Having lived in Salt Lake City (SLC), UT, and Los Angeles, I can recommend places in both cities.

In SLC, check out Temple Square at night with all its lights and floral displays. Just across the street south of it, the MACY’S has its windows decorated by local non-profits. For indoors, reserve a free (for everyone) ticket in advance for the yearly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s annual Christmas concert at the Conference Center north of Temple Square. (You can watch the prior year’s concert on America’s PBS TV network on Christmas Eve.) Nearby, at the 5-star Grand America hotel, you can see the decorated windows of the indoor boutique shops. There’s an activity for the kids, which leads to a huge and real 6-7 foot gingerbread house.

For Los Angeles, all of our outdoor trendy malls decorate for the holidays. (The celebrities go there.) At Olvera Street, the actual birthplace of the City of Los Angeles, there’s the annual Las Posadas. (For those not familiar, Las Posadas is a Mexican tradition that recreates the struggle Joseph and Mary went through in finding a place to stay in Bethlehem.) Olvera Street is about 80% accessible, but it still has the same buildings from the past, so it’s a valid reason for not being 100%.