Home for the holidays special in small towns

George: I thought you’d go back to New York like Sam and Angie and the rest of them.

Mary: Oh, oh, I worked there a couple of vacations. But…I don’t know… I, I guess I was homesick.

George: Homesick? For Bedford Falls?

Mary: Yes, and my family and… oh, everything.

— From ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ RKO Radio Pictures, 1946

Bedford Falls may be the quintessential, if mythic, small town, but all over the Washington area you’ll find a bit of Bedford Falls. And just in time for Christmas, the region’s small towns have decked themselves out into large-scale versions of those winter villages that folks like to put up this time of year.

Forget the strip malls and the fast-food palaces on the bypass. Turn off the highway and head for any “Main Street,” where the grand old mansions of a bygone age point the way to town. Here the businesses have been around for a while, the banks have unfamiliar names, and life slows down long enough to savor — all of which make a small-town Christmas something special.

Easton, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, likes to call itself “the eighth best small town in America,” and its Christmas celebrations are fairly typical.

Like many small towns, Easton’s Christmas festivities took a hiatus when the suburbs started opening up. Longtime businesses suffered, taking off for the nether regions or closing up altogether. Now new businesses have moved into old storefronts, bringing an interesting mix of antiques, craft, coffee shops and one-of-a-kind shops for the curious.

And what better way to signal the change than with a traditional Christmas parade?

In Easton, the folks start gathering early for the parade held in early December. They huddle in the parking lot of the local paint store or under the pools of light that splay out from the street lamps along Dover Street.

Back by the old train station, floats bedecked with lights and ribbons arrive with participants already singing. A few hardy onlookers even stake out choice viewing areas along the parade route with lawn chairs, just like they would on Memorial or Independence Day.

But it’s dark and it’s freezing, the temperature dropping almost as fast as the notes from the flatbed hauling the Easton Elementary School band.

“It’s going to start getting exciting,” says Kendra Gibson, 12, who has found herself a place just across the street from Santa. “When that happens, you don’t get cold any more.”

Story Continues →