international space station's cooling system that need to be made. if everything goes well, they will have a primo look at santa's flight. >> no doubt the the two flight engineers scheduled to do the space walk will have the best seat in the house for santa's flight as they finish up the work they started on saturday. >> you're welcome. thank you. good job. >> today astronauts will venture back out of the orbiting international space station. their mission, to replace a pump needed to cool the vessel. >> i don't know if you believe in miracles but i have the hitch pin on the first try. >> the two astronauts removed the faulty cooling pump, the size of a refrigerator. they now must install the new one. their task is a delicate one. the equipment contains a noxious cooling fluid, ammonia.

>> the ammonia lines are thick and massive. if you were it leak ammonia, it's not a pleasant chemical. you couldn't bring it inside. >> reporter: masstrichia will be wearing some new equipment. >> the only issue i'm personally having is i'm very, very cold. i have very, very good air flow in my boots but my toes are quite cold. >> reporter: nasa says there was never any danger to the astronaut, after five hours of meticulous work, day one of the space walk is being called a success. >> i think i'm ready to leave this work site. >> okay, copy that, rick. >> nasa hopes by christmas all the work will be done, leaving the astronauts to celebrate on the space station. >> this is only the second christmas eve space walk to ever

happen, the first took place two years ago. today's space walk is set to start in about an hour. kate? >> all right, thank you so much. one hour from now, live coverage of the space walk. tune in for that. also mission accomplished. those are the words from nsa leaker edward snowden in awe new wide-ranking interview with the "washington post" just released. snowden explains why he exposed the now notorious revelations on the spy program and talks about how he says he raised flags about the program before going public. joe johns is in washington this morning with much more. this was hours -- hours and hours of interviewing edward snowden. >> good morning, kate. certainly true. this was interview with barton gelman with "the washington post." he gives this interview to "the post," saying he already won

though he faces criminal charges in the u.s., a long interview from russia where he's been hiding out with the permission of the government. for me in terms of personal satisfaction, he says, the mission is already accomplished. he said i've won. as soon as the journalists were able to work everything that i had been trying to dos with validated. because remember i didn't want to change society. i wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself. he also says he's not being disloyal. he asserts he's trying to help the national security agency. >> he says that in the interview. he also talks about why he says, i guess, about what he says compelled him to come forward and do what he did. >> a variety of mote vagus there. he's clearly not afraid to weigh in on u.s. politics. he calls out the chairs of the senate and house intelligence committee, senator dianne feinstein and congressman mike rogers for not doing their jobs properly in ensuring oversight of the nsa. he says they elected me. the overseers, dianne feinstein,

elected me when she asked softball questions. mike rogers elected me when he kept these programs hidden. he described the agency's collection philosophy as one of ordering everything off the menu, kate. >> a lot more to dissect from this interview, joe, thank you very much. so in case you're wondering, there's still time to sign up for obamacare. the deadline for jauron coverage has been extended by one day. that means you can enroll through midnight tonight. the white house said the change was made for people who attempted to sign up but were slowed by record high traffic on healthcare.gov. we also learn the president signed up for coverage over the weekend. athena jones has more from honolulu where the president is vacationing. what do we know, athena? >> good morning, chris. health officials pointed to a record day for healthcare.gov on monday with more than a million visits to the site by the afternoon. this as people all across the country were scrambling to sign

up for health coverage. millions of americans got another day to get insurance coverage that starts january 1st. the cutoff was monday but officials now say you have until midnight today, christmas eve, to pick a plan. it's a welcome delay for carla johnson who's helping people sign up through healthcare.gov. >> that's great for the consumers. the con seemers have somewhat of an early christmas gift for them. i'm excited that the powers that be made this possible for more enrollment. >> some states and insurance companies have also extended the deadline for coverage starting in january, to give people more time to pick a plan. the federal exchange, healthcare.gov, saw more than 1.2 million visitors over the weekend. a last-minute surge in interest. in california alone, 77,000 people signed up over the weekend. in washington, david rosenburg starts a new job late next month but needs insurance until then. >> current coverage ends until

january 1st. my next coverage doesn't start until january 20th. >> reporter: joining the crowd, president obama, whose staff signed him up for a plan. his $400 a month plan is purely imballi symbolic. the military provides his health care. the president said a positive note friday. >> since october 1st were monday 1 million americans have selected new health insurance plans through the federal and state marketplaces. >> reporter: enrollment is far short of the 3.3 million the government expected by this time. and with visits to healthcare.gov, the federal exchange hitting more than 2.2 million over the past three days, you can bet we will be watching these numbers closely again today. kate? >> absolutely. thank you so much, athena. we'll check back in with you. u.s. marines are on standby to evacuate more americans from

south sudan. they are heading to south africa if violence escalates toward an all out civil war. elise labott is following this story. >> after the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi last year, this is the new normal. the u.s. military wants to make sure it has an emergency force on stanby. 150 troops moving from spain to djibouti will be at the ready to evacuate the 100 or so americans in south sudan if the violence escalates and the country goes into all-out civil war. ban ki-moon is looking to double its peacekeeping force from 6,700 from 12,000. donald boot is on the ground meeting with everybody. he seems to be making some progress in getting the warning

factions, getting people to the table. >> such a delicate situation, nonetheless. elise, we'll be batracking it. thank you. let's move on to miguel marquez, in for michaela pereira. >> merry christmas eve. >> making news this morning, scary scene for passengers on a southwest airlines flight leaving st. louis for kansas city. the jet had to return to lambert international airport after a flock of birds got sucked into the plane's engines just before takeoff. passengers described hearing a loud boom and smelling smoke. more than 100 passengers had to return to the terminal and wait for a new plane that eventually took them to their destination safely. jp morgan chase says it's easing up on the limits. it was raising the limits to $250 a day in cash withdrawal and $1,000 a day on purchases. chase said it may continue to

