Our Magical Downtown Family Night Adventure

This year, Steve and I did not get tickets to our favorite Christmas concert put on by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. So apparently the only other festive activity that we could come up with was to take the kids to see the lights at Temple Square. Most people enjoy this activity and highly recommend it to their friends. However, our sojourn to the big city was wrought with many trials and tribulations, so we are going to think twice before attempting this as a family ever again.

Our evening started out with Steve arriving home at around 6:00 pm. I was mildly irritated at the kids, and somewhat frazzled at the thought of coming up with something to fix for dinner. Since it was also a Monday, one of us was going to have to come up with some sort of Family Night Activity. Steve, who had just driven home from Salt Lake suggested that we pick up something to eat and head back down to see the lights. This was an amazingly kind gesture on his part, because who really wants to drive to and from SLC twice in one day?

So we loaded up the kids and headed to the gas station to fill up the car and our bellies with food from Wendy’s. It seemed like everything we did took forever, plus, the chicken sandwiches had mayo on them and since mayo is poisonous, we had to go back and get more sandwiches. By the time we headed out, it was around 7:00 pm

We decided that since there was a Jazz game, we had better not try and find parking downtown, so we headed to a trax station around Trolley Square. In our mad rush to get out of the house, we did not have time to familiarize ourselves with the way trax works these days. We showed up with nothing but plastic to pay for our tickets, but the ticket kiosk only took cash. So more time was spent traipsing through the area to get cash from the nearest grocery store. This was not such a bad thing, because as soon as we entered the grocery store, magical fairies called to the children saying, “bathroom, bathroom, bathroom” so at least we got that part out of the way.

After we finally boarded the next train that came along, we discovered that the (green) train we were on was headed south instead of north. So we got off at the next stop which was the Library. This is where Steve decided that no matter how hard we tried, we would never ever in the history of the world be able to figure out which train would take us to the lights, so we must just walk the rest of the way.

So around 8:30 pm, Steve and I along with Jonathon, Thomas, Hannah, Libby, and Henry & Jack in strollers, headed off into the night with the assurances of Steve who said he knew where we were and how to get where we needed to be. I did not have my doubts about being able to find the Temple, I did, however, wonder how long it was going to take us to get there.

I will not lie, I was not a good sport about walking all that way. Amazingly, the kdis did not complain at all. Well, maybe they did, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was lost in my self pity, thinking in my head what I was going to say to Steve later when he tried to make us walk all the way back to the car. This was not a happy thought, so I focused on the passing trax cars and tried to figure out which color we should take to get back.

Shouts of joy abounded when we finally saw a giant glowing Christmas Tree from afar. Our pace quickened, and we were finally there. It truly was amazing, there is no doubt about it. Every time we go there, I have to wonder how many hours must have been spent on stringing all those lights on every branch and twig. We wandered around for a little bit, and then everyone was ready to go.

As we were heading out, the kids were all wondering if we were going to stop and get a treat or something. We tried explaining to them that since it was after 9:00, there were not any places that were open. Plus, both Steve and I were preoccupied with trying to figure out which train to get on.

It was nice that there was a trax station not too far from where we were, and by now I knew that we needed to get on either a red or yellow car. So we waited and waited and finally we saw the train coming towards us. The only problem was that we were waiting on the wrong part of the platform. The train passed us and stopped further on down from where we were. We had to move quickly to catch the doors before they closed. We really had to scramble to get everyone and the strollers moved without loosing anyone. Somehow, in the commotion, Thomas got tripped up and biffed it on the pavement.

Steve was already at the train door, but looked back to see Thomas on the ground and was about to let the door close when It magically opened and more people got off the train. Thomas was up and on his way, but I had to make a split second decision. Jack had dropped my gloves and I wasn’t sure if I could to back and get them and still make it before the train left. In my mind, it was like a scene from the movies and I was moving in slow motion. I ran back, grabbed the gloves and made it onto the train just in time. In the movies, all the people on the train would have clapped for us. In real life, they didn’t but there were a couple of very nice gentlemen who stood up so that we could all sit down together.

We got back to the car around 10:00 pm. I could not have been happier. Steve felt bad and apologized for making us go through the whole thing. The kids were still whining about wanting goodies and treats. Me and Steve just wanted to get home, so we put our invisible earplugs in and ignored them until they all fell asleep. After that, it was a pleasant drive home.

So, if we do attempt this again in the future, at least we will know what not to do.