In a nestled away botanical treasure, is the annual Luminaria event located at Ashton Gardens in Thanksgiving Point. The path is well lit with decorations and wonderful holiday music, that guides you not only through the joy of Christmas, but to a love of the holidays.
Here’s the reality — me, the guy who sends 150 Christmas cards a year, bakes 20-25 dozen Christmas cookies for others, has themed gift boxes for each member of the family, puts up two Christmas trees with distinct themes, and decorates each room in a different Christmas feel, had no holiday ho-ho-ho this year.
2021 has been unique. The pandemic really took a back-seat for me personally, although the effects of it were still seen everywhere. A lot of events and things have happened this year — which are great — but at the end of the day, my fuel tank was running on empty with fifty miles to the nearest refueling station.
Earlier this year, on a whim, I decided to book a plane ticket to Salt Lake City, somewhere that checked all three boxes: (1) I had never been there, (2) I knew no-one there, & (3) It was considerably away from Middle Tennessee. The last time I took a vacation that had no business relation, family relation, or Spiritual relation was the one trip my father and I took to Mississippi and Alabama to tour colleges — not ranking as a real vacation.
As the day drew nearer, I actually dreaded going: (1) Too much to do at the office, (2) Too much to do at home, (3) Needing to rest and traveling isn’t necessarily restful. Here’s why I’m glad I did.
I departed by Nashville Hotel at 4:30 a.m. for a 6:30 boarding time. (Yippee) I spent 4 ½ hours on the plane counting boarding time, and arrived in Salt Lake. I then picked up my rental car and drove 1 hour to my hotel, in a separate city north of Salt Lake. At this point, I’ve been either at an airport, on a plane, or in a car for roughly 8 hours and it’s only 12:00 MST. After a delicious Italian lunch and a superb coffee, I head back to my hotel room and begin planning when I will go where.
Utah has an amazing Public Transit System including a train that rides from Ogden to Provo with twelve stops along the way, departing every hour. I found this beautiful Christmas experience called Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi and knew I had to attend. The only problem? The only tickets available during my entire stay is at 5:00 that night. So, if I am going to attend the event, I have to be on the 2:08 train and it’s 2:30. I see that the 3:08 train has an arrival time in Lehi of 4:42 and it’s a 20 minute walk from the train track to the event, so I hurry over and buy a round trip ticket (for $7, each way, so very nice).
I ride into Salt Lake and realize that I can disembark here, and get a Lyft the rest of the way, which gets me to Ashton Gardens at 4:51. As I’m waiting for the doors to open, I wonder why in the world I’ve just spent another 2 hours traveling to now do a 1 mile walk. . . . Oh boy.
The doors open and somehow I get to be the first person on the path. The trek to the door is beautiful with white lights lining the path as the trees make an arch over the pavement. As the actual excursion begins, you hear Christmas music playing and come through tons of wonderful exhibits — Candy Cane Lane (Later in the Track), Northern Passage, Snowflake Lane, and so so much more!
There is a beautiful river bed that runs with lights set over to look as if the lights are the water moving with the sound of nature all around you. The park is filled with wonderful Christmas scents to really bring you the feelings of the season, there are games for children, hot cocoa stands, a little village to visit, places to stop and take photos for families, couples, or even singles! This place really is magical with a Christmas carousel, beautiful poinsettias, and don’t forget the real-life reindeer!
The best part though was the one exhibit that is NOT a holiday themed one. This is available to see year-round and if you are ever in the Salt Lake area, I highly recommend you take the trip to see it. The appropriately titled exhibit is called Light of the World. There are several statues made and placed throughout your walk that go through different events in the life and ministry of Christ Jesus. The attention to detail is phenomenal. The spot of Lazarus being called out of the tomb, if you travel behind it to stand directly behind Lazarus, you see plainly Christ calling with a light illuminating over Him. (While I don’t remember that from the Bible story, the image is nonetheless powerful) The imagery of the chicks hiding beneath the mother hen as Christ is gathering is moving, and the spot of Christ beckoning Thomas to come and see with the blemished skin very visible to where it was pierced, superb event.
I left the event, caught a ride to the train station and rode 1 hour and 40 minutes back to my rental car and then over to my hotel. I was humming Christmas music again, and I’ve yet to play Christmas music in my house. The event was wonderful and the photos (which I’ll share soon) of both the event and the separate Light of the World piece have had me looking back through them and considering the life of Christ more today.
Thank you Thanksgiving Point for giving me a little spirit back this holiday and for refreshing me even with over 10 hours of travel and a mile of walking. I’d planned to visit Salt Lake today — but let’s say I’m traveled out. Actually resting was a nice change too.
Let’s also throw in here that I’ve had massive writers block for months now, and I think it’s largely due to stress and overworking at times. Thanks for fixing that too!
~CW
You can check out the amazing Ashton Gardens and their events here: https://thanksgivingpoint.org/experience/ashton-gardens/
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