change the limits as long as it makes sense to do so. at least a dozen people are dead after a car bombing at the interior ministry building in egypt. part of the building collapsed and the blood donation center was running so low it had to turn some people away. egypt's interim prime minister called it a terrorist incident and implied the muslim brotherhood was involved but did not directly blame the group. documents from israel's state archives said agents gave nelson mandela paramilitary train something 50 years ago. the documents were just recently published along with others that say -- the nelson mandela foundation says there's no evidence he was in touch with israels at the time. and two parents serving our country made it a very, very happy holiday season. surprising their kids back home in massachusetts, doug valencia,

his wife in training in texas, after fighting through travel troubles they saw their james, james and arianna sunday for the first time in five months. they walked on stage, finished their performance at their day care's annual holiday program. so adorable. almost as adorable as you two this morning. >> much more adorable. again, the sacrifice of those families. both parents away, serving their country. >> myrrh ris christmas. merry christmas. >> this is a big day weatherwise. we have the santa track working. people are making their preparations. >> you sound a little santa-like. >> i'm getting there, a little bit more every day. a lot of pressure on you, indra petersons. >> i got nervous just hearing that segue. i have a little bit of anxiety at this point after that. let's take a look outside and show you where the current systems are. this is the water vapor

satellite. the system we were tracking over the weekend making its way offshore off the carolinas. what we are watching is a little wave over the lake and the clipper. a real hope for a white christmas. very easy to see them all right there. this little bit of snow makes it to new york overnight. that's for you. there's a chance. otherwise we're looking at the big clipper and what we'll be watching as far as the timing here. as we go into the overnight tonight. midnight mass or going towards midnight mass, chicago, flurries, also in through minnesota and wisconsin. that's where we'll see the snow. tomorrow morning, my definition of the white christmas, snow is coming down, talking about michigan and indiana and the sky kicks out of here. quick moving. it's a clipper. not looking for much. when all is said and done, we could see 2 to 4 inches primarily. making its way from the dakotas across the lakes and back through, can i say it again,

through michigan. those are the only chances. otherwise, very cool temperatures. notice the difference. yesterday morning it was 61 degrees in new york city. you thought it felt different today. it did. 35. i did not like it. same thing for d.c., charlotte, 38 degrees this morning. by now we know the cold front has made its way through and it will only get colder. temperatures going down right now pretty much around normal on the actual east coast. by tomorrow, look at them go down further. 29 degrees is the high for new york city. burr welcomen to, a whopping 16. merry christmas for you. chicago, 28 degrees. notice the trend. it's staying that way. it does moderate by the time you get to the day after christmas. for you, kate, merry christmas. you're saying there's a chance. >> so you're saying there's a chance. >> our words. >> thanks, endra. a utah judge makes a sudden ruling validating same-sex

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pop in the drum of any machine... ♪ ...to wash any size load. it dissolves in any temperature, even cold. tide pods. pop in. stand out. welcome back to "new day." victory in utah for gay couples looking to tie the knot. a judge denying the state's request to put a temporary hold on the unions. state attorneys are already set to appeal but what will happen

next? cnn's miguel marquez is here with more. making it sound like you're in a remote location. you're right here. >> i am right here with more. it sounds like this is going to go on and on. sounds like a christmas miracle. the federal judge who ruled same-sex marriages are legal in the state said that any clerks refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay or lesbian couples will be in violation of the law. >> reporter: for gay and lesbian couples in utah -- >> i do. >> reporter: those two little words mark the sound of the victory. >> pronounce you bound together in the covenant of marriage. what god has joined together, let no one put us under. >> reporter: same-sex marriages are legal, denying the conservative state's emergency request to halt them, call the ban unconstitutional. >> i never thought i would see this in my lifetime.

i'm so grateful to finally have the protection of the state. >> this is it. it's go time. >> reporter: hundreds of lgbt couples lining up at clerk's offices, weathering frigid temperatures. >> in the cold all night long. >> reporter: and long waits to tie the knot, getting their hands on marriage licenses. >> try number four for us. >> reporter: it's a victory nine years in the making since the state's ban in 2004. utah joins the nation's capital and 17 other states that have legalized same-sex marriage. >> it's a huge deal. because for mormons who have been spending these years fighting this battle they've seen it happen across the country but they didn't expect to have it come to their backyard. >> reporter: the conservative states refusing to back down, it filed an appeal in the 10th circuit court, the states's governor accusing shelby of being an activist federal judge and saying he's working to determine the best course to defend traditional marriage within the borders of utah.

