National Hanukkah Menorah Lighting Ceremony on the Ellipse (Photos)
• December 21, 2012

A lighting ceremony took place for the National Hanukkah Menorah, the world’s largest, on the Ellipse, just across from the White House on the second night (first day) of the eight-day Jewish holiday. Candles were lit on Sunday Dec. 9, 2012 by special guest, acting Office of Management and Budget Director Jeffrey Zients. The United States Navy Band and “The Three Cantors” performed. The National Menorah Lighting dates to 1979 when Jimmy Carter was president. Hanukkah celebrates the Jewish Maccabees’ military victory over Greek-Syrian oppression more than 2,000 years ago. A candle is lit each night of the eight-day celebration, commemorating the miracle of one day’s supply of oil lasting a full eight days in the lamp following the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. This annual event is sponsored by American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) [gallery ids="101093,137870,137876,137882,137889,137896,137902,137908,137915,137862,137856,137850,137943,137823,137938,137933,137830,137928,137836,137842,137922" nav="thumbs"]

President Obama and First Family Light Up National Christmas Tree (photo gallery)
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Barack Obama and the first family flicked the switch to light up the new National Christmas Tree before an estimated crowd of 17,000 on the Ellipse, just south of the White House in Washington D.C., Dec. 6. Colbie Caillat, Jason Mraz, Ledisi, Neil Patrick Harris, Rico Rodriguez, Phillip Phillips and James Taylor were among the featured performers along with the Washington Performing Arts Society gospel choir, the U.S. Navy Band Commodores, the Midtown Men, stars from the original Broadway cast of “Jersey Boys.”

View photos of the event by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="101091,137792,137786,137780,137775,137768,137760,137754,137748,137742,137804,137734,137809,137814,137728,137819,137798" nav="thumbs"]

Just Do It: Nike Town Opens Oct. 25
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“Nike Georgetown opens 10/25. Your official destination for all things Nike in the nation’s capitol [sic].” So read the Nike D.C. tweet, formally alerting runners, walkers and shoppers to the Washington area’s only Niketown, ready for business Oct. 25. The 3040 M Street address, at the corner of Thomas Jefferson Street, once housed a Barnes & Noble book store, its loss widely lamented, and, before that, the movie theater Cerberus.

While there are Nike factory stores in Virginia and Maryland, the large M Street store in the nation’s capital will be a showcase for the Oregon-based company which is the world’s leading supplier of athletics shoes and a major manufacturer of sports equipment. At the end of its fiscal 2012, Nike posted more than $24 billion in revenue.

Besides being famous for its Air Jordan shoes, the company owns Converse, Cole Haan, Hurley International and Umbro.

Also, D.C. can expect a slight uptick in its job numbers, as Nike — which employs more 44,000 persons worldwide — has advertised for positions at the new store: “Nike Store Assistant Head Coach” (assistant manager), “Nike Store Coach” (department manager) and more.

Nike (Georgetown)

202-471-5870

3040 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007

Weekend Round Up December 13, 2012
• December 20, 2012

Write Home Soon Workshop

December 15th, 2012 at 10:30 AM | Free | Tel: 202-458-6016 | Event Website

Mark Strandquist’s Write Home Soon is an ongoing project that bridges public installation and social practice methods. It includes interactive public installations, city-wide workshops, and an exhibition of participant created postcards depicting places—mental, physical, natural, metaphoric—that individuals have lost in their lifetime. Postcards are mailed to the Art Museum of the Americas and exhibited as part of Ripple Effect. Learn about the project & create your own postcard.

Address

Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 Seventeenth St NW

Snow Day Bar Crawl

December 15th, 2012 at 01:00 PM | $15 – $30 | info@redfrogevents.com | Tel: 773-687-4595 | Event Website

D.C.’s biggest holiday bar crawl gives merrymakers the chance to cheer! From 1-8 on Dec. 15, Snow Day decks the halls starting with a free beer! Participants then sip on deals like $2 beer refills and $4 Candy Cane shots while going from bar to bar. It is $15 until Dec. 11. Bars like Front Page, 19 and more will be festively styled! Don’t drink and drive! Make plans with a designated driver. Use any form of public transport like the Metrobus and/or rail system. Must be 21 or older.

