SLC Christmas: December 28th Saturday

This morning Jeff and I headed out for yoga while Bernie and Meowsie slept in.

No photos are allowed at 24 hr fitness, but this morning I took several pictures there with my heart.

It meant so much to me that my son asked me if I wanted to join him in a fitness class, and to work out beside him. The little boy that I loved so much has become a tall and strong man, on many levels. As the haunting Irish music played and we went through the various yoga poses in sync, I felt so welcomed in his life. It was a blessing that I didn't expect, and an event that was very precious to me, a gift that he cares about my well being and was not ashamed to have his mom with him at the front of a large class of people of all ages and shapes, men and women, all moving and stretching in unison.

I did get a laugh too...in the ladies locker room there were two very beautiful young women freshening their make up after their work out. Their bodies and hair and skin were flawless. As I washed up, I overheard their conversation:

"Yes, that mirror makes you look pale. The one over there makes you look fat, so you want to keep coming and working out, and that mirror makes you look thin."

Believe me...when I checked, I looked exactly the same in each of the mirrors.
Darn it.
I would never had thought to assign editorial powers to the mirrors! But when you are totally beautiful, I guess you can notice small variations in your glory.

After we got back home, we loaded Bernie into the car and headed out to look at open houses in the Sugar House and Highland Park area of SLC. Sugar House is an area that was built between 1900-1930, with cottage/doll house style houses, with a central "village" and parks. The whole area looks like a village that you would collect for a display. Jeff is interested in perhaps buying a house in the area, and we are also considering a move to SLC in the future, so we wanted to scope out the area.

It takes *a lot* to think about living in a cottage after living in Houston. 12 ft ceilings in Houston have me spoiled, the 7 ft ceilings in the cottages worry me. I'm used to closets the size of the cottage living room!
It would be a life style decision; we could get a Texas style house in SLC, but it would be in the suburbs without all the quaint qualities of Sugar House.

Oh boy...I HAVE been SO spoiled by Texas housing!

After looking at a few houses, we came back so the guys could catch *another* football game. I bailed, went upstairs and curled up with Meowsie on the bed and caught up with my BGF Gail in Colorado Springs.

Until the game was over.
Hey...what ever floats your boat, right?

Jeff then drove me over to Temple Square to see the light display there. It was a rush trip; two major games are on tonight, but we could get to the Temple and back and not miss anything.

The Square was traced with bags gilded with various words in foreign languages, such as "Rejoice" written in Burmese as above.

And "Love" in Hebrew. There were words spelled out in American Sign Language, in Braille, in Hindi... if it was a language, it was represented.

The edgeless water pool reflected the trees beautifully.

You can see the bags lined up on the side of the picture above.

There is just something about a tree of glowing red fairy lights.

There were several scenes; the white Shepherd and white sheep in the snow was charming.

Me under the red tree. If I could figure out how to use my Adobe Photoshop program, I could have erased all the other people in this scene.

The snow started falling as we walked the Square, and in the distance we could see the Utah State Capitol building. Jeff lived on the mountain just above the dome for two years. The dome was being re-done the whole time, and was always covered with scaffolding. Now that he has moved it is shining brightly without the offending scaffolding.

Magical snow and colors.

Jeff standing on a walkway beneath a canopy of orange fairy lit trees.

A guy saw Jeff taking my picture, and asked if he could take a picture of us together for us. Isn't that nice? We always try to remember to offer to do that for people, it was very nice to have someone do that for us.

A star as I would imagine the Star of Bethlehem might have looked.

Years ago, when I first visited Salt Lake City to do some family research, I visited Temple Square. I loved this sculpture of a little girl looking at the new baby being held over her mother's shoulder. The girl's expression is so glowing and her posture is so wonderful...

A water feature runs through the Square and reflects the trees beautifully.

There were several versions of the Nativity scene, as expressed in various cultural dress.

This is my other favorite sculpture. The young mother dancing in play with her children. It is joyous and tender at the same time. A beautiful celebration of family love.

Another Nativity scene....

Orange, red and white trees....so rich and warm looking in the snow.

It obviously is a great place to bring children, and young couples walk hand in hand enjoying the magical colors.
I've seen brides being photographed there as well, with white velvet capes and hoods with fur edging. One bride's cape had a scarlet satin lining.

Magical.

After we got home again, Jeff whipped up albacore sandwiches for dinner, and now the guys are watching the games while I blog.

Outside the snow is still falling in steady dime sized flakes.

The fifth day of Christmas had many golden moments for me.

I think I liked each of them better than any golden rings.