Christmas Lights at Thanksgiving Point

The Monday after Christmas SM's side of the family decided to change their tradition of seeing lights at Temple Square, to seeing lights at Thanksgiving Point. The main reason for the location change wasn't about the lights but the way they are viewed. They wanted to see lights from the comfort of their vehicles. No more kids whining about how much further they have to walk or how cold they were.

And it worked! No more whining kids and a great way to see lights. We were in four separate vehicles...and I believe we were all in vans...and we paid our eight dollars and drove threw the lights. There was music playing outside and the lights were delightful.

We led the pack and stopped often to take pictures of the lights. Some pictures turned out great and others were full of streaks of color. Both represent the beauty of Christmas lights.

And after the lights had ended, there was beautiful murals representing Jesus's birth which led the way up to the main building at Thanksgiving Point.

We all got out of our vehicles at the main building. We were told they had live reindeer which we all wanted to see. What we didn't realize is really how cold it was outside. SO COLD!

When I told SM and his Mom to smile, they both tried and failed. It was simply too cold for smiles.

But the little ones were bundled and smiling. They loved visiting the reindeer. A few of them even had a chance to feed the reindeer a few reindeer pellets. I was amazed at how the older nieces and nephews were afraid of getting bitten while a few of the youngest kiddos had no fear.

This reindeer was so gentle and sweet. Along the bars of the enclosure for the reindeer were plaques telling facts about reindeer. They are really resilient animals and can live in all sorts of difficult climates and land. I guess that's why they are in the tundra, they can live there without any problems.

We gathered around a small flame trying to warm ourselves but found that we were still very cold. Eventually everyone gathered into one of the shops at Thanksgiving Point, where we were able to warm up and get ready to leave into the night.

We gathered for hot chocolate and donuts at Grandma and Grandpa's house after the light viewing. As you can see from the smiles above, we had a wonderful time! I love family traditions, even the new ones.