The Willard InterContinental Hotel, one of DC’s most celebrated hotels,  is located two short blocks from the White House. Photo by Gene Korte

Washington at holiday time is American tradition at its best, or surely it’s most abundant.  Hard to say how many Christmas trees are now sparkling, or how many light displays, winter parades, menorah lightings and musical or ballet performances grace our nation’s capital.  Even the National Zoo presents its own version of an end-of-year party called Zoolights.

And the hundreds of DC hotels put on their finery as well. The Willard Intercontinental Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, for example, is two short blocks from the White House and dates back to the 1850s. This is where President Ulysses S. Grant coined the term “lobbyists” for those gentlemen who hung around the lobby, hoping to corral one of the many politicians having a bite to eat or smoking a cigar in the Round Robin Bar.

This hotel is still a magnet for politicians and has hosted every U.S. president, as either an overnight guest or as an attendee of social functions, from Franklin Pierce in 1853 to the current President Obama.

But it’s a fabulous family destination as well, especially during the holidays when decorations are outstanding and it’s easy to line up some of the best of DC stops, all within easy walking distance, http://www.washington.intercontinental.com.  The Willard also presents free holiday choirs and other musical performances in the hotel’s spacious lobby in late afternoons in December.

 If your plans take you and your family to our nation’s capital this holiday season, be sure to enjoy the tour of a fully decorated White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov), the free museums and monuments on nearly every corner (http://www.washington.org) and The Nutcracker ballet at the ornate Warner Theatre a block from The Willard, http://www.warnertheatre.com. 

This excerpted article was originally distributed by Tribune Media Services, INC. for the World’s Fare Syndicate.       © 2011  Diana and Gene Korte