>> it will be harder for conservatives to make the case that this can be stopped when ut the has now legalized it. once the dominos start falling you won't be able to stop it. >> you may kiss. >> reporter: now, on the heels of this dramatic development in utah, a federal judge ruled that ohio must recognize gay marriages on death certificates that state joining in a challenge against same-sex marriage bans. my guess is it will be challenged further in ohio in days to come. >> that's the way the law is monthing. >> in states all across the country. >> the supreme court opened it up and states are doing it now constantly. >> thanks, miguel. it's money time, folks. alison kosik is here with much more. you well know it is santa's big night. what does that mean, a record on wall street? >> could be, could be, kate. look for the santa claus rally to continue. historically into the final days

of the year, into the start of january, the average gain is 1.5%. futures are higher this morning. now, there was yet another record, in fact, 4 th of the year. look at where we stand for the year. the dow is up 24%. the nasdaq up 37%, the s&p 500 up 28%. good numbers there. news, though, not so cheerful for holiday sales, shopper track which is a retail number cruncher says from december 2nd to the 8th those sales were down 0.8% from the 9th to the 15th, sales were down 2.9% and december 16th to the 23rd, sales were down 3.1%. and the smackdown continues. joseph a. bank is rejecting a $1.5 billion bid from rival men's warehouse. m men's warehouse says it isn't done yet.

joseph a. bank launched a takeover bid to have men's warehouse turn around and make its own offer for joseph a. bank. my guess, guys, this drama not stopping anytime soon. >> nope, nope and nope. >> i've always confused him with the most interesting man in the world. >> i miss him from commercials. i liked him. >> you're going to like the way you look. >> you just did it as the most interesting man in the world. >> i confuse them. >> do you remember the one we came up with. >> no. >> i know. >> we came up with the best line for the most interesting man in the world and we can't remember it. that doesn't help us at all. >> it makes you question whether it really was the best in that case. we'll take a break. within we come back, you'll want to hear what we have for you. >> stay calm. don't say a word. just be quiet and breathe. >> these are some of the urgent moments we're hearing from the first time, the frightening 911 calls from inside that reno medical centers is a man with a gun started shooting.

you'll hear how people scrambled and survived. we're on the eve of an occasion that defines the faith of over a billion people. this year, for catholics, it's extra special, the new pope. does he have a surprise in store? [ sneezes, coughs ] i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is. to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit. we're here to keep our promises. to help you realize a better tomorrow.

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joyful and triumphant. welcome back to "new day," thousands are flocking to st. peter's square to hear the pope's first christmas mass, pope francis, the new pontiff. he met with his predecessor friday as a new cnn poll shows how wildly popular he is. 72% of americans, 83% of catholics are giving him the thumbs up. does he have a surprise if store for tonight? cnn's erin mclaughlin has a gift of an assignment in rome for christmas. >> reporter: gift indeed, chris. there's a real sense of excitement here at the vatican. thousands of tourists and pilgrims are in town to celebrate and they tell me this is extra special. and not just because it's christmas eve. all eyes are on pope francis. the tree is trimmed. the nativity scene is set to be

unveiled and everyone seems excited for the pope's very first christmas. >> we want to share this special moment with a person who is beloved person and we appreciate all he's doing. >> reporter: nine months into his papacy, much has been made of the pope's reforms. more scrutiny at the vatican bank, changes to the church's bureaucratic structure. and a commission to deal with the abuse of minors. that's to name a few. >> he tends to be a surprise. because he does things that are normal but are very abnormal in terms of the papacy. he brought three homeless men into the place where he's living to have breakfast with him on his birthday. >> reporter: the festivities began on saturday with his christmas message to the curia. pope frances urged the church's governing body to avoid gossip and focus on service. then he practiced what

preached, spending three hours at a local hospital, bringing christmas cheer to sick children. frances met with benedict for 45 minutes on monday. st. peter's basilica is the place to be on christmas eve. pope francis will celebrate the traditional mass. this year there were a record number of requests to attend. and then on christmas day, tens of thousands of mill grimes will flood st. peter's square to hear his message to the world. >> people are listening to him because he's speaking in a language that's not vaticanese. he's speaking the language of ordinary people. >> pope francis already has his christmas gifts taken care of. 2,000 immigrants at a local shelter receive special packs complete with christmas cards signed by the pope, the packs contained everything they might need to be able to phone home over the holidays, prepaid international phone cards and

stamps. the pope sending a christmas message that this holiday is about helping others. chris and kate. >> that is the perfect message this christmas. thank you so much, erin. enjoy your time in rome. that's a very special assignment. let's get back over to miguel marquez, in for michaela. >> in boring old new york. nasa astronauts will suit up in about a half hour from now and try to fix the cooling system at the international space station. today will be phase two of the repair job. the system keeps instruments inside and outside the station from overheating. you have an extra day to sign up if you want health coverage under obamacare next week. the deadline was pushed to today to help website delays yesterday when record traffic was reported. president obama signed up for the bronze double plan. it will cost him a symbolic $5,000 a year since he's already

covered by the military. and a manhunt is under way for three bank robbers believed to have killed a police officer and wounded another in mississippi. officials in tupelo say 38-year-old gale stauffer was shot at close range by one of the suspects, his partner in critical condition after the two confronted the suspects who held up a local bank. police are offering a $50,000 reward for any information in the case. allen touring, nearly 60 years after his death, touring played a pivotal role in breaking the code used by the germans in world war ii. he was accused of homosexuality, committed suicide in 1954 by eating an apple believed to be laced with cyanide. there's no such thing as too much christmas cheer. this year, she has 22 -- 22,

count them, decorated trees in her home. it's an annual christmas tradition for jen. it took her three weeks to hang all the ornaments. each tree has a theme, an angel tree, a barbie tree. jen says her grand kids just love it. >> of course they do. that's fabulous! >> except she spends all her time saying don't touch it, don't touch it, don't touch it, don't touch it. >> i love the idea of a themed tree. >> she also has 22 cats. >> that's when it takes a turn to the grinch. >> he made that up by the way. >> she does not have 22 cats. >> christmas is back. thank you, miguel. coming up on "new day," we are hearing for the first time the 911 calls from inside a reno medical center when a gunman opens fire. hear how people survived. also ahead, mcdonald's back in the headline for some of the advice they're giving to some of their employees. avoid fast food. details when we come back.

