Christmas with the Leshers, Leisters, and Potts

The Sunday before Christmas mom's side of the family all got together for a little dinner, white elephant exchange, and a few games.  The white elephant gift exchange as well as the games was a tradition started last year and has carried over into this year.  I'm hoping it becomes a regular tradition as it seems as though almost everyone enjoys.  Grammy got a book and a jump rope but it was later stolen.  My mother ended up stealing a gift from my grandfather.  I got some Japanese Cherry Blossom Bath Soap - sweet!  These kinds of things happen during white elephant exchanges.  

Mom has 3 sisters, 1 of which was not in attendance.  Gram and Pap are from the coal region, the place where my mother was raised.  We keep things simple and had pigs in the blanket for lunch.  I forgot to mention they are also Pennsylvania Dutch so the pigs in the blankets may not be what you are thinking.  It's meatballs with rice or sausage wrapped in cabbage and cooked in a tomato sauce - tasty.  Here are a few of the photos from our Christmas celebration.  

(Pap, Tossie making the face, and Annie with the cute Santa hat)

(Aunt June - she gets it and we get along really well)

(Nick and Annie.  Nick's in the Dominican Republic at the moment so I'll probably be taking a month to visit him at some point.)

(Grammy with her book and jump rope)

(Aunt Sue getting her first white elephant gift)

(Aunt June got some coffee)

(It was later stolen and I can't quite remember what she got next)

(Annie picking out her gift)

(She got a candle)

(Aunt Sue back again for more - I think her gift was stolen 2 or 3 times... she was a good picker)

(Mr. ended up with some oranges)

(Pap got a ceramic book filled with snickers.  My mother stole it.)

(We did a word search to start.  My sister and I cheated and therefore ended up finding the most.  We claimed it was a 'Christmas miracle' that we found the exact same 16 words.  We later fessed up and forfeited our prize.)

(Mom taking it all in as the word search took place)

(Aunt June searching for words)

(Gram looking while Pap is trying to go to sleep)

(We then moved on to play 'Are You Smarter than a 3rd Grader.'  No one was and the highest score was 6, which should have been 7 because muscles produce lactic acid...)

(Uncle Dave and Aunt Sue)

(More questions from the 3rd grader)

(Bella helping open gifts)

Goodbye Seattle Hello Hershey

Made my way back East in time for the holidays.  I've always thought flying into Harrisburg there should be at least one person on the flight I know.  I guess Harrisburg's bigger than I thought as this had yet to happen.  Well, on this flight I did know someone - Monty Garrabrant - father of 2 kids I used to play hockey with and who also lives about 3 minutes down the road.  It's been a busy 10 days since arriving home.  I've had this post ready to go for quite some time now, just haven't had a chance to update.  

It's also been nice to be back home for the holidays and just had a great Christmas with friends and family.  I have a unique family, this is certain.  Stay tuned for Christmas photos...  

Anyway, here are a few final moments from Seattle and some decorating/baking from Hershey.  Enjoy and I hope you had/have a Happy Holiday season!

(The day before I left Joel, Momo, and MJ caught a fever.  Momo wasn't feeling very well so I decided to keep an eye on MJ.  Buddy wasn't too far away, either.)

(He fell asleep in my arms which was an amazing feeling)

(He's out)

(Time to wrap gifts.  An unknown little tidbit about me - I hate wrapping gifts.)

(My nephew and I were able to decorate the Christmas Tree.  This happened about 4 days before Christmas.)

(Putting a few ornaments on)

(Getting a few more out of the box)

(This shot was posed)

(Finalized)

(The angel at the top...  there was most certainly a color scheme taking place)

(Mom likes nutcrackers.  When asked why she said, 'I don't know.  I just do.'  And so there are lots of nutcrackers.)

(Time to bake some Christmas cookies.  Unbeknownst to me this has become a family tradition.)

