Holidays at the Botanic Garden
This year, the US Botanic Garden, at the foot of the Capitol, offers an outdoor holiday display, running through Jan. 2 (closed on Christmas day). The display includes festive decorations, trains, evergreens, and lights in the outdoor gardens. G-gauge model trains will run between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day in the gated outdoor gardens. The trains will circulate through agricultural displays from across the United States and around the world, all made from plant parts. These farm scenes will range from orange groves, cranberry bogs, and wheat fields in the US to grape vineyards in Australia, coffee farms in Uganda and olive orchards in Spain. No tickets required. The trains may not run during inclement weather. usbg.gov/holiday.
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Join the National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count
Photo: Nick Eckert
Waterskiing Santa on the Potomac
Waterskiing Santa appears along the Old Town Alexandria waterfront on Friday, Dec. 24 at 1 p.m. (pre-show at 12:45 p.m.). Santa’s helpers come out early to ensure it’s safe for Santa (considering the Grinch or Jack Frost may be around). waterskiingsanta.com.
A family holiday tradition for many, the annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a long-standing program of the National Audubon Society, with over 100 years of citizen science involvement. It’s an early-winter bird census, where thousands of volunteers across the US, Canada and many countries in the Western Hemisphere, go out over a 24-hour period on one calendar day to count birds. To participate, you need to join an existing CBC circle by contacting the compiler in advance of the count day. All Christmas Bird Counts are conducted between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5, inclusive dates, each season. Read more and sign up at audubon.org/content/ join-christmas-bird-count.
BELOW: Marine Staff Sgts. Hugh Wood and Randall Ayers, NORAD and USNORTHCOM, take calls at the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center. Photo: Tech. Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher
NORAD Tracks Santa
NORAD tracks everything that flies in and around North America in defense of our country. However, on Dec. 24, they have the special mission of also tracking Santa. NORAD has been tracking Santa since 1955 when a young child accidentally dialed the unlisted phone number of the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, believing she was calling Santa Claus after seeing a promotion in a local newspaper. Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup, the commander on duty that night, was quick to realize a mistake had been made, and assured the youngster that CONAD would guarantee Santa a safe journey from the North Pole. Thus, a tradition was born that rolled over to NORAD when it was formed in 1958. Each year, the NORAD Tracks Santa website receives nearly fifteen million unique visitors from more than 200 countries and territories around the world. Volunteers receive more than 130,000 calls (phone number appears on the website on Dec. 24) to the NORAD Tracks Santa hotline. This year, children are also able to track Santa through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. noradsanta.org. 114 ★ HILLRAG.COM
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