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let's go around the world now starting in south sudan. fighting there is said to be getting more and more intense as u.s. troops position themselves to evacuate more americans if needed. arwa damon has the very latest. >> kate, the situation severely deteriorating overnight, fighting in at least five of the ten states that make up south sudan. the government at this stage saying that they're still militarily capable of resting these areas back from rebel control on their own. the u.s. has stationed around 150 marines in

beauoughdjibouti just in case. the u.n. sending in an additional 5,000 troops, their trying to protect the civilian population. but at this stage, the true scale and scope of the humanitarian kris social security unknown because the violence, the fighting, preventing access to many of these areas, kate. >> arwa, thank you very much. now to bethlehem where pilgrims are flocking to celebrate christmas. ian lee has more. >> reporter: final preparations taking place here in bethlehem as you can see, you have a pipe band from the local scout troop. they will lead in the patriarch when he makes his grand entrance into manger square. tight security as they're expecting tens of thousands of pilgrims to descend, numbers as high as 90,000 estimated to come

to this small village. if you want to get a seed to midnight mass you'll be out of luck. those tickets ran out about a month ago. back to you, kate. >> there you have it. we can walk from afar. thank you so much, ian. >> we've been waiting for these to come out and now they're here. for the first time we're hearing from people inside a reno medical center, chilling 911 calls made. miguel marquez covering the story, has more. important to hear how people dealt with what was going on. >> they were handled professionally as well. it was a join the campus there, up on the third floor, the guy walked through the building looking for this particular doctor in this call you can hear the panic in the voice of the caller. >> my front office person ran back to the entrance, somebody has a gun. i said get out, get out now. i just heard another -- >> is your office door locked? i need you to stay calm.

ma'am, is your office door locked. >> he's outside my door. >> can you see him. >> oh, my god. >> stay calm. don't say a word. just be quiet and breathe. is he trying to get in? >> yes, he is. he is trying. i don't want him to hear me. >> they are on the way. i need you to stay calm. stop whispering. stay completely quiet, ma'am. >> oh, my god. >> did he shoot the door or is he banging on it, ma'am? >> i don't know. >> god it is hard to hear that stuff. in this next part of the recordings, the 911 dispatcher advises the caller to hide behind anything she can find. >> did you see it happen or just hear it? >> i just heard it. he's coming. >> he's coming? can you hide yourself?

put yourself under a cabinet or something that in case a shot gets fired your way? >> i'm sitting behind a table. >> now, police identified the gunman as 51-year-old allen frazier, saying he shot and killed a doctor, injured two other people and shot and killed himself. it was anger offer a botched vasectomy that might have been his motive. just an awful, awful -- >> it's always a delicate balance. you have to understand why we make the determination to play these when they come out to hear the first responders, the 911 operators what they do, keep people calm. >> how they handle that stress. >> it's incredible stressful. these events are happening so often and in places that they don't expect. it is just instructive for everybody to understand. >> miguel, you were on site, at that facility. as you said, it's a very large campus. did he have to travel through the campus very far to get where

he was going? >> the building was close to a main road. there are several buildings in the campus but he had to go into a parking garage, go up three flights. >> so many more people were in danger. >> people saw him with the shotgun but just got out of his way. >> the authorities felt this could have been worse, if people hadn't secreted themselves into areas, locked doors, done what they needed to do. he would have had access to a lot more victims. >> this is a very busy place. he could have done a lot more damage. >> there are a lot of families who are thankful to be home this christmas for sure. >> let's get back over to indra for another check of the weather. how is it looking right now, indra? >> we're looking at a couple systems out there, nothing really major but enough that some of us have hope out there today. that's all we need. let's take a look at the east coast, a system we dealt with all weekend long, still taking its time, exiting off the

coastline. that's not the one we'll be watching. what we'll be watching is a little wave. can't see it on the water vapor. the alberta clipper making its way over the lakes. let's take them one by one, hear this energy could dump a lot of snow south of buffalo. if it makes its way to the east coast, new york city could get flurries, especially in through overnight. perfect timing. you can thank me if it happens. don't say anything if it doesn't. let's take a look at the next system, here's the clipper making its way across. look at the timing hear, around chicago, they could start to see a dusting of snow and then tomorrow morning, the actual white christmas, there you go, we're looking at maybe parts of indiana, also in through michigan. a flurry in that region and quickly dissipating. these aren't strong systems. they don't hold together too well. still making its way off by tomorrow. as far as how much you can get, not bad. a good 2 to 4 inches will be

seen. starting in the dakotas, in through minnesota, wisconsin and michigan. those are the best chances we're looking for for the white christmas and that tiny piece that could be seen off the lakes today. temperatures will be the bigger story. notice this morning, what a difference. look at the drop from just yesterday. 61 degrees in d.c. at this time. yesterday, not so good today. 35 degrees, new york city, charlotte, everyone is seeing the 30s and the temperatures are going farther down. that's how we're starting the day off. they'll be going lower, especially by tomorrow. today, though, 41 for new york city. even worse, 29 for new york city. cleveland at the freezing mark. burlington, 16. no one complains about cold on christmas. not a chime out of you after that chance you're getting. >> i don't want to mess up my chances for a white christmas. >> throw me party favors, that's fine. >> thanks, indra. mcdonald's makes its money convincing us to east fast food. why is a website for its

