843 Seventh St. NW. miracleon7thst.com. Through Dec. 31, closed Christmas Day.

— Lavanya Ramanathan

BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST

The annual Garden of Lights display at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton draws visitors young and old through New Year’s Day.