Logistics

I will gladly admit stealing this idea from [Capital Hiking Club](https://www.meetup.com/capital-hiking-club/) and [DC Urban Walkers](https://www.meetup.com/dc-urban-walkers/). This trek will have us starting at the US Botanical Gardens and go see the five best Christmas Trees around downtown DC. We'll gather at a restaurant afterwards to warm up, though it should be unseasonable warm on Saturday anyway. **[Follow the Alltrails Route Here](https://www.alltrails.com/explore/custom-routes/custom-route-d05f566?u=i&sh=5s9wgt)** We will get started at 5pm in front of the [US Botanical Garden](https://maps.app.goo.gl/TZiAYQk6FbXeupvA6), at the fountain with the giant silver Christmas balls. I STRONGLY encourage you to get there at least a half hour early to see the dinosaur-themed model train display outside, and the architectural models of all the monuments made out of plants in the atrium, just inside the gardens building. Both close at 5:00. From there we will head to the following: 1\. A quarter\-mile northeast to the Capitol Tree 2\. Half a mile northwest on Pennsylvania Ave\. to the Canadian Embassy's tree \(my personal favorite\) 3\. Up Pennsylvania\, then right on 8th NW to the Christmas Market\. We will stop here for 20 minutes in case anybody wants to shop or get some grub\. The Poblano Chicken Chili at the taco truck was a hit and had no line to wait in\. 4\. From there we will head north on 9th St\. and make a left down Palmer Alley to see the various bougie displays at City Center\. 5\. We'll head back south on 11th to Pershing Park\, then the final tree in the Ellipse\. 6\. I was thinking of heading to [Astro Beer Hall](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZmqceDeQk1ibCKss5) afterwards, but I'm open to suggestions if someone has a better plan. Metro Center station is just another block east and can get you back to where you started from. Distance from Botanical Gardens to this point is 3.1 miles. **Getting there:** I know most of you are suburbanites, but the Metro IS your friend. The closest Orange/Blue/Silver/Green/Yellow station is L'Enfant Plaza, which connects to Metro Center (our end point) without transfer. Exit at Maryland Ave. - that is a ten minute walk. Closest Red Line station is Union or Judiciary, a 17-minute walk, though it also connects to our end point. Union Station also has an impressive tree, but a panhandler will likely demand payment if you stare at it for too long. If you are coming by car, C and D St SW are likely your best bets for parking. We will be starting just as all the museums close.

Let’s go for a long walk and check out the Cabin John trail and Glen Echo park Start: Grosvenor - Strathmore Metro End: Friendship Heights Metro Length: 15 miles Pt. 1 (3 miles): https://maps.app.goo.gl/xbwJEqH2RkPU1zvN9 Pt. 2 (6 miles): https://montgomeryparks.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Cabin-John-Stream-Valley-Trails-map-2023-0522-letter.pdf Pt. 3 (5.5 miles): https://maps.app.goo.gl/k2CLupw9nvL3UbjFA We try to be punctual with our event times so please be respectful to others and show up a few minutes early. Our events prioritize metro accessibility by meeting and ending at metro stations. Sometimes we start/stop at the same station, sometimes we do not. Please double check the event description to see if you can manage transportation.

Join us for a vibrant discussion of a Christmas romance, [I’ll be Gone for Christmas by Georgia K. Boone](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199531701-i-ll-be-gone-for-christmas?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_47). **Synopsis**: *For fans of The Holiday comes a heartwarming Christmas house-swap rom-com debut in which finding yourself and finding love come hand in hand.* *Bee Tyler needs a break. In the bustling San Francisco tech community, no one ever seems to stand still—especially her perfect sister and business partner, Beth. So when her best friend suggests a getaway on the wildly popular house-swap app, Vacate, Bee decides a countryside retreat might be exactly what she needs.* *Clover Mills has had a year. Between losing her mother and making the complicated decision to leave her fiancé, sticking around the idyllic Christmas obsessed town of Salem, Ohio, just doesn’t feel right. So when she hears about Vacate, she jumps at the chance to spend the holidays in the unfamiliar city of San Francisco.* *Soon enough, Bee is living in Clover’s cozy Salem cottage, and Clover is living in Bee’s sleek San Francisco apartment. As Clover can’t seem to stop running into Bee’s frustratingly gorgeous sister, Beth, and Bee finds herself spending more and more time with Clover’s ultra charming ex-fiancé, Knox, the two women realize that this Christmas they may find just what they were looking for and more…* Whether you finished the book or just started, come through! **✨[Join the official club chat](https://groupme.com/join_group/110889466/fJIKYe9f)✨**