Address

Black Finn; 1620 I Street NW

Georgetown Lutheran Church Sing-along

December 15th, 2012 at 05:00 PM | Free | Tel: 202-333-3642.

The Georgetown Lutheran Church is hosting a community Christmas sing-along with organ accompaniment on Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. The event is free and welcome to all.

Address

Georgetown Lutheran Church; 1556 Wisconsin Ave. NW,

Oscar Wilde’s Ideal Husband

December 16th, 2012 at 02:00 PM | $12 to $15 | education@dumbartonhouse.org | Tel: 202-337-2288 | Event Website

An encore performance by the Picnic Theatre Company of the Oscar Wilde comedy of manners about blackmail, political corruption, and relationship in one of Washington, D.C.’s finest historic house museums. Directed by Karim Chrobog. Proceeds benefit AGE Africa (ageafrica.org) to fund high school scholarships for girls in Malawi
and Dumbarton House.

Address

2715 Q Street, NW

Georgetown Business Association Yoga Fundraiser & Reception

December 16th, 2012 at 04:00 PM | 10.00 and up | janine@jswgroupus.com

Join the GBA in raising money for the Georgetown Senior Center by taking a Restorative Yoga class at Georgetown Yoga on December 16, 2012 at 4pm followed by a wine reception at 5:30pm. All donations will go to Georgetown Senior Center with GBA matching funds up to $500. Suggested minimum donation $10 for the class and reception. Not sure you are ready for yoga? You are welcome to attend the reception from 5:30 – 7pm.

Address

Georgetown Yoga; 2603 P Street, NW

Joshua Eli Plaut Discusses Latest Book A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to Be Jewish

December 17th, 2012 at 07:30 PM | $10.00 | lilikg@washingtondcjcc.org | Tel: (202) 202-777-3251 | Event Website

In his latest book, A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to Be Jewish, Joshua Eli Plaut explores the creative and innovative responses and will discuss his findings on Monday, December 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center. The event is part of the DCJCC’s Authors Out Loud series, which brings Washingtonians together for evenings of entertainment and stimulating conversation with great authors and fellow readers.

Address

1529 16th Street Northwest Washington, DC 20036

Georgetown Biz Group Honors 2012 Achievers, Affirms 2013 Officers
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The Georgetown Business Association held its Annual Meeting and Holiday Soiree at Dumbarton House Dec. 12, affirming its 2013 officers and board and honoring individuals and businesses.

The 2013 GBA officers are Riyad Said, president (Wells Fargo); Janine Schoonover, vice president (JSW Group); Karen Ohri, treasurer (Georgetown Floorcovering); Molly Quigley, secretary (Clyde’s Restaurant Group).

Outgoing GBA president Rokas Beresniovas reviewed 2012’s work: revised bylaws, partnerships with Georgetown-based businesses and a wider marketing effort. Along with new events like the candidates’ forum and the Financial Policy Institute seminar, Beresniovas said that the customary senior advisory luncheon will be relaunched in spring 2013 with some changes. The new GBA president Riyad Said thanked Beresniovas and said his last name was easier to pronounce. GBA vice president Janie Schoonover spoke of GBA’s ability to lobby the government as well as zoning and parking.

Schoonover also led a moment of silence with the audience to remember Curtin Winsor, chair of the Bank of Georgetown, who died suddenly Dec. 11.

Proud to be thanking the crowd was one of the communitarians of the year, Terry Bell of Salon Ilo, whose latest charitable effort was a Dec. 5 Kitty Kelley booksigning, a fundraiser for the D.C. Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Georgetown Public Library.

Business person of the year Zubair Popal, whose Malmaison at 34th and K Streets will open in January, recalled his journey from Afghanistan to the D.C. area and noted that his children went to Georgetown University and George Washington University. Popal assured that his new restaurant would exude “traditional Afghan hospitality.”

Said called Linda Greenan’s lifetime achievement award a “half-life award,” as he expected she had a lot more to do beyond her last GBA board meeting.

Georgetown resident, Iraq War veteran and a bronze star recipient, Army Major David Alexander, was introduced by GBA board member Ed Solomon, who is also an advisory neighborhood commissioner. The major’s father, Sam Alexander, was also in attendance. The Alexander family has owned several local properties, one of which on P Street was rented by a young John F. Kennedy, a representative in Congress at the time.

Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans proclaimed D.C. the “most dynamic city in America” and welcomed At-large Councilman Vincent Orange to close the meeting. Orange thanked his Georgetown voters and said, “The Evans-Orange team is back.”

The following recipients were honored at the ceremony:

= 2012 Joe Pozell Public Safety Award was presented to Officer Antonial Atkins and Officer Kathryn Fitzgerald, both of the Metropolitan Police Department’s 2nd District.

= 2012 The Art Schultz Communitarian Award was presented to Salon Ilo owner Terry Bell and to Rose Park community activist David Abrams.

= 2012 Business Person of the Year was presented to owner of Cafe Bonaparte, Napoleon and the new Malmaison in Georgetown, Zubair Popal.

= 2012 Business of the Year was presented to the historic George Town Club.

= 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to recently retired Georgetown University Associate Vice President for External Relations, Linda Greenan.

The soiree, sponsored by Fox Ventures, SugarPlum Tents, Atlantic Valet and Dumbarton House, featured a specialty cocktail menu, ample and heavy hors d’ oeuvres and a night of dancing after the award ceremony. Many members and visitors stuck around chatting and complemented the food, drinks and music — as well as the cool vibe of the evening.

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Curtin Winsor, Bank of Georgetown Co-Founder, Dies
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Curtin Winsor III, executive chairman of the Bank of Georgetown, died Dec. 11, the Washington Business Journal first reported. He died of a heart attack in Arlington. A funeral service is scheduled for Dec. 17 at Christ Church at 31st and O Streets, with burial at Oak Hill Cemetery, according to Carol Joynt.

Born and raised in D.C., the 49-year-old Winsor lived with his wife Deborah and three daughter on 34th Street. Their home was the site of the 2010 Georgetown House Tour Patron’s Party and was once occupied by Ambassador David Bruce and his wife Evangeline. Winsor was a board member of the Georgetown Business Improvement District.

Here is additional biographical information from the Bank of Georgetown website:

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Winsor has had an active role in the area’s financial and philanthropic communities for more than 20 years. In 2005, he founded Bank of Georgetown with Michael Fitzgerald. Prior to that, Winsor was a principal and founding partner of Columbia Partners Investment Management, LLC, a registered investment advisory firm managing in excess of $3 billion in equities for pension funds, endowments and high net worth individuals.

In addition to serving as chairman of the bank, Winsor sits on the Board of Directors or has an advisory role with several hedge funds and investment partnerships. He is also a member and Trustee of the W.H. Donner Foundation in New York City and the Donner Canadian Foundation in Toronto, Canada, for which he oversees the respective foundations’ investment portfolios and program development areas.

Winsor is very active in civic and charitable causes in the Washington, D.C., area and serves as a trustee of the National Taxpayers Union; the National Taxpayers Union Foundation; the Starlight-Starbright Children’s Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Chapter; Georgetown Business Improvement District; and the Washington Scholarship Fund, where he serves on the executive committee. He is also a trustee of the Washington Opera. [gallery ids="101102,138173" nav="thumbs"]

America Mourns
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President Barack Obama ordered that all flags at government buildings, military installations and naval vessels be flown at half-staff through Tuesday, Dec. 18, at sunset, in honor of those massacred at a Connecticut elementary school Dec. 14. The dead included 20 children.

The following is part the president’s remarks on Friday afternoon, Dec. 14:

“The majority of those who died today were children — beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers — men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.

“So, our hearts are broken today — for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost. Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.

“. . . While nothing can fill the space of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need — to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories but also in ours.

“May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.”

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, also ordered flags at the U.S. Capitol lowered to half-staff in honor of those massacred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14.

The photo shown of a lowered flag at the U.S. Capitol was taken by photographer Jeff Malet on Friday, Dec. 14, 8 p.m. The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree in the foreground came from a nation forest as a gift from Colorado.

