Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ President Joe Biden’s family tradition of spending the Thanksgiving holiday on Nantucket could take on a more serious tone this year. Biden and his family decided together that he should run for president in 2020 and they are expected to launch another round of such conversations on the Massachusetts island as the president mulls whether to seek re-election in 2024. “My intention is that I run again,” the president said after this month’s midterm elections. Biden and first lady Jill Biden left Washington on Tuesday evening, with plans to return to the White House on Sunday. They were to spend part of Thanksgiving Day calling members of the military to thank them for serving. The holiday break follows a hectic few weeks for Biden and his family, including elections that saw his Democratic Party defy historical trends and perform better than expected, and an around-the-world trip to Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia for international forums. Last weekend, the president and first lady hosted the wedding of granddaughter Naomi Biden on the White House lawn, and the family celebrated Biden’s 80th birthday at Sunday brunch. Asked if Biden and his family would discuss whether he should run again, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say much: “He’s going to have a private conversation with his family.” Biden and his wife started their tradition of spending Thanksgiving on Nantucket before they married in 1977. It was their way out of choosing which side of the family to spend the holiday with. They settled on the quaint Massachusetts island after one of Biden’s aides suggested it.
■ Gladys Knight recalls Christmas as more than a family affair when she was growing up in Atlanta. “Because Mom and Dad were the way they were, they would just embrace all the kids in the neighborhood,” said the legendary singer. Many of the children were in the same church choir and “we were just so excited about the music.” She counts “O Holy Night” as a favorite Christmas song. The best childhood gift she received? A bicycle, blue and silver, “and it was sharp.” Knight, 78, will celebrate the holiday on-screen in the TV movie “I’m Glad It’s Christmas,” airing at 7 p.m. Saturday on the Great American Family channel. She plays matchmaker Cora, who wants to bring together a salesclerk dreaming of Broadway fame (Jessica Lowndes) and a songwriter (Paul Greene) for a small town’s Christmas concert. Knight said she and husband William McDowell expect their Asheville, N.C., home to be packed as usual this Christmas, given their large brood of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “Everybody’s invited to come in a good mood and share the joy,” said Knight, a seven-time Grammy winner known for hits including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.”