Best bets for the weekend

Ready (the turkey). Set (the table). Go (crazy). The holidays are here. Happy Thanksgiving, let us say first. Here's hoping that the challenges besetting the world can be forgotten for a day, that all reading this can find something for which to be thankful, and that you end the day with a full belly. Friday our wintry month of celebration, lights, gifts, caroling, "Nutcracker," figgy pudding and general foofaraw gets under way in earnest. Brace yourself. Meanwhile, here are a few ideas for the weekend:

For details on all these happenings, search our Weekend calendar online.

Caloric conscience: If you plan to exercise on the weekend, it means you can have a pilgrim-hat full of guilt-free whipped cream on your pie today, right? Especially if you're taking part in Sunday's Seattle Marathon. If you're not that, um, ambitious (fanatical isn't a nice word), bail yourself out of the gravy boat with Saturday's Turkey Trot, a Volkssport walk from the Port of Edmonds. Or better yet, dance away those extra pesky ounces at the Thanksgiving Irish Ceili on Vashon Island, or dancing to swing, Latin music and holiday tunes with the all-women Moodswings Jazz Band in Lake Forest Park.

See the trees (not the forest): Take a walk to see dozens of Christmas trees decorated by fanatics (oops, there's that word again) in the Providence O'Christmas Trees tour at 10 locations around downtown Seattle.

Get Fest-ive: Seattle Center's big seasonal celebration, Winterfest, kicks off Friday. There's the ice rink, the carousel, the cool model trains, a weekend bonfire. The Seattle Youth Symphony performs at the opening ceremony.

Outta the house: If your relatives from Ohio are still here and the words "cooped up" come to mind, get out for some fresh air and an encounter with Northwest nature. Friday, celebrate the return of spawning salmon to North Seattle's Carkeek Park (and maybe the relatives will remember that old line about "after three days, fish and houseguests both start to smell bad"). Or take a low-tide beach walk (speaking of ripe smells) with a naturalist during one of the lowest tides of 2008 at West Seattle's Mee Kwa Mooks Beach.

Ship ahoy: And, oh yes, the Christmas Ships set sail Saturday at Madison Park.