After our museum visit, we’re heading to OM Indian Restaurant for a flavorful group lunch, and you’re invited! To accommodate our large group, the restaurant has generously offered a special pre-set menu just for us: Menu Includes: • Appetizer: 1 Vegetable Samosa • Entrees: Mix Vegetable Curry, Channa Masala (chickpeas curry), Chicken Korma, and Butter Chicken • Sides: Rice and Naan • Dessert: Rice Pudding 💲 Cost: $25 per person (gratuity not included) We’ll be calling the restaurant ahead of time to confirm our group size so they can prepare accordingly. Because of this, accurate attendance is very important - **if you RSVP, please make sure you are 100% committed to attending.** Looking forward to continuing the fun and food together!

This class focuses on incremental movement accompanying rhythmic breathing while offering hands-on assistance to the student. **Please reserve your spot at www.piesfitnessyoga.com**. The session is offered both InStudio and OnLine. The Zoom link for the OnLine session will be emailed 15 minutes before class starts to those who are registered at www.piesfitnessyoga.com. **Sign up for sessions must be made at least 2 hours prior to class.**

Greetings, For those still in the area for the holiday, let's meet again at **Union Market in NE DC** **for coffee and conversation** regarding various topics to include team building, purpose, partnerships, and advocacy project collaborations with those who share similar values **(readers feel free to bring books; several indoor/outdoor restaurants, bars, lounges, stores, and coffee shops in the market area)**. Also, for those interested, District Running Collective (DRC) meets at this location (Union Market curbside) nearly every Wednesday evening (at 6:30pm) and Saturday mornings (at 7:00am for 6 to 10mile runners; 8:00am for 3 mile runners). Updates can be sent regarding any location changes/run rescheduling. Three miles takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes depending on fitness level). Great opportunity for novice or more experienced runners to jumpstart their holistic health journey (e.g., sleep, diet, exercise, mental resilience) with others who share similar personal development goals (see DRC information link below). **If you are not interested in the the morning run, feel free to RSVP for the coffee and conversation only.** If there are any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this meeting feel free to call or message. Updates may also be added to the event chat/comment section at anytime, thank you. Link for District Running Collective (DRC) * https://www.districtrunningcollective.com/ Alicia (202) 627-0361 Sunday December, 7th, 2025 1:15pm

Open gaming at Panera! New players welcome. We have many games on hand or you can bring your own. We are happy to teach or learn one of yours.

Use Promo code FALLME to receive $5.00 off! Purchase tickets here: [https://www.prosinthecity.com/event/old-town-alexandria-singles-seated-speed-dating-16031](https://www.prosinthecity.com/event/old-town-alexandria-singles-seated-speed-dating-15474) Tonight, Professionals in the City is hosting a speed dating event for singles in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Have you attended our fast and fabulous Speed Dating events? If you have, then you know what an entertaining ride these sought-after events can be. Meet singles in an organized and comfortable setting where a first date can turn into several. Seated speed dating allows singles like you to introduce yourselves, and share laughs and interests in one eventful night. During this local speed dating event, you'll date for approximately one hour, meeting fun and interesting members of the opposite sex as you spend a few sweet minutes with each new acquaintance. Meet singles and discover whom you mutually match with! After our Speed Dating event, join us for a night of mixing, mingling and more interactions. There will be a cash bar for this eventful evening, so come and meet other single professionals like yourself and have the time of your life! Then, after the event, use our exclusive online system from home to choose your matches from the people you met at the event. Without disclosing your email address, you'll be able to send messages through our system to anyone who attended the event. Check in is at 7:00 and the dating begins at 7:20. Please check in at 7:00 so you have a chance to mix and mingle before the dating begins. Space is limited so order soon!

