With the holidays in full swing, no doubt you've been inundated with listicles and all-caps headlines of the "Top 10 Things to Do This Christmas!" from pretty much every online outlet imaginable. 'Tis the season, after all.
I admit, though, I tend to read every one of them, especially if there's a Salt Lake City bent to the list.
In fact, I am so in love with discovering new things to do around the holidays that I recently solicited responses from people on my Instagram account, @SLSees. And when you call on the internet, the internet always responds.
Most of the answers revolved around pretty well-known activities: visiting the glühwein-free Christkindlesmarkt at This Is the Place Heritage Park, ice skating at the Gallivan Center and—the hands-down favorite—sauntering through Temple Square in awe of all the lights.
However, there were a few surprises mentioned as well.
To be truly wowed by lights, nothing is comparable to Frosty's Winter Wonderland on 18th Avenue, near Terrace Hills Drive (upper-right image). This over-the-top illumination would make even Clark Griswold proud, and—I imagine—their neighbors a little furious.
For me, though, it's hard to beat Glen Arbor Street in Sugar House, which temporarily rebrands itself as "Christmas Street" (upper-left image). I know there are better displays in the valley, but something about seeing a neighborhood collectively come together always leaves me feeling warm inside.
Of course, Christmas isn't the only holiday happening around this time of year. The annual window stroll at the Grand America Hotel at 555 S. Main downtown does a good job of chronicling celebrations from around the world with a series of 14 meticulously crafted displays. My personal favorite was the panel depicting the Hindu festival of Diwali (lower left image) in all its awesome colorfulness.
Also at the Grand America is an homage to seasonal gluttony: an impressive, oversize gingerbread house that took 950 hours and a literal ton of flour and sugar to construct (lower right). If this isn't what the holidays—any of them!—are about, then I don't know what is!
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