Christmas Lights at Temple Square

My parents' Christmas present to all the kids was to take us up to Salt Lake for the weekend after Christmas. Saturday morning my mom took me and my sisters shopping and bought us each something of our choice. I got a long gray sweater that I love!!! While we were shopping, the boys all went to the Gateway Mall, and the dads took the kids to the children's museum, which the kids loved, but the dads thought was too packed and crazy. My dad took all the boys to a Jazz/Celtics game that evening, and all the girls and the kids went to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.

We started our little excursion by going up to the top floor of the Joseph Smith building and looking down on the temple and the lights, which is a gorgeous view. The kids thought it was pretty cool to look down through the windows, but they were a little too loud and rowdy to keep up there for long, especially around all the people waiting in the lobby to go into the restaurants. So after a few good pictures we headed out to the grounds. It was fun to be out there, because the whole area was packed (more even than during General Conference), and it was snowing. All the lights are just amazing, and I really admire the people who have the patience and dedication to hang them. The kids thought the whole thing was magical and even held still to listen to the audio presentation that they play along with the main nativity scene. After that we went up to hear Christ speak at the Christus, and by then they were pretty much ready to go. We ended the night by stopping at McDonald's for ice cream (just what we wanted after a freezing cold night outdoors!), and it was very pleasant, especially without the boys, who sometimes have a way of grumbling a little too much during experiences like that. :-)