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good song. the last regular season game at candlestick park, the san francisco 49ers went out in style with a win over the falcons. let's bring in joe carter with

this morning's "bleacher report." merry christmas. >> you, too, guys. we saw a great finish last night. next season there's a lot of talk about how the 49ers are going to move into a brand new $1.2 billion stadium in santa clara, it's going to be called levi stadium. the 49ers have played at that iconic stadium since 1971. last night, the falcons almost spoiled the good-bye party with two minutes left in the game, atlanta recovered an on-side kick. take notice that the guy who misses it for the 49ers makes it up right here, because the falcons were in position to tie or win and navorro bowman, the same guy who missed the onside, returned the interception 89 yards for the game-winning score. 49ers pull off the shock there. that was a great way to say

good-bye to candlestick park. in the process, they clinch a spot in the playoffs. reports are swirling that cowboys quarterback tony romo is going to be out for the rest of the season. and they say it's because of his back. but last night, cowboys owner jerry jones said it's back spasms, that it's really nothing and head coach jason garrett said he'll be day to day, not out. the cowboys have a huge game that's coming up against the eagles on sunday night. the winner of that game goes to the playoffs as nfc champs. the loser is out. trending this morning on bleacherreport.com, one of the most bizarre plays you'll ever see in hockey. watch closely. see the puck up in the air? it ends up landing in the pants of goalie mike smith. he plays for phoenix. mike smith has no idea the puck is in his pants, so he backs up into the goal to defend the play. in the process crosses over the

goal line, it's a goal for the other team. the buffalo sabres and it happens to be the game-winning goal. right now on twitter and on the social media, #buttgoal of all things is trending. but you've got to feel bad for mike smith there. he has no idea. he's playing hard, backs in and gives up the game-winning goal. >> these kids with the big, baggy pants these days. now you get a puck in the pants. >> a slimmer, trim pant he'd be better off when he's defending the goal. oh, my god. >> you do that again, you get a puck in the pants. >> sounds dangerous. >> merry christmas, guys. >> tighten that belt, joe. mcdonald's is getting attention for what it's telling its employees not to do, that is do not eat fast food. that advice is posted to an employee website which is has caused problems for the company

in the past. alison kosik is here with more. in this edition of what you don't want to see happen to your company. >> it's a head scratcher. this is from mcresources, which seems mcclueless. it gives information. it's a nice blog for employees. here's the thing. you've got mcdonald's in its own internal website saying, no, stay away from fast food, because it says, i'm quoting here, fast food is typically high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt and puts people at risk of becoming overweight. this from a company where you see the hamburger, fries and soda. they're labeling them the unhealthy choices. they're pushing people to go to subway or something. why would you do that? why would you push people away from your own product? >> what's the answer? provocative question. >> is the company controlling this website?

>> there's an outside company that mcdonald's has hired to control the content of the website. you think the right hand is talking to the left hand. >> why would you think that. >> i don't know, common sense but clearly it's missing. mcdonald's did come out with a statement saying portions of the website continue to be taken entirely out of context. here's what's interesting. mcdonald's goes on to say this website provides useful information from respected third parties about many topics, among them health and wellness. it also includes information from experts about healthy eating and making balanced choices. mcdonald's agrees with this advice. are you kidding me? >> it's no surprise. mcdonald's knows they're in the fast food busy and there are unhealthy options. hence why they've been changing their menu. >> it's stunning they're putting -- this isn't just the only faux pas mcdonald's has done. since the summer they put out a financial planning guide. they put out this financial planning guide for workers

allotting just $20 for health insurance and nothing, no money, allotted for food. it shows just how out of touch mcdonald's is with its employees. mickey d's also had another blog post on how to get a handle on holiday debt. one of the suggestions was get a second job and then another sort of cherry on top was the holiday etiquette. on what to tip the people who work for you, meaning the pool boys, the au pair and masseuse. do you think people who get $9 an hour have a masseuse they have to tip? it speaks of how clueless mcdonald's seems to be. >> problem in a bigger km he, though, mcdonald's jobs were not traditionally main jobs for people, increasingly they are. >> exactly. what's changed is that now you're seeing the majority of the minimum wage jobs go to older people, not just the teenagers they were initially intended for. older people have families to support, who can't pay the bills or make ends meet on the $9 they're getting.

>> changing economy. >> it looks like they may need to find a new third party provider for their website. >> you think they would have got rid of them already, duh. >> good note to end on. >> duh. >> time now for your morning moment. you can't get enough of these, the reunions with soldiers. one soldier from florida took it to a new level of awesomeness. he came home from deployment without telling his girlfriend, anna and gave her not one but two surprises of a lifetime just this weekend. >> will you marry me? >> oh, my god. >> cute. the romantic music. >> how sweet is that? >> she's shaking.

>> he's home and they will be able to spend a few months ago. he's being dough employed again in march. >> that's the heart breaker we've heard in a couple stories now. they have their moment, a father who surprised his daughter at school -- is that what it was -- and then he has to go back two weeks later. >> rough. rough life. >> at least for him to know that he's married, you know, and he has that dedication to kind of help him through the deployment will help. many argue it's harder for the spouse, the nonmilitary spouse. beautiful story for the holidays. >> beautiful moment. coming up on "new day," edward snowden is making news again. what does he have to say about his nsa documents now and why does he say he's not backing down? >> and we're just moments away from a space walk outside the international space station. we'll have live coverage for you after the break. (vo) you are a business pro.

