It’s that time of year when Fresh takes a minute to go outside and play in the cold air. We closed the office for the afternoon, picked up our loved ones, and headed to Snoqualmie pass.

The accumulation of fresh snow at the pass added to the excitement and created more favorable conditions for the outdoor activities. Some chose to strap on snowshoes and explore, enjoying the quiet beauty of the snow-blanketed ground and gentle fall of snowflakes, while others grabbed sleds and took advantage of a nearby hill.

Let’s be clear about one thing: those of us who work for Fresh are not the type of people to hike to the top of a snowy hill and push children down it. No, we hop on our sleds and race them to the bottom (then if they lose, we’re already down there waiting to comfort them). No one matched Deanna’s excitement and exuberance for the sport.

As the sun and temperatures dropped, everyone headed indoors to enjoy the feast Nancy kindly, and expertly, prepared (with a little help from her husband, Jim, and Aunty Kirkland). Once bellies were filled it was time for races, that may have been designed with blackmail in mind.

While that may have crossed my mind as I watched the games unfold (well, that and fear the group was going to initiate new team members the way mafias take care of their problems), in reality they were a lot of fun. They brought out our silly and competitive sides as we raced to win gift cards. The biggest laughs of the evening came when we tied nylon stockings with oranges in to our belts and competed to putt other oranges from one side of the room to the other. By that point it became evident that we had been exposed to too much mountain air (Read: all the gift cards had been awarded) so the party wrapped up. We bundled up, packed our cars, and headed home to the city rejuvenated. Now, we are back to doing what we do best!