Christmas Eve 2014

The night before Christmas eve (some say Christmas Adam) we went for a Christmas lights drive with my family.  We barely all fit in our van and it was fun that we were all able to be together as we drove around and saw some houses.  We saw one of the houses that puts their lights to music which is always amazing!  I love Christmas lights and actually don't mind putting them up.  The past few years we have not done lights on our house because we don't have a ladder, but this coming year we are determined to change that.  Hopefully we will find a ladder at a garage sale this summer.  :)

During our Christmas Lights tour we stopped at the "tree of life" at draper park.  It is a huge willow tree that is decked out in lights and really does look like the pictures of the tree of life in Lehi's dream from the Book of Mormon.  Obviously it is much more impressive in person.  My camera does not do it justice.

Yeah my photos don't even come close to doing it justice...

Christmas Eve morning brought the beloved Cannon family breakfast with all of my dad's siblings and their children.  Grandma and Grandpa Cannon left a beautiful legacy and it is a special treat to be around those aunts, uncles, and cousins.  The food is DELICIOUS and chatting with everyone is just as fun. So much sweetness in one family.  We always come away feeling loved and appreciated.  That breakfast is one of my most favorite things of the Christmas season.  

I didn't take any pictures at this year's breakfast, but I did snag this picture from my cousin's blog (Thanks Betsy!).  Here are the 3 youngest Cannon family members.  Declin, Kimball, and Peter.  Three handsome little boys all born within a couple months of each other, held by their mothers.  I have some pretty impressive cousins that I look up to.  Cali and Betsy are definitely two of them.

  

After the breakfast we gave the kids naps and then headed out for a late lunch at The Pie Pizzeria.  It was yummy and pretty light which was good after our big breakfast.

Oh and I must mention that our little family (McKay I and the kids) were mildly sick the whole vacation.  We each had our moments of feeling quite sick and the kids each ran a fever one of the days after Christmas while we were in Utah.  Luckily it didn't really stop us from doing much (maybe it should have) but it did often leave the kids with some cranky attitudes off and on.  Luckily Christmas Eve was a fairly good day.  It was so nice to have pleasant children. 

The evening of Christmas Eve Corinne and Stu joined the rest of us for a light dinner (we aren't really into the whole Christmas dinner thing, we usually just have appetizers and the many goodies that people have given to us) of meatballs, cheese ball, sausage biscuits, and fruit.  After dinner we had a very small program and opened our new jammies from Dad/Grandpa.  Part of our program this year was playing some new bells that my mom had gotten.  Pretty fun, my dad took his part very seriously.  Adalyn also sang jingle bells and Uncle Stu read Luke 2.

And the traditional Christmas jammy photos 

Then off to bed!