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i think i'm ready to leave this work site. happening now, two american astronauts stepping into space at this moment. are their suits okay? are there other challenges they'll face? we're covering it, live. i already won. edward snowden speaking out overnight revealing more about his motives and what he plans to do next. does he have more information to release? classic or crappolo?

is love actually a new christmas classic or a bad movie with misguided fans? we take sides. enter the battle this morning. your "new day" starts right now. ♪ >> announcer: this is "new day" with chris cuomo, kate bolduan and michaela pereira. >> welcome back to "new day." it's tuesday, december 24th. christmas eve, 7:00 a.m. in the east and the space walk has begun. nasa's astronauts have their maneuverses under way. this is a christmas eve maneuver, very rare. and the job urgent. it's a reef pair job to the international space station's cooling system. they've had trouble with this. we're going to cover it live. let's bring in alina machado. >> reporter: it looks like they're just getting under way as you can see on the screen. the two american astronauts will be finishing up the work they started on saturday and if all

goes as planned, their mission should be wrapped up just in time for christmas. today astronauts will venture back out of the orbiting international space station. their mission, to replace a pump needed to cool the vessel. >> i don't know if you believe in miracles but i have the hitch pin on the first try. >> that's awesome, rick. >> reporter: over the weekend, astronauts mike hopkins and rick mastracchio removed the faulty cooling pump, which is the size of a refrigerator. they now must install the new one. their task is a delicate one. the equipment contains a noxious cooling fluid, ammonia. >> some of the danger is hooking up the big, heavy ammonia lines. they're thick and massive. hooking those up, of course, if you were to leak ammonia, it's not a pleasant chemical. you couldn't bring it inside. there's definite risk out there. >> reporter: mastracchio will be

wearing a new cooling suit during his walk. >> the only issue i'm personally having is i'm very, very cold. i have very, very good air flow in my boots but my toes are quite cold. >> reporter: nasa says there was never any danger to the astronaut, after five hours of meticulous work from mastracchio and hopkins on saturday, day one of the space walk is being called a success. >> i think i'm ready to leave this work site. >> okay, copy that, rick. >> reporter: nasa hopes by christmas all the work will be done, leaving the astronauts to celebrate safely back on the space station. this is only the second christmas eve space walk to ever happen, the first took place two discovery astronauts spent eight hours working on the hubble space telescope 14 years ago. that is a live look at what is going on right now at the international space station. no doubt, chris, we will be keeping a very close eye on what goes on there and hoping it all goes well today. >> a lot of variables.

we'll check in with you. we'll have an astronaut helping us out to understand what's going on. we'll be on it start to finish on our watch. thank you very much. nsa leaker edward snowden giving his first interview in months revealing to "the washington post" that he thinks he's already accomplished his mission. snowden talks about his personal satisfaction in releasing the secret u.s. intelligence that led to a full-scale investigation into the spying program. joe johns is in washington with much more. what more are we learning from this very revealing interview, joe? >> reporter: edward snowden gave an interview to barton gelman of "the washington post" saying he's already won even though he faces criminal charges in the u.s. he gave this newspaper a long interview in russia where he's been hiding out with the permission of the government there. for me, he says in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission is already accomplished. he said i won. as soon as the journalists were able to work everything i had been trying to do was validated.

i didn't want to change society. i wanted to give society a chance to decide if they wanted to change themselves. >> you're also learning more about him talking about what compelled him to do what he did. what does he say? >> well, it's interesting. there are different reasons but beginning in october of last year, he says he brought his concerns about the amount of information being collected to two superiors in the nsa's technology directorate. two more in the nsa regional threat regional bases in hawaii and 15 other co-workers detailing the volume of data ingested by the nsa. he said his colleagues were often astonished to learn we're collecting more in the united states on americans than we are on russians in russia. many of them, he said, were troubled. he said also that several did not want to know any more. but he did, he said, ask these people what do you think would

happen if the public saw this on the front page? the nsa said they found no evidence that he raised these issues to others, kate. >> joe, thank you so much for that. you have until midnight to be good for santa and to sign up for obamacare and still be covered by january 1st. the white house pushed back the deadline, because the website was down for so long. they added this extra day. and record high traffic was reported to healthcare.gov on monday. even the president is getting it, symbolically signing up forever coverage. >> reporter: across the countries, millions of americans got an extra 24 hours to sign up for health insurance coverage starting january 1st. the deadline had been monday but the deadline was delayed, giving people to midnight tonight, christmas eve, to pick a plan. we also learned up on monday

that the president signed up for an individual bronze plan. he didn't do the signup himself. a staff membered signed him up. the white house citing the complicated nature of the president's case. >> what people need to understand about how the website works, one of core functions is to confirm your identity. the way they confirm an individual's identity you submit your personal information and they check that personal information against a variety of government databases. the president's personal information is not held on a variety of government databases. for perfectly understandable reasons. the president has a rather unique case. >> reporter: the president gets his health coverage through the military so this signup was a symbolic show of support for the exchanges. the president's monthly premium will be less than $400. despite the change in the deadlines, health officials say monday was a record day for healthcare.gov with a million visitors to the site by the afternoon, in addition to the .

1.2 million people who visited the site over the weekend. if you've waited this welcome to buy presents you may be lucky. sales have been sluggish this season. that means for competition for your holiday dollar and after-christmas deals are already in full swing. cnn's george howell is clearly late on his christmas shopping. that's why he got this assignment. good morning, george. >> reporter: there are three ways to look at this thing, shop well before christmas. you've got all the presents under the tree. cram it all in right before christmas and you kind of called me out, yes, like me, or you can do it right after christmas. instead we're talking about the procrastinators, the people who waited until the last minute. here's a look at what you can expect. it's just that time of year. >> merry christmas. >> reporter: the countdown to christmas is just hours away and last-minute shoppers are on the hunt.

