On this day, as the nation sits down for the annual feast that launches the holiday season, it could be the way you say something to a friend or relative -- and not your mother-in-law's gravy -- that makes or breaks the day.

Think your home is less polluted than a city street? Think again.

As the holiday looms on the calendar, I sometimes think it ought to be called Angstgiving. Assembling the throng is tricky enough.

Having a sale? The Sales Talk column is looking for super deals on home furnishings, accessories and services at stores across the area to share with our readers. Let us know the details at least two weeks in advance. Write us at localliving@washpost.com , or call 202-334-4409.

The holiday season brings with it an overabundance of advice on how to avoid gaining weight in the face of all those festive meals, cocktail parties and plates of cookies brought in by co-workers. Depending on whose advice you're inclined to heed, you can cut back on carbs, mind the glycemic inde...

Here is an edited excerpt from The Post's On Parenting blog. Read the latest posts at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/parenting .

Tens of thousands of visitors flock to Bull Run Regional Park every year for this holiday celebration that features a drive-through 2 1/2 miles of shimmering light displays. On certain days (Dec. 4-6, 11-13 and 18-21), you can park and enter the Winter Wonderland Holiday Village, where you can take...

There are Thanksgivings that evoke general thanks, and there are Thanksgivings that evoke specific thanks. For the Ganey family of College Park, this year it will most certainly be the latter.

The 19th annual holiday parade fetes Santa and Mrs. Claus, who ride a horse-drawn carriage in a procession that includes marching bands, balloons, dancers, costumed characters and classic cars. At least 70 groups are expected in the hour-long parade, which heads down Market Street in Reston Town...

Before she went rogue, Sarah Palin got lost. She was stalking "majestic dall sheep with their thick curled horns" in a national park, she writes in her new book, "Going Rogue." "I was only about eight years old, and for a couple of anxious hours of climbing hillsides and calling my name, no one...

I have an eight-year-old kousa dogwood, chosen for its purported disease resistance, that lost its leaves from the inside out over most of the summer. The leaves just yellowed and dropped, and by late August the tree had leaves only on its outermost tips.

Dear Dr. Fox: My 10-year-old male cat had to be euthanized.

Deborah Tannen's advice on how to create a living room that encourages people to talk to one another:

Gathering today with your nearest, dearest and others? Holidays, much like relationships, can be "made, maintained and broken" through conversations, says Georgetown University linguistics professor Deborah Tannen, who has written many books on analyzing conversational styles.

"We'd like this to be the informal area where we can eat dinner without worrying about spilling on nice dining room rugs."

After being mesmerized by the slow and pretty leaf drop of autumn, we wake up around Thanksgiving day to the reality of the naked garden.

Do the planet and your garden a favor by recycling fallen leaves. Leaves can be added to the compost pile or spread as mulch over garden beds. They should be chopped up first with a lawn mower to speed decay.

These were among sales recorded recently for Fairfax County and supplied to The Washington Post by the Real Estate Division of the Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration. To find sale and assessment records for homes in Fairfax and elsewhere in the Washington area, visit...

Mold grows like crazy in all my bathroom toilets, in four of the seven faucets and in one of the two shower heads.

Picture this: You and a dozen other people are gathered on couches somewhere today, watching a football game on the big screen and consuming a ridiculously fattening selection of snacks that precede an enormous and even more fattening Thanksgiving meal.

Near the end of her struggle to find the right high school for a son who does not always share her tastes, Tracey Henley was overjoyed to discover that some of her son's best friends had endorsed her choice and that his resistance had vanished. "So now we don't have to forge his signature on the...

Fairfax County Animal Shelter , 4500 W. Ox Rd., makes pets available for adoption by residents of Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun and Prince William counties, as well as Vienna, Fairfax City, Falls Church and Alexandria. More pets can be seen at http://www.petharbor.com . Animal viewing and adoption...

The following incident was reported by the animal control section of the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253.

Used bicycles of all types fill a trailer behind Herndon Middle School. The donations look like waste. But in weeks to come, they will be spruced up, repaired and treasured by local children.

Del. Dave W. Marsden (D-Fairfax) of Burke said he will seek his party's nomination for the 37th District seat in the Virginia Senate.

In a few months, Dylan Anderson of Herndon will see one of his dreams come true.

The opening of a bike lane down one street in the District generated a lot of interest among readers [ Dr. Gridlock, Nov. 15 ]. I think one reason is that we don't get many chances to talk about innovation in our transportation system. Another is that changes in travel patterns tend to divide...

Volunteer Fairfax offers many holiday volunteer opportunities for individuals, youth, groups and corporations. Participate in a food drive, wrap presents for at-risk youth or adopt a family for the holidays . Go to http://www.volunteerfairfax.org and click on "Holiday Volunteer Opportunities."...

Although they're not old enough to drive, children are affected by traffic.

RACE FOR THE KIDS, a one-mile run, to raise funds for Neediest Kids, a nonprofit organization that aids youths in the D.C. area. Children 5 and younger will run a shorter distance. Alan Webb, the U.S. record-holder for the fastest mile, will run with the kids. Registration, 7 a.m.; race, 8 a.m.,...

These food establishments were closed because of health code violations. The list, compiled from health department reports, reflects actions taken by the departments.

The following incidents were recently reported by the Fairfax County Police Department. For more information, call 703-246-2253.