This year will be different.

November 1st - all thoughts of Fall and pumpkins and cider seem to fall away as we move into the holiday season.

25 days til Thanksgiving
53 days til Christmas
60 days left til the end of the year!

Popular belief is that people gain 5 to 10 pounds around the holidays. However, according to the NIH and the New England Journal of Medicine, it's actually closer to around 1 pound for the average person. Well, except if you're already overweight, apparently the gain really is closer to 5 pounds!

I am going to be making a concentrated effort to find healthy treats to bake instead of the cookies and fudge I've made in years past. I also plan to look for healthier alternatives to some of the calorie and fat ridden recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But not all of them. There are some things deserving of a special treat, a splurge - like Pioneer Woman mashed potatoes!

One of the best things about being the one who hosts holidays and cooks is just that - I'm the one cooking and controlling what's on the table. I enjoy the planning, the shopping, the cooking, but probably most of all - the sharing of a great meal.

This weekend we're celebrating Thad's birthday and I'm cooking at home - Friday night for my family and Saturday night for some friends. Then I'll move on to planning Thanksgiving, then Christmas goodies and dinner, then our NYE party.

I'm back to going to Jazzercise daily and loving it. They have an attendance challenge going on right now to come 20 times between now and the end of the year and you get this little bag. I plan to win that before the end of this month as a personal challenge (although I could care less about getting the actual bag!). The other ongoing challenge is that if you attend 150 classes in a calendar year you get a free long sleeve Jazzercise shirt - I need to find out how close I am. I only joined at the beginning of May but I know I've hit 100 classes already, October just wasn't a good month though. I'd really love to challenge myself to get that shirt!! So, hopefully these challenges will also help me in making this holiday season a very different one as well!