As the holiday season comes to a close, there are still a number of events and activities to carry on the joy and celebration across the D.C. area.
Several attractions — some holiday-related, some not — are for families and friends to enjoy in the days leading up to New Year’s Day.
Looking to be dazzled with a beautiful Christmas lights display? Well, you have options.
Nationals Park has been transformed into a winter wonderland with the “world’s largest” Christmas light maze, ice skating trail, Christmas market and more.
“Enchant Christmas boasts five completely different and custom-designed light maze experiences, each individually based on Enchant-produced original stories that chronicle the beloved, yet mischievous elf, Eddie, whose Christmas adventures drive the physical maze experiences,” according to a press release.
Tickets are available for Enchant Christmas until Sunday.
At Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland, another Christmas light display awaits, with millions of lights taking the shape of animals and flowers.
And there’s more than just lights — live music performances, model trains and hot cocoa.
Tickets are available for the exhibit, which has been presented for more than 20 years, through New Year’s Eve.
For a free option to look at some Christmas lights maybe walk around the neighborhood or head to the National Zoo for the 13th annual ZooLights.
This year, the Smithsonian Institution added a number of new attractions to the festival like a virtual reality experience, a laser light show and large animal lanterns crafted in China. The ZooLights display ends New Year’s Day.
The gift-giving season does not end with Christmas: The Holiday Art Show and Sale is open through Jan. 5 in Glen Echo Park in Montgomery County.
Art works will be available for purchase in all mediums, including glass, ceramics, photography, painting and jewelry.
For anyone who is holiday-ed out, there are some options for you, too.
The Newseum will close its Pennsylvania Avenue location for good on New Year’s Eve, and the museum of journalism history is selling last-chance, discounted tickets for visitors.
“Visitors love us, but remaining in the current location has proved to be financially unsustainable, requiring us to move after 2019,” states the Newseum website. “It is challenging to operate a paid museum in a city full of free ones.”
After its closure, the museum will return artifacts to lenders and put the rest in a storage facility until a new public space is found.
From Thursday to Monday, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture will not require timed entry tickets and will offer extended hours, making this the first time since it opened that tickets won’t be required over the weekend.
Starting Thursday, the museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. for visitors to explore the 400,000-square-foot building on 1400 Constitution Ave. NW.
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