>> i think that the best deals are right now. and maybe right after christmas. i don't go shopping right after christmas. i do all my shopping right before. >> reporter: that has retailers pulling out all the stops in the competition for customers, like the bargains, kenya ramirez found on michigan avenue. >> regretted shopping after thanksgiving because a lot of the deals are going on now. >> reporter: in new york, stores like macy's and toys "r" us staying open around the clock through christmas eve to give shoppers a little extra time. >> very convenient. definitely helped save my holiday shopping. there wasn't too many people, i don't go in early and get everything you need. >> reporter: the national retail federation predicts an increase of 3.9% in sales from the same time frame last year. so retailers know this is crunch time. according to one survey, certain stores are expected to do better than others financially over the holiday season, among them

walmart, dollar tree, target, walgreens and macy's. those sales are reportedly down at target, after a recent data breach that compromised the financial identities of millions of customers. among the bottom five on the sure ray, lowe's, toys "r" us, marshall's, costco and barnes & noble. many of the stores offering heavily discounted deals from big items to small gifts. experts say shoppers are looking for everything. >> what you're going to see now is one size fits all types of things, jewelry, clothes is strong, right before christmas, fragrances close strong, if when you're not sure or fuzzy, a gift card will take care of it quite nicely. >> when it comes to gift cards, according to the national retail federation they make up 15% of overall sales for many of the retailers that last week just after christmas. gift cards are a big deal, chris. and kate, specifically who

called me out a minute ago, how did you know you might be getting a gift card? >> family members have been calling me, telling me if you are on air i need to call you out. they're waiting for their gifts. they know you're a procrastin e procrastinator. >> i'm doing my best. >> you were outside target just yesterday. maybe you did sneak in there and take care of a few items on the list, george. trying to help you out here. >> george? george? >> miguel marquez is in for michaela. not all joyful offerings this morning. 911 calls are giving a glimpse in the harrowing moments sa a gunman made his way through a nevada medical center last week. take a listen to this. >> did you see it happen or just hear it? >> i just heard it. he's coming. >> he's coming? can you hide yourself? can you put yourself under a cabinet or something, in case a shot gets fired your way?

>> we're sitting behind a table. >> amazing how calm that 911 operator is. in one instance a woman was recorded on the phone while the gunman was banging on her office door. police quickly arrived. the woman was safe. allen frazier opened fire in the building, killing a doctor and injuring two others before killing himself. and a car bombing leaves at least a dozen people dead at an interior ministry building in egypt. more than 130 injured but some had to be turned away from blood centers because supply ran so low. part of the building collapsed from the buildings. egypt's interim prime minister implied the muslim brotherhood was involved in the bombing without directly blaming the political group. questions in connecticut this morning, after a man known for his elaborate christmas light display was shot and killed in his home. a family member found the 87-year-old dead of gunshot wounds to the head and chest. police are treating it as a homicide. he had just lost his wife to cancer in november.

the couple were known for their extravagant christmas displays that brought visitors from miles around. does iran want to be friends again? president hassan rouhani writing an op-ed in a germing newspaper saying he wants to rebuild and improve relations with europe and north america and remove the tensions we have inherited with the united states. rouhani also wrote that his country would never give up its right to nuclear energy. talks over iran's nuclear program are on hiatus for the holidays. perhaps frienemys. >> private first class hunter taylor, these never get boring, of the 101st airborne division surprised his family who weren't expecting him home for the holidays. his mom and grandfather were in on it but his dad and brothers, jacob and jona and josh were

truly overcome with emotion when he walked out. taylor has been serving in afghanistan and hasn't been home in a year. >> wow. >> so sweet. >> you can see that. >> they're upping the game on these surprises for families. >> you can see their emotions. >> people getting deployed two, three, four -- i don't have to tell you. >> over a decade of this. it's rough. >> keep going. there's so much strain on the families. there's not a lot of attention about it on the news. the more attention they can get, the better. >> let's continue the joy of that beautiful moment with a check of the weather. the beautiful christmas weather, indra, please. >> look at that spirit. i give her one little gift and she's like, yeah. let's talk about this system making its way offshore. this was the troublemaker, the one we all dealt with over the weekend. this guy is making its way offshore and should not be a problem anymore. where are we going to see snow? tiny little wave. a bigger system, the clipper that's expected to make its way through and bring the heavier

snow. let's start with the first one. this will bring heavy snow off the lakes just south of buffalo. isolated here. it is also the wave that could bring a couple of flurries in through new york city. that's the first one. what we're looking for is the bigger system, the clipper, fast moving, going through the plains. notice if you're trying to go to midnight mass, this is east coast time, around chicago, flurries, maybe around minneapolis, trying to get a couple in the action there. and then we have christmas day itself. the timing, 8:00 eastern in the morning, possibly in through indiana and michigan. those are the best chances there. they're okay, not too bad. they're looking for a good 2 to 4 inches of snow. who are we going to talk about? we're talking about the dakotas, through minnesota, wisconsin, in through michigan. not a bad chance here. looks pretty good at least overnight tonight in through tomorrow. for everyone else, it's the temperatures and they're going way down. we felt it this morning, a good 30 degree temperature drop from yesterday morning on the east coast. that's how we know the cold

front did go through. the temperatures will continue to go below normal. by christmas day it's up. look at that, talking about a chill, 20s and 30s in the air. there's a lot of people that will be happy with a white christmas. they're more around the lakes. here it's cool, it's fine. >> i'm keeping the spirit alive, though. >> i like that, kate. >> keeping the spirit alive. >> anyone else? happy, cold, no? >> what's not to be happy about. >> cheerful. you're welcome. >> coming up on "new day," the only people flying higher than santa are these guys. the astronauts hundreds of miles up, take another shot at fixing the station's cooling system. we have a former astronaut who took the same space walk. he'll be with us and give us a play by play of this difficult mission. ♪ i'm dreaming of a white christmas ♪ mine was earned orbiting the moon in 1971.