If you have a flag on your property or home, we encourage you to lower it to half-staff. [gallery ids="101107,138291,138286,138281" nav="thumbs"]

Wreaths Across America Honors Our Veterans (photo gallery)
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More than 110,000 wreaths, donated by Wreaths Across America, were laid at Arlington National Cemetery Dec. 15 for the 21st annual event. About 27,000 volunteers helped place the wreaths throughout the cemetery. Morrill Worcester, president of Worcester Wreath Company, based in Harrington, Maine, started this annual event in 1992 to honor our nation’s fallen heroes. Morrill marked a special milestone Saturday by presenting the program’s one millionth wreath to Gold Star mother Mary Byers, whose son, Army Capt. Joshua Byers, was killed in Afghanistan in 2003. Participating in the ceremony were: Wayne Hanson, chairman of the board for Wreaths Across America; Kathryn A. Condon, executive director, Army National Cemeteries Program; Maine Gov. Paul LePage and his wife Ann; Rear Admiral Harold L. Robinson, a rabbi and former chaplain; and Lt. Col. Thomas Helms, the senior Army Chaplain at Arlington National Cemetery. Country artists Lindsay Lawler and Chris Roberts sang “God Bless America.”

View our photos by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="101108,138390,138396,138404,138410,138417,138424,138432,138438,138446,138454,138462,138470,138478,138486,138494,138500,138384,138376,138370,138531,138524,138290,138519,138296,138514,138302,138309,138316,138322,138330,138336,138342,138350,138356,138363,138507" nav="thumbs"]

Massacre at Newtown: A Defining Moment for America
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It seems to me that there were so many things on our mind before last Friday afternoon. The newspapers and television news and blogs were full of talk about the approaching appointment with the Fiscal Cliff. We buzzed here locally about who was going to start at quarterback for the Washington Redskins on Sunday—and who was going to be the next Secretary of State, this town being what it is.

People were out Christmas shopping. The streets and many shops were clogged, and the highways were full of irritations. Burl Ives once again ruled with his Christmas song on the radio, and people had already folded in a shooting-with-casualties at a mall in Oregon as if it was the latest among many such horrors that were now part of our daily lives. We were getting used to news like that.

On AOL news in the early afternoon, there was a vague, undetailed reference to gunfire at a school in Connecticut, and that the shooter was dead. I saw it briefly, it nagged at me as a kind of “another one already,” and I promptly forgot about it.

About an hour later—precision was not the mainstay of the day—that little note had become a big headline: 28 or 27 dead in elementary school shooting; 18 children dead. (It ended up to be 20 children dead). I stared at the headline, and there was a picture of I don’t remember what. The numbers were staggering, shocking, almost impossible to take in. And so that day truly began, and we were swallowed up in it whole.

The details only got worse: 20 children, ages six and seven, more girls than boys, and six teachers and administrators had been killed, gunned down by a young man armed with an assault rifle and more in the space of a few minutes at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a small (27,000 plus) commuter town were such monstrosities are never imagined even in the darkest of nights.

Initially, the story emerged in half-truths and confusion, misinformation that seemed to be coming from the shock and fog of a kind of war in which small children and their protectors were the victims of an act, which so far defied any real clues as to motivation and appeared to be beyond understanding.

It pinned us all to our hearts, as we watched and listened. I think and suspect that even in our sleep we saw the children, all the children we knew and thought about them, and embraced them and comforted them and tried to save them in a dream we never dreamt. We saw anguished parents rushing to the parking lot of the school, as if driven by demons. We saw children rushing out. We heard conflicting information about the killer, first misidentified as his brother, and about his mother, who was first believed to be a kindergarten teacher at Sandy Hook, but turned out to have no connection to the school. She was killed by her son in the home she shared with him before he embarked with grim purpose on his journey to the school, dressed in video death game black, armed with two handguns and the semi-automatic weapon.

His name was Adam Lanza and his mother’s name was Nancy. He killed himself when he heard approaching policemen enter the school, but he had enough ammunition to do much more damage than he did. What he did was bad enough. Just days before Christmas, he robbed parents of their children, and everyone else’s hopes for the season.

No point in dwelling on him, beyond the morbid curiosity that sparks such interest. I remembered my son, now in his forties and living in Las Vegas, when he was that age. I still remember how it felt when he bit his tongue in a spatter of blood when he was only two or so, and how for some seconds, I could not breathe. I could only imagine the pain of the parents—because when your children are that young, you want them first and ever to be safe and because you think a breath will knock them down. A paper cut looks like tragedy, and you love them more than yourself.

