Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday - it's a day that's American to the core and it's a day that's all about what and how we eat.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I took time to reflect on what is most important to me and realized I need to find a way to put the fun back into racing.

Holiday binge-buying has deep roots in American culture: department stores have been associating turkey gluttony with its spending equivalent since they began sponsoring Thanksgiving Day parades in the early 20th century.

Lets talk about the holidays, more specifically, consumption during the holidays. If it's true that 'We are what we eat,' most of us would be unrecognizable during the period that ranges from the night before Thanksgiving through that day in early January when everyone decides to return to the gym.

There is no racial or ethnic involvement in Thanksgiving, and people who may be very distant from the Christian system can see the beauty and the positive spirit that comes from the holiday.

Thanksgiving, our eminent moral holiday, doesn't have much for children. At its heart are conversation, food, drink, and fellowship - all perks of adulthood.

I miss both of my parents terribly every day, but especially as we approach Thanksgiving. We always came together as a family for that holiday, playing capture the flag and touch football and laughing a lot.

To give back during a holiday where it's all about giving and being thankful - I've always been blessed to have a meal on my plate during Thanksgiving - and to spread that feeling to someone else's family, it's special. This is something that is truly important to me.

I do think that Thanksgiving is a very nice holiday because it's all about saying thank you; it's being thankful.

I don't need a holiday or a feast to feel grateful for my children, the sun, the moon, the roof over my head, music, and laughter, but I like to take this time to take the path of thanks less traveled.

Even when you take a holiday from technology, technology doesn't take a break from you.

Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin. Now, they are so subtle, they can milk you with two notes. They can make you feel like they told you the whole universe. But I don't know that yet. All I got now is strength. Maybe if I keep singing, maybe I'll get it.

Every year around Christmas and Thanksgiving, I buy a bunch of toys for the sick children in the oncology center at the St. Louis Children's Hospital. I really love giving back and putting a smile on their faces, especially during the holidays.

When I was younger, I'd go to the Museum of Television and Radio in New York and watch this beautiful clip of Billie Holiday playing with a bassist, a pianist and Gerry Mulligan, who was a friend of mine, on baritone sax. At one point, she looks over at Gerry, and they just smile. When those moments happen, it's just lovely.

When checking in at an airport, no matter how rude the check-in person is to you, always smile and be nice because you don't know what kind of day they've had. You are going on holiday and they're stuck wherever they are. Be nice to them because they can re-route your baggage to wherever they feel like.

I would like to do a romantic comedy, but not a romantic comedy that is cheesy. I want to do an old romantic comedy like 'Roman Holiday' or 'My Fair Lady.'

I'm a hopeless romantic. I love love. My middle name is Love. Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. I want to have a family and children. I am a sucker for every romantic comedy that comes out.

If it's a romantic holiday, the only thing I need is my wife. We love quiet and calm places where we can't be disturbed. Neither of us likes being in busy places; we would much rather stay in our hotel room and enjoy each other's company.

My music came right on time. It was romantic Mediterranean music addressed to all the people who wanted to go on holiday.

Mind you, Roman Holiday - which is kind of a romantic comedy - is one of my favorite films, and I think Audrey Hepburn is absolutely phenomenal in that movie.

Valentine's Day itself, like most holidays in the modern era, has been heavily influenced by commercialism that focuses on the appeal of romantic fantasies.

The first time you go on holiday is the test of a relationship, when you really find out if you're compatible or not. You find out what's annoying about that person, and whether or not you're willing to put up with that because you love them and you don't want to be alone.

My relationship with the mountains actually started when I was 16. Every year, a group used to be taken from Auckland Grammar down to the Tangariro National Park for a skiing holiday.

I remember when I was about 15 and still listened to Pet Shop Boys and Chas And Dave, some lad at school lent me a Blur tape, and it had on it a song called 'Bank Holiday.' I said, 'What's this? I liked that tape, but that one song is a bit fast'. He said, 'Yeah, it's punk. It depends what mood you're in.' And then something sort of clicked in me.