Lights - Personal Blog #2

By Brad Thomson

Why hello personal blogs, we meet again. I can’t say I’m excited to see you, but nevertheless, you are necessary. Where will you take us today? Temple Square you say? Yet again? Come now personal blogs. Surely you would not be as redundant as this. But it’s Christmas now? What does that have to do with anything? Oh, but of course . The lights. How silly of me.

Those lights. They get put up every year after thanksgiving. My family used to travel to Salt Lake nearly every Christmas to visit my grandparents, and that was a traditional stop. As such it was nice to go back and reminisce. A few things are different than this year than in the past.

As always, hundreds of people flock to the square nightly, and lights are everywhere. Pretty typical of Temple Square, but unlike last year, the squares famed cedar of Lebanon tree is lighted. The tree is one of the oldest and tallest in the vicinity, and because of this, a decision was made to only light it every other year. It is hoped that it will improve the lifespan of the tree.

Temple Square is not the only lighted area of town, several businesses have elaborately decorated their shops and the trees of downtown are all aglow. Mostly a blue glow. It turns out that blue lights are being place around the city in support of the Utah Jazz, Salt Lake’s NBA team. Blue trees can be seen on most major downtown streets.

There are also an increased number of LED lights this year. These last longer and are more energy efficient, saving Salt Lake taxpayers a significant amount in electricity bills.

Yay lights! You are bright, pretty, and make me feel all warm in fuzzy inside at Christmas time. Especially here in Salt Lake, where you appear everywhere and light up Temple Square.