Always nice to get to the National Gallery, especially this time of the year. I heard the Australian Indigenous Art exhibit - **[The Stars We Do Not See](https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/stars-we-do-not-see?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23225053626&gbraid=0AAAABBBT5I0Pq8aixeDHSLmHS1Txu_KtD)** \- is amazing\, so we might get to that after\. And a late lunch \(or early dinner\) after if folks are interested\. And there's always ice skating\. :\-\) George Cukor’s classic comedy of generational and class differences, *Holiday* stars the legendary Katharine Hepburn (Linda Seton) and Cary Grant (Johnny Case) at their charismatic, bantering best. Following a whirlwind engagement, the acrobatically inclined, free-spirited Johnny literally tumbles into the lives of his fiancée’s aristocratic family, setting up a clash of values with her staid father while firing the rebellious imagination of her brash, black-sheep sister Linda. (George Cukor, 1938, DCP, 95 minutes) **You must [register here](https://www.nga.gov/calendar/vaults/holiday?utm_source=National+Gallery+of+Art&utm_campaign=2ff335950b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_23_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2085ff9475-2ff335950b-343447879&mc_cid=2ff335950b&mc_eid=f372f1b956). It's free and it won't take long.** From a City Paper review last year: Certainly, *Holiday* wears its sadness on its sleeve, but it’s also incredibly fun. No one should dismiss the pleasures of watching two gorgeous people fall in love, especially when it’s based not just on attraction but an actual meeting of the souls. Grant and Hepburn are two of the best at this sort of thing, and they’d do it to more acclaim two years later in *The Philadelphia Story*. We don’t have stars like them anymore, who can make you believe in love again in a tight 95 minutes. Johnny and Linda may sail off to see the world, but the real holiday is ours. The film is a classic and it's free, but you must register.

Suffering post-Christmas letdown? Then come to the Silver Diner at 1250 Half Street SE, Washington, DC for some post-Christmas cheer! Located just blocks from Navy Yard Metro on the Green Line and across the street from Nationals Park, the Silver Diner is two stories and features an ever-rotating menu with everything from vegan to vegetarian to gluten-free to omnivore. Driving is NOT recommended. Parking is expensive and difficult to find. NOTE THE FIRST: The Navy Yard Metro station's Nationals Park entrance is closed. Only the New Jersey Ave. entrance is open. Please allow some extra time to account for this and any other service changes. I will post service changes the week before the event. NOTE THE SECOND: If the weather calls for sleet, ice, wintry mix, or lots of snow, I'm rescheduling the event for January 2026. See you soon and Happy Holidays! Jenny

Join us for a Rockville Bike Party Holiday Lights Ride—with an after-party at Trek! Light up the night with us! Decorate your bike with festive lights and join a cheerful neighborhood cruise to enjoy some holiday displays. We have mapped out a **9 mile route**—just enough rolling hills to earn some treats afterward! To fully enjoy the decorations, we’ll ride at a relaxed **9–10 mph pace**. This will be a **no-drop ride**, and we’ll also offer a **shorter, family-friendly route option** so everyone can join the fun. The Ride with GPS route is here: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53559234 We included streets that have the most holiday décor. **Safety first:** Please bring a bright **white front light** (at least 500–800 lumens) and a **red rear light** for visibility. Can’t wait to ride with you and celebrate the season! 🚲✨ READ THE FINE PRINT, PLEASE: • Bicycling involves inherent risks and requires that participants be in proper physical condition. When you RSVP "yes" to a Bike Rockville event, that RSVP is your digital signature attesting that you have read, understood, and agreed to the group's Liability Waiver and Release, located here: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BocKiaMJwba62c7b583CoOxIYamFiaWN/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BocKiaMJwba62c7b583CoOxIYamFiaWN/view?usp=sharing) • HELMETS ARE REQUIRED for all riders on every ride. • We strongly recommend you bring a water bottle, spare tube, cell phone, ID card, and cash or credit card for emergencies. • Rain at start cancels the ride; Wet pavement does not.