(Nephew and Mom as we start to bake)

(First on the list was pumpkin cookies)

(THe little guy is measuring the dry ingredients)

(Doing a bit of mixing)

(Time to put the cookie dough on a cookie sheet)

(First patch of Pumpkin cookies is ready for the oven)

(Sister arrived in the nick of time to lend a hand)

(We were making pecan tarts...)

(I'd get the dough out, G Unit was supposed to be rolling the dough into balls, and Nana was smushing.  At 1 point, possibly 2 the roles changed.)

(Pecan Tarts ready for the oven)

(Pumpkin cookies cooked - my favorite is with raisins)

(Sis and Ma making some chocolate chip cookies)

(This shot was staged)

(And here's my sister's grin to show how staged the shot was...)

Seattle Downtown Part II (The Pike Brewing Company & Seattle Art Museum)

After making my way from Olympic Sculpture Park up past Pike Place I found myself at The Pike Brewing Co.  I noticed it as I ventured down Post Alley as well as looking at places to go online.  You actually pass the back entrance as you make your way towards the gum wall.  So, I decided to stop in and grab some lunch and try out their beer selection.  The food was good.  I was not impressed by the beer.  I had a Dungeness crab chowder which was quite tasty and some poutine (I guess I was craving a taste of Canada after living there for 6 months).  The poutine was definitely American style, that's for sure.

After lunch I made my way to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM).  There was a special on Peru and kind of made me want to visit.  I should find myself in South America in the near future so this shouldn't be a problem.  There was a lot of interesting pieces although I must say I'm not a huge fan of contemporary art.  A few of the pieces it kind of looked like I could have made them, and for those of you who do not know, I'm not very artistic.  I did like how you are able to take pictures and I think I may have gotten a few good ones.  Enjoy.  

I'll be making my way back to 'The Sweetest Place on Earth' tomorrow and am looking forward to seeing family, friends, and family friends.  I must say, I do love my life at the moment and feel like whatever track I'm on, it is the right one!

 (The Pike Brewing Co. as viewed from Post Alley)

(The Gum Wall once more.  Down and to the left is the back entrance to The Pike Brewing Co.) 

 (This was a Photo Op but seeing as how I was by myself you'll have to just imagine me in the photo)

 (The brewery was on the bottom floor and was quite big.  The brewing operation made its way to the 2nd floor at times and this was one of the photos from the 2nd floor.)

(This was a view from the 2nd floor down into the restaurant area.  There was a lot of these plates as well as memorabilia throughout the restaurant.)

 (Here's a view from inside the restaurant - notice all the memorabilia)

 (The coaster on the right as you are looking at the photo reminded me of a special person in my life so I took this photo)

 (More of the plates)

(And some more memorabilia)

 (Seattle Art Museum from 1st Ave.)

(Signs for SAM)

 (Caterpillar Man 1)

(Caterpillar Man 2)

 (This 'plump' woman caught my attention)

(An interesting piece from Africa)

 (Some contemporary art)

 (This was perhaps my favorite piece in the museum.  There are nails, a lot of them, in this statue.)

 (I also liked this 2 headed glass.  I wonder if you can find these for sale?)

 (Lion armrest)

(Speakers made into art)

(This door had me pondering - not the door itself but rather wondering about the people that passed through it...)

(Immediately as you enter SAM you see these cars)

(This picture was taken at the end of my time in SAM from an opposite angle and a floor lower than the previous shot, possibly 2 floors)

 (I took a picture of this because I thought it was terrible.  I thought it was terrible because I could have painted this.  However, I didn't and so this person's artwork is in a museum and not mine.)

(This was a modern Native American piece and I really liked this part of the museum)

(A modern soul catcher.  Soul catchers were used when a patient was put in a trance to make sure the spirit wouldn't leave this world.)

(This is an older soul catcher made out of bone)

 (More Native American art)

(This was a fun piece of art)

 (Another headpiece)

(Rope)

(This vase was made out of glass)

(This was my artsy shot for the day)