This week, my very very good friend Sharlene’s sister’s friend Kimmy won tickets to the standing room only section of the National Christmas Tree Lighting Lottery. Four of them! And she invited Sharlene, Pinkus and I to join her (Thanks Kimmy! You are a rock star!)

Sharlene and I arrived first and as we neared the back of the White House, we realized the line was more than a few blocks long and snaked around the plaza like a Disney Land line with no rope! 

Thankfully, Sharlene was fully prepared and had packed a couple of adult juice boxes.

Our friend Dawn arrived. And by arrived I mean Pinkus talked her through finding us within the crowd of 20,000 in spite of the fact that the line was moving so quickly at the end, we were sprinting to keep up.

We made it through security and into the our area but discovered we couldn’t see much from the standing room only section. Sharlene began weaving her way through the crowd. The rest of us followed. She got to an area in the back where they were letting people through one at a time. We all just got in line and next thing we knew we were in the seated section, a hundred yards from the stage.

That’s when I discovered that the entire warm up act was the navy jazz band. And I think we all know how I feel about jazz! Sharlene and Dawn tried to distract me by skatting crazy christmas lyrics, and then Sharlene busted out the Triscuts and M&Ms she packed for us, which although they looked dusty, were the pretzel variety and totally delicious.

The temperature continued to plummet. 

Finally, Dougie Howser came out and began to introduce the event participants. First up was the First Family.

Also appearing was Jason Mraz, Phillip Phillps, some blonde girl in a skimpy dress, Ledisi, Baby Face, and James Taylor.

The Fray performed as well, and during the show asked the President if he had been a good boy. When President Obama nodded, they said they doubted it, they’d herard he had been golfing with Republicans (rimshot!). We left as James Taylor began, hoping to beat the crowd.

We decided to conclude the night’s festivities with a happy hour. Along the way, Sharlene stopped to sing some Christmas Carols.

We passed the White House.

And finally ended up at Toscana West.

A couple of mojitos and two pizzas later, we called it a night. 

Happy holidays, friends!