Start the New Year off right! Join us as we get together to help those in need at this CMG Gives Back event to distribute food at the Champion Food Pantry! We’ve created a great little community of Movie Group friends! Rather than see a movie this time, we’ll help “Create a better world” by helping serve people in need. Here are complete details and our plan for this event: CHAMPION FOOD PANTRY: The Champion Food Pantry provides needed food to neighbors experiencing food insecurity. For this event, we’ll be volunteering to help with Food Distribution during client pick up times. Our group will receive on-the-spot training from some of their seasoned regular volunteers. PLAN FOR CHAMPION FOOD PANTRY: Please arrive by 2:45pm. Our volunteer time will be from 3:00 to 6:00pm. LOCATION & PARKING: The Champion Food Pantry is located at 1460 S. Champion Ave in Columbus. Parking is located in the lot on Frebis across from the pantry. Please enter through the door marked "Volunteers enter here” on Frebis Ave. A map has been uploaded to the photos. IMPORTANT REMINDER: Our group will be providing the majority of the volunteers on this day so a firm RSVP count is essential. Please only sign up if you are certain you’ll be able to attend. If something unavoidable comes up, please update your RSVP no later than one week prior to the event. No shows or cancelations within 1 week of the event will mak you ineligible for future CMG Gives Back events. I appreciate your understanding as we try to ensure the agencies have the volunteers needed to provide the essential services they provide to the vulnerable population they serve. LINKS & INFO: Below are some links / attachments with additional info/details: • Champion Food Pantry Civil Rights Training: Attached file. • Champion Food Pantry Parking and Entrance: Attached file. • Champion Food Pantry Orientation Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0wI-AwOYLY • Link with Additional Details / Info: https://lss.vomo.org/opportunity/foodpantrieschampion THANK YOU: This CMG Gives Back event provides an opportunity for YOU to get involved in helping others in our community! But the benefits go well beyond the help we give to others. Volunteering can provide a wide range of personal benefits, including positive effects on mental and physical health, reduced stress/depression/anxiety, increased happiness and improved purpose, life-satisfaction and personal well-being! Plus, the opportunity to get involved, connect with others and help those in need. PARTNER AGENCY: This event is hosted by Lutheran Social Services (LSS), which serves thousands of people in need each day in 27 Ohio counties by addressing the four core societal issues of food, shelter, safety and healing. LSS offers food through the LSS Food Pantries, housing and supportive services through LSS Faith Mission and LSS Faith Mission of Fairfield County homeless shelters, domestic violence services through LSS CHOICES for Victims of Domestic Violence, senior living and health care, affordable housing communities, and other services that uplift families and strengthen communities. Thanks for your help and look forward to seeing you there, Dan

Our January program is privileged to have Kristen Tregar as our speaker. Ms. Tregar is the co-author with John de Lancie (the actor who portrayed the character Q on Star Trek next generation) of a radio play depicting the events surrounding the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial. The trial decided the issue of some of the Dover school district board members attempting to insert creationism disguised as "intelligent design" into the 9th grade biology curriculum. She will discuss the trial and the process of writing the play. (Bob Leonhard has seen the play and it is riveting and tense). Ms. Tregar's bio is below: Kristen Tregar is a dramaturg, director, playwright, and theatre teacher. She earned her Ph.D. in Drama and Theatre from the UC San Diego and UC Irvine joint program. In addition, she has a MS in Forensic Science from City University of New York- John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a MA in Educational Theatre from New York University- Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. In 2013, in collaboration with Irish colleagues, she founded *The Ireland Project*, an intercontinental devised theatre work with high school students in New York and Tallaght, Ireland. Her original short story "Far From Here" was recently published in *Stay Awhile Longer: More Scenes From Temecula Valley*. She has two rescued dogs (Kira and Harry) and she rides, competes, and foxhunts with her horses, Andromache and Baker Street Irregular. Food and drinks will be provided at the event. Feel free to show up a little bit early to hang out and talk. Going forward our meetings will be hybrid. You can meet us in-person or attend online Join Zoom Meeting [https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1) Meeting ID: 878 3656 4953 Passcode: 760812 One tap mobile +19292056099,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (New York) +13017158592,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (Washington DC) The formal presentation will start at noon

You can also join the meeting by Conference Call at (518) 263-8851.

