Temple Lights of Mesa

As a child, I remember making family trips to Salt Lake City to visit the Christmas lights of Temple Square. It was always incredible, with every square inch of trees being covered in bright, cheerful lights. However, it was almost impossible to withstand the negative temperatures while still enjoying the festive surroundings. Even hot chocolate didn't do much to warm us up at we wandered the grounds in downtown Salt Lake!

The Mesa Temple also has a Christmas Lights display each December, but it is much more pleasant to be outside.

Reasons Mesa Temple Lights Are Better

1) I was wearing a light jacket and not shivering.

2) There isn't a single patch of snow to be seen within one-hundred miles.

3) Everything gets translated into Spanish after being spoken in English.

4) We could visit the same spots of wedding pictures taken two years ago.

5) I still had hot chocolate, but it wasn't necessary to sustain life.

6) Not once did I have to avoid a pile of manure from horse-drawn carriages.

7) We drove eight minutes to reach the temple grounds, as opposed to almost two hours.

8) Two words: Palm trees.

Deck The Halls...And Everything Else

Let it be known...I happen to think Christmas is awesome. And when the time comes around each year to finally put up and decorate the tree, I begin to feel like an excited little kid yet again. Christmas was always a big deal when I was growing up. Without a better way to describe it, this time of year is simply magical! I love when the holidays begin!

I had forgotten how little effort the tree really takes to assemble. Two years ago, we bought it from Costco. John surprised me that week after I arrived home from work with the tree up and lit. He really is romantic. So I let him do the honor of assembling again this year, because that's how I roll. After checking that all the lights were working, we added the red tinsel garland. We also bought a huge container of ornaments from Costco a few years ago, and they do quite the job in making the tree look perfect. Perhaps the best thing about having the tree finished is being able to sit on the couch each evening to enjoy the beautiful glow. I discovered last night that it's even prettier without contacts! Blurry, but pretty! I am glad we have it up. I am already dreading that awful day when society insists I take it down. July will be here before I know it.

Inside the decorations tub, I found my favorite book as a kid, Jolly Old Santa Claus. I took a moment to flip through the pages again, and I still love it! Every scene is full of hundreds of things to enjoy! Each elf is doing something fun, and the artwork is just incredible. It doesn't feel like Christmas until this thing is out. I am reading it at the Ward Christmas Party this Friday...that's how much I like it!

Great news: the Christmas lights outside work like a charm! They are subtle but colorful, and I love them. They last about eight hours, so they turn off automatically after the juice is gone from the solar-charged battery. That's good for us to be automatic, since we have a tendency to accidentally leave things on all night (I'm talking to you, Pool Refill Hose). I didn't know if the lights were a good purchase, but now I'm tickled I found them!

I'm off to go stare at the tree. It's so pretty that I can hardly resist! I love Christmas!

Christmas Lights Sneak Peek

For some unknown reason, we've been too busy to put up our Christmas tree. This is very uncharacteristic of me, and quite frankly, I am scared to death of these uncharted waters! We finally found a few hours yesterday to hang the Christmas lights on the house. I found a smokin' deal on Black Friday for solar-powered LED Christmas lights, and they happened to have multi-colored strands, which is a personal necessity for Christmas. I accidentally bought a few boxes of lights and proceeded to force my man onto the roof to put them in place.

The job ended up being more laborious than we expected. The previous owners left approximately fourteen-million rusted nails from previous decorating attempts. We had to first remove those, then drill tiny holes for the newly-purchased hook fasteners to go in. Then the lights were strung from hook to hook, and my husband tried to evenly space them without me even having to ask! Maybe my OCD tendencies are rubbing off? After the lights were up on portions of the house that were accessible by a step ladder, John prematurely played Santa Claus by climbing up on the rooftop. Click click click. While he was up there, he finished adding the remainder of the lights.

Now the fun part. Since the lights are solar-powered, they need to get about ten hours of sunlight before properly working. They charge all day then automatically turn on at dusk. Honestly, what will they think of next? The hard part for me is that after all my (John's, really) hard work, I have to wait another day to see our (John's, really) results! There really is nothing like owning a home to teach patience! And we woke up this morning to an overcast and rainy day...one of three that we get annually. Thankfully, the solar-powered lights claim to be able to charge from the sun, even if it is hiding behind clouds.

Hopefully, tonight will be the reveal! I can hardly wait! Now, if we could only figure out when to put up the tree!