Am looking for a return flight IAD - ISB - IAD for end of December (Dec. 17th till Jan. 2nd) this year in economy but the prices are through the roof for those dates. The cheapest I can find is upper $2000. Is this normal price for this time of the year or is there a route I can fly to get a cheaper price? The choice of the airline does not matter.

Apologies if this is not the right forum for the question above or if the question is even appropriate to ask on Flyertalk