The Grand America Holiday Events - Out and About in Utah

I've been away from my computer (I checked my email on Saturday) since Wednesday morning. Besides trying to take a break from the addiction that is blogs, Facebook and Amazon.com, I was having much too much fun with my family this holiday.

Friday evening, Utah Dad, the kids and I joined my brother-in-law at The Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City for the first annual "A Grand Holiday Festival". There were lots of Christmas lights, music and free food. I overheard one girl tell her dad, "this isn't your typical free food. This is good free food." And it was. Rich, hot cocoa. Wassail. Warm scones with honey butter. Toasted almonds. Good free food.

My second favorite part of the evening was the magnificent ginger bread houses on display. My brother-in-law's good friend Fernanda is the creator of the amazing church with an actual moving water wheel (pictured below) and another house. She and the other artisans did some awesome things with cookies and candy. We were all very impressed.

 

If you happened to miss the Festival last Friday night, you can still see the the Gingerbread houses on display at the Grand America Hotel through the month of December. The First Annual Teddy Bear Town will also be open through the Christmas season. Check the hotel's website for times and dates of other community activities during the month.

The kids also got to decorate their own ginger bread cookies. They loved that.

 

As a fun bonus, we happened to see ourselves enjoying the ginger bread houses on KUTV Channel 2 News. We all had a great time and it was a unanimous decision that we attend the Second Annual Grand Holiday Festival next year.