Christmas Time in SLC

Every year since I was a little girl, my family has picked a night in December to head into downtown Salt Lake City. We always start at Trolley Square for some shopping & dinner. One of the kids' favorite placess to go is always Pottery Barn Kids. They love playing with all the toys that are scattered throughout the store. And, we discovered that Santa has a 10th reindeer named Vivvie...


After playing in Pottery Barn Kids, we headed to Brookstone with play with the big kid toys...

Then it was time for dinner. We always go to Old Spaghetti Factory, a family favorite. Ashlee & Greg's family met us there just in time to eat. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture. After dinner, Ashlee & Greg's family left to get their family to bed (they weren't out for Christmas break yet) & the rest of us took the train over to Temple Square to see the lights...

When we got there, we asked a lady to take a picture of all of us in front of the reflecting pool & the temple, but apparently, she didn't think the temple was all that important...

And, yes, I promise Vivvie is in her seat. She fell asleep on the way over to Temple Square, so we just covered her up with her blankets & then threw the snowsuit she was supposed to wear on top for some added layers. Just thought I should explain that so it doesn't look like Mike is a crazy guy carrying around a car seat of blankets & an empty snowsuit. Looks kind of funny in the pictures.

I thought the lights were pretty good this year. They've cut back on the amount of lights in past years, but I thought there were more this year...

Eventually, we got a good picture of our family in front of the temple, thanks to Poppy...

Once we were frozen to the bone, we stepped into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to warm up for a few minutes...

And then we took the train to Channel 2 for some hot chocolate from the Starbucks machine. That is seriously the best hot chocolate in the world! After that, we headed home. I always look forward to this tradition each year. I love downtown at Christmas time. Not only is Temple Square all lit up, but Gallivan Plaza is as well & all the trees on all the major streets have lights on them too. It's quite the sight! I love it! --Lindsay