Immediately, the television chorus read the litany of other names—Aurora, Colo., the shootings at Fort Hood, the killings at Columbine, the precursor of every shot fired in calculated madness on school grounds, the killings at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, at McDonald’s, in work places, in parking lots and malls.

But this . . . this man targeted children, the children of Newtown, to be sure, but all our children, just the same. I live now in a neighborhood of new children, if you will, there’s been a baby boom of new young parents in the last decade. I’ve seen a generation growing up, from the ground up, so to speak—a new baby across the street. Samantha and her dog Edith down the street, Patrick around the corner and all the kids at the daycare center. I thought about them through the weekend.

The tragedy was a reminder that the President of the United States is a parent as well as a president, no more so than in his initial reaction to the tragedy, when he was speaking of the children and said “they were beautiful little kids.” He stopped, for a few second obviously stricken. It made headlines on the news—the president cried.

We all did, in one way or another. We forgot ourselves and thought of others, what consolation might come and when. And in the chronicles of the Newtown Bee, the local newspaper, there were tales of vigils, and pictures of stuffed animals, and glasses with candles, and services and memories of the victims, and the heroic sacrifices of the teachers and the first responders. All of this has been chronicled and don’t bear repeating by me, but none of it will be forgotten.

And now—and if not now, then when?—the debate, the cry for legislation, for gun safety, for a great national debate, or even—with great hope—a grass roots, parent-led movement that might take on our culture which has variously been called a culture of violence, guns or death. It should include from the view of non-but-not-un-Americans a puzzlement at this country’s attachment to guns, its almost defiant embrace of shooting targets, beer cans, critters and human beings—or as one congressman from Texas suggested that if the principal of the school had had an automatic pistol, she could have blown his head off.

This we know: the National Rifle Association, somewhat like a Grover Norquist on no tax increases, have a mysterious power to exact political allegiance on pain of losing elections in support of the right to bear arms, which not coincidentally benefits the manufacturers of guns enormously. We know for a fact that we lead the world in mass shootings, and homicides by gun, automatic or otherwise. We know that as the president and any number of people of good will have said in the wake of this slaying, that “enough is enough.” It is not “guns don’t kill people, people kill people, or even people with mental problems kill people.” Every person who has slaughtered others is different from every other person who has slaughtered people—they lost their jobs, they have been diagnosed as mentally ill, they’re seeking fame, they’re loners, they hate (the U.S., the country, the people that bullied them, their girlfriends, their employees, Batman and Robin, pick one). But they all have one thing in common: they killed numerous people and in this last case, innocent children, with guns. Look for the connection, and there it is, the pop pop sound at various volumes and speeds of guns.

How sad is this, that children should leave their blood in classrooms. How sad are these days: from the pulpit at the Washington National Cathedral, a minister called for action, and children in Christmas red sang “Silent Night” at a TV show’s opening and in a Newtown church fathers hugged their children who hugged their stuffed animals.

Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra said at the service that “it is a defining moment for Newtown but it will not define us.”

It is a defining moment for the rest of us, also, and what we do—or fail to do—will define us.

Santas Descend on the Washington Mall for Santarchy 2012 (photos)
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We caught up with Santarchy on the steps of the National Museum of Natural History Dec. 15. Santarchy takes place every year in major cities all over the world, involving tens of thousands of Santa Clauses. They are a self-described “non-profit, non-political, non-religious and non-sensical celebration of holiday cheer, goodwill, and fun. There is no good reason to dress up in cheap Santa suits, run around town, give gifts, sing songs, have strangers sit on our laps, and decide who is naughty or nice — but it’s a lot of fun. So, Santa does it anyway. Everyone loves Santa, and Santa loves everyone. Santarchy is your chance to be Santa, so step up and be jolly.”

View the Santas by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="101109,138586,138593,138600,138606,138613,138620,138626,138633,138640,138646,138578,138571,138564,138677,138520,138672,138528,138665,138536,138660,138543,138550,138556,138654" nav="thumbs"]