In less than a week Washington will become George W. Bush country and the city is preparing for the event.
As it has every four years for the last two centuries, Washington DC will hold its most important official function on Saturday - the swearing-in of the president of the United States.
In an interview with the New York Times published in its Sunday edition, Mr Bush said he hoped to keep his inaugural address to just 12 minutes, based on the message that "we can be a unified America". But he said the theme was not related to his slim victory in the Electoral College and his loss in the popular vote to his Democratic rival, the Vice-President, Mr Al Gore.
The ceremony was simpler 200 years ago when the then small town held its first inauguration. Thomas Jefferson walked from his boarding house to take the oath of office and then returned to his residence for dinner.
Dinners are a lot fancier nowadays.
Beginning on Thursday and continuing until Saturday, hotels and public buildings will be awash with food and drink as revellers celebrate Mr Bush being the first president to take the oath of office in the 21st century.
The President-elect, Vice-president-elect, Mr Dick Cheney, and their families will attend some of the festivities, but for most it will just be a time to party.
The former first lady, Mrs Barbara Bush, will become the first woman ever to see both her husband and her son take the oath of office. Mr George W. Bush is only the second person to follow his father to the White House with John Quincy Adams being the first in 1825. But Adams's mother Abigail was not alive at the time of his inauguration.
The family contingent will include the new president's father, the former president, Mr George Bush, and also his siblings and their families, including his brother, Mr Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida, where the election was decided.
