Chris and I seized on our free afternoon and went to the Downtown Holiday Market near the Portrait Gallery to see what we could find for people on our Christmas list. We parked a few blocks from the action and readied ourselves for the hustle and bustle amid the sea of tents.
Well, we’re not out of the woods yet with COVID, and the dramatically reduced number of vendors accentuated this reality. The air was still festive with the aroma of honey-roasted nuts and a live band playing Christmas tunes with a cute little girl bopping to the beat in front of the stage, lollipop in hand.
I enjoyed browsing the goods in each tent and found a few – if not “perfect” gifts – gifts that fit some people on our list. For my Harry Potter-obsessed niece, I bought four ornaments representing the Harry Potter houses made out of recycled HP book pages. The artist is DC-based, and a healthy percentage of each sale goes to support transgender rights. Score.
The final tent we came to was a tea vendor. Edwin has been really into tea lately, so we carefully selected four types: rooibos Frappuccino, black tea chai, green tea lychee rose, and white tea lychee (he’s a big lychee fan). I also threw in a bag of candied ginger and a personal tea pot.
To round out the excursion, we ducked into a ramen shop and shared a bowl of soup and some dumplings. I could get used to a four-hour work day!
My Corner of the Village 