I don’t care what denomination you are (or aren’t). If you want to get into the Christmas spirit, Temple Square in Salt Lake City will send you into overdrive. The headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has literally thousands of festive lights, nativities, lanterns and garlands that set the city ablaze. In addition to the visual feast, the Church organizes a lineup of holiday concerts and other events that offer visitors acoustic experiences full of holiday cheer.
We made an evening of it with Jamie’s sister, the Twinnies and his mom by starting out at the newish City Creek Center’s Deseret Book. Our family tradition is when the kids turn 8 and get baptized, they each get their own beautiful set of leather-bound scriptures from the Deseret Book flagship store (Bode will have to wait until this summer to be given his).
Though we’ve been to Temple Square several times, the kids have never done an official tour so that is what we did. Two hundred “sister” missionaries are called from all over the world to serve here and speak more than 40 languages. I walked into the South Visitor’s Center and I queried the sister at the front desk.
“We are wondering when you are offering your next tour?”
“They’re actually on-demand.”
“OK, I’m demanding it.”
I assure you it came off funnier in person.
It has been years since I’ve toured the various buildings on Temple Square and I loved how technologically advanced the exhibits are and the beautiful spirit as we learned about the Assembly Hall, Tabernacle, North and South Visitor’s Center, Welfare Square, Family History Library and of course, the cornerstone of it all: the fairy-tale-esque Salt Lake Temple, which took 40 years for the Saints to complete.
The famous Christus in the North Visitor’s Center
We visited all my favorite haunts including the Lion House Pantry, cafeteria-style dining in the Historic Home of Brigham Young. We didn’t stay for dinner but grabbed the most delectable item on earth: Lion House rolls.
I’m not kidding when I say I could have eaten every single one of them.
The top floor of the adjacent Joseph Smith Memorial Building offers the best views looking down on Temple Square.
Photographer Bode’s photos of Temple Square
Lion House rolls and hot chocolate for dinner?
This was a picture-perfect evening surrounded by beloved family and sites that warmed my heart.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 