Jimmy V's Grill & Pub in Grandview Heights. You are responsible for your own meal/drinks. We usually don't have any agenda other than eat, drink and talk. :) If the weather is nice we will be on the back patio, otherwise we are in the cigar room. This group has been meeting every Tuesday evening for over a decade. Many attendees do not RSVP on meetup. Please don't let the small number here discourage you. Anyone/everyone is welcome to come. We'd love to have you join us. COTA bus #5 comes to W. 5th and Wyandotte Rd. And it's a minute walk to the restaurant. Did you know that there are atheists everywhere?!?! You may not know it, but we are! We're in your schools, diners, police force, military, government, and some are even still in your churches! So come and join us and meet other local atheists, along with agnostics, heathens, humanists, skeptics, and anyone else who's 'hell bound'! Vision: a Central Ohio that accepts atheism as a viable alternative in all areas of public and private life. Mission: grow, support, and provide community for atheists in Central Ohio. Social meetings held most Tuesdays at a local pub/restaurant at 7:00 PM (and often into the wee hours). Attendees call themselves agnostics, skeptics, humanists, non-theists, deists or even theists. All attendees are welcome but should support our vision. Atheists of Columbus (AoC) is part of Omnipresent Atheists (OA). AoC members are invited to join this OA meetup and/or OA Facebook group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/omnipresentatheists/ ) but are free to continue conversations on the AoC Facebook group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/columbusatheists/ ). AoC was founded in 2012 as a networking, social group for Central Ohio area humanists, skeptics, atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers, freethinkers, and the curious. It was a member of Columbus CoR and held weekly meetings, mostly on Fridays, for several years but then operated as an online only group for some time. In November 2018, Omnipresent Atheists (OA), a group that routinely meets on Tuesdays, invited AoC to merge. Omnipresent Atheists is a member of the Columbus Coalition of Reason (ColumbusCoR.org). Omnipresent Atheists is a member of the Columbus Coalition of Reason ( http://www.ColumbusCoR.org ). Omnipresent Atheists endorses the mission of the Secular Coalition for America ( http://secular.org ). This group has been meeting every Tuesday evening for over a decade. Many attendees do not RSVP on meetup. Please don't let the small number here discourage you. Anyone/everyone is welcome to come. We'd love to have you join us.

Join us for lunch at True Food Kitchen in Easton as we celebrate the New Year and our friendships!

Jimmy V's Grill & Pub in Grandview Heights. You are responsible for your own meal/drinks. We usually don't have any agenda other than eat, drink and talk. :) If the weather is nice we will be on the back patio, otherwise we are in the cigar room. This group has been meeting every Tuesday evening for over a decade. Many attendees do not RSVP on meetup. Please don't let the small number here discourage you. Anyone/everyone is welcome to come. We'd love to have you join us. COTA bus #5 comes to W. 5th and Wyandotte Rd. And it's a minute walk to the restaurant. *** Did you know that there are atheists everywhere?!?! You may not know it, but we are! We're in your schools, diners, police force, military, government, and some are even still in your churches! So come and join us and meet other local atheists, along with agnostics, heathens, humanists, skeptics, and anyone else who's 'hell bound'! Vision: a Central Ohio that accepts atheism as a viable alternative in all areas of public and private life. Mission: grow, support, and provide community for atheists in Central Ohio. Social meetings held most Tuesdays at a local pub/restaurant at 7:00 PM (and often into the wee hours). Attendees call themselves agnostics, skeptics, humanists, non-theists, deists or even theists. All attendees are welcome but should support our vision. Atheists of Columbus (AoC) is part of Omnipresent Atheists (OA). AoC members are invited to join this OA meetup and/or OA Facebook group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/omnipresentatheists/ ) but are free to continue conversations on the AoC Facebook group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/columbusatheists/ ). AoC was founded in 2012 as a networking, social group for Central Ohio area humanists, skeptics, atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers, freethinkers, and the curious. It was a member of Columbus CoR and held weekly meetings, mostly on Fridays, for several years but then operated as an online only group for some time. In November 2018, Omnipresent Atheists (OA), a group that routinely meets on Tuesdays, invited AoC to merge. Omnipresent Atheists is a member of the Columbus Coalition of Reason (ColumbusCoR.org). Omnipresent Atheists is a member of the Columbus Coalition of Reason ( http://www.ColumbusCoR.org ). Omnipresent Atheists endorses the mission of the Secular Coalition for America ( http://secular.org ).

Monday December 29th at 6PM we'll be meeting up dinner at the Pies & Pints at Easton. Feel free to bring guests. Sandwiches run about $15 and large pizzas run $20-30.