Actress Sarah Jessica Parker, model Kate Moss and the female cast of the CW television network’s popular “Gossip Girl” series have helped popularize one of the season’s hottest fashion trends: knee socks.

“My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness.” —Mohandas K. Gandhi

Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis will welcome the holiday season with its annual lighting tonight on the mansion property. Included are strands of blue lights along the driveway, a life-size Nativity scene, Santa and his sleigh and more decor originally displayed by Elvis.

The first night winter walks through my walls and stakes a claim to every square inch of my house, I start thinking about what I am going to do to get through it with some small degree of aplomb.

Sheila Moore of Ooltewah had her feet in the for-profit world but found herself more and more wanting to step into the nonprofit universe.

Chanting, shaking a rattling egg, running around the room yelling, rolling across the floor and, finally, resting.

Chanting, shaking a rattling egg, running around the room yelling, rolling across the floor and, finally, resting.

Last Saturday, my friend Sandy Zitkus and I, along with my daughter Anne McLachlan, made an annual trip to Atlanta where we usually hit IKEA for our household needs and some Christmas gifts, as well as Trader Joe’s where we pick up a heft supply of Charles Shaw wine, lovingly known as Two-Buck Chuck for it’s extremely low price of $2.49 per bottle.

CASEY PHILLIPS: I really wanted to love “Quantum of Solace.” The combination of a new James Bond; Daniel Craig, a new director; Marc Forster; and a more down-to-Earth approach to the franchise made 2006’s “Casino Royale” easily my favorite Bond flick.

I really wanted to love “Quantum of Solace.”

“No law is stronger than is the public sentiment where it is to be enforced.”

People to watch: Jeff Joyner

Nine months after receiving a heart transplant, Jeff Joyner, 31, a salesman at Siskin Steel and an avid mountain bike rider, says he is in the best shape of his life.

Many people love the flavor of pomegranates, but the fruit is perhaps the most difficult to figure out. As a result, most people simply pass them by in their raw state, electing to purchase prepared juices and other pomegranate-infused products.