Holidays on my Mind!

I awoke this morning to more color than I've seen outside my window all season. Though it was too cool to go out and take a photograph, I saw such a brilliant display of reds and oranges and yellows in the woods beyond our apartment complex and lining the small side-street that runs by my building. No matter how you feel when you wake up, to look outside and see something that lovely with the backdrop of a boundless blue autumnal sky is truly amazing. I know some areas have already given up their color and have now lost their leaves, but here in Raleigh we're largely in peak. There are only a couple of trees that have already given up the fight with the forthcoming winter and dropped their foliage.

And with autumn passing and winter on its way, I'm also reminded that Thanksgiving is two weeks from today! When I next continue my "Healthy Thanksgiving Ideas" series, is there anything you'd like me to cover as far as your favorite holiday dishes? Let me know! I'd love to find or cultivate the perfect healthy recipe for you and yours!

And here's an admission of my guilty pleasure... Has anyone delved into their Christmas music collection yet? I've been listening to classical Christmas music via iTunes radio, as well as Christmas jazz and Celtic winter songs. I can't help myself. And it's so much more beautiful than all the songs with silly lyrics and pop beats and so forth, everyone trying to take over the song with their often not-so-good versions. There are very few Christmas "hits" out each season that I even remotely like, and I am more content listening to my Christmas classical piano compact disc in my car or having some Christmas swing/big band music playing in the background of my home. To me, it makes for a more peaceful and, well, naturally enjoyable holiday season. What about you?