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Christmas is Coming

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In my experience, Christmas in Washington D.C. is a wonderful but hectic time, filled with parties and office functions and myriad other events that leave me out of breath by the time the presents are all wrapped and under the tree.

This year, I'm going to miss the holiday season. I've left the city and headed for points north—Johnson, Vermont, to be exact—for a four-week fiction residency at the Vermont Studio Center. That means no juggling of invitations, no cookie baking this year, no overdosing on the general holiday spirit.

But it also means I will miss some of the things I love about the holidays in D.C. And it was not until the week before Thanksgiving that I really realized how much of that I love.

This was the week the Christmas decorations started going up at Union Station, including the giant wreaths that hang in the entrance archways and the giant, elaborate model train display. The wreaths are studded with lights and tied with bows, and while they're big enough to kill someone instantly if they fell, they're also just the right size to herald the holiday season.

I walked by the master model train operators as they set up the train set inside the station on Tuesday. The trains were still, for the moment, but the display was almost ready. The two men sprinkled fake snow from empty coffee cans, then fussed with the placement of miniature houses, trees, people. By this weekend, the train set has probably come to life in a continuous loop that will carry on throughout the season.

I will miss driving past the National Christmas Tree near the White House and the Capitol Christmas Tree at the far end of the Mall. I actually like the Capitol tree better—it is smaller and has a more subtle light display. But the sheer size and brilliance of the National Christmas Tree is a treat every year.

I will miss the big red bow that the Kennedy Center ties around its columns, turning the white neo-Grecian building into a giant gift waiting to be opened.

But while all these things will be there for residents and tourists to feast on during the season, they will also still be there through the New Year, and I'll be back to catch the very end of the lights and wonder of the D.C. holiday season. For now, however, I will have to content myself with smaller lights here in Vermont, but with the knowledge that here, in this small town in the Green Mountains, the holiday season is being celebrated in an atmosphere of safety, security and peace. And there will be other years to celebrate Christmas in my home city.

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