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because you can't beat zero heartburn. woo hoo! [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. welcome back to "new day." as we speak, astronauts are 220 miles above us all outside the international space station. they're working to replace a cooling system. they were supposed to perform the walk yesterday but it was postponed after problems with a space suit. we have our own astronaut on earth, mike massimino. he's performed four space walks himself. christmas eve, happiness to you and your family, mike. thank you for joining us this morning. i have live picture on one side of me. we're getting the return of what's going on in the space station, you in the other. tell us be what is this part of

the operation? what are the variables right now? >> well, chris, first, merry christmas to you and your family and the family at "new day." what they're doing right now is setting things up. they got out the air lock, both the astronauts are out there, making sure their tethers are good, getting in position to start their day's activities. the robot arm is being put in position and mike hopkins will get in there. they're start off the procedures. right now they're getting things set up at the very beginning. >> what makes it more difficult in space than if you were doing this in earth's atmosphere? why is this harder? >> well, it's a completely different environment. things float. you have to watch out that your tools don't float away. that's why tethers are important. you're dealing with a big suit. it's like working on your car, fix the plumbing in your bathroom or change the oil in your car, trying to do that with boxing gloves on.

that's what you're dealing with, big, bulky gloves. those are some of the things, the suit, the tools are different, things float around. you have to constantly check your suit and make sure that's all good. that makes it more challenging. but it's also a lot of fun. >> fun for you guys, scary for us. >> yes. >> the japanese sumatastronaut controlling this arm. we see one of the astronauts tethered to it? >> he's moving the arm around. they may be putting it in position for mike to get in. what happens is you always have a safety heather on. one of the guys will have a safety tether attached to the space station and the astronaut in this case, mike hopkins, who willing on the robot arm will hook his safety tether on to the robot arm and he'll hop in. >> a lot of trust there.

>> yes. >> one of the things i was reading. what's on his arm? it looks like a quarterback play track. what's that? >> that's our cuff checklist. you wear it on your cuff, your sleeve. it's got a few things in it. it has emergency procedures in case you lose communication and you have an emergency with your suit, you can look up the emergency procedure. even if you still have communication you want to follow along as you're reading things off your suit, off your display. it takes you through emergencies. it also has reminders to write things on there. write what you need to do here and there. i wrote my kid's names on mine, just for the heck of it. you have that little -- it's a checklist that you have that you can refer to just in case you need some help or want a momento when you're out there space walking. it's your own checklist you wear on your sleeve. >> is there a card that says if

found return to, with the address on earth? >> that's a great idea. i think i'm going to use that as a suggestion, chris. >> i was very close to becoming an astronaut for the science and math part. another variable we should keep in mind as they're trying to do this maneuver, temperature, swings in temperature. what could they be and how do they feel? >> yes. as you're going around the earth you're 17,500 miles an hour. you have 90 minutes in one orbit, 45 minutes of daylight and 45 minutes of darkness. when you're in the daylight, the sun could be a couple hundred degrees. when you're in the darkness if you had a thermometer it could be minus a couple degrees. the space station and space suit modulates that so you don't feel the range of temperature. but you can get pretty cold and we can get pretty warm.

we have fancy underwear, a liquid cooling garment that allows you to regulate your temperature. you have a thermostat you can set to make sure yourself feel comfortable. if you're getting too hot, you can get more water flow. if you're getting too cold, you reduce the water flow and your body heat will take over and warm you up. what seems to happen for me anyway, after about an hour or two out there, you find a sweet spot. just when you start feeling cold, you notice the sun is coming out and will warm you. you try to get yourself at a good temperature without getting overheated or too cold. >> a swing of 400 degrees. unimaginable. we're watching now, mike, he's trying to control his body, control everything on the tether. you know how hard it is. for the rest of us we can only imagine. we'll keep it here, come back to you. thanks for filling us in.

appreciate it as always, mike. be back with you in a little bit. >> great to see you, chris. >> how cool is mike massimino? astronaut and italian. can't ask for better than that, kate. >> coming up next on "new day," a texas man battling with a hospital, begging them to take his pregnant wife off life support. why doctors say they just can't do it. plus, the white house making another change to the health care law, another change to the deadlines around the health care law ahead of its first enrollment deadline. is this a sign of more trouble ahead? we'll talk about it. just by talking to a helmet. it grabbed the patient's record before we even picked him up. it found out the doctor we needed was at st. anne's. wiggle your toes.

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♪ have a holly jolly christmas ♪ and when you walk down the street ♪ i just got santa on the cell phone. he says the reception is pretty good. you're watching the santa tracker there. somewhere out over russia right now. we'll be following him throughout the morning. just wanted to give you a check in there as you welcome back to "new day." there you go. back to us now. we'll be following him throughout. i have him on the blackberry, kids. >> don't worry. >> make sure you're good until the last moment. >> a lot of news this morning. let's get to miguel marquez. not as exciting as santa but it began with a bang and ending with a whimper. the holiday shopping sales have dropped off for the third week in a row. during what is traditionally the busiest buying time of the year.

last week, store sales dropped over 3% to just under $43 billion, compared with the same week a year ago. final sales figures are expected in january. civilian and military employees get a christmas gift from president obama, a pay bump. he issued an executive order monday giving them a 1% pay rise next year. military employees have received a raise each year since he's been in office. civilian pay has been flat over the last three years as congress haggled over the budget and federal deficit. colorado has issued retail marijuana licenses to stores looking to sell recreational pot, making it the first u.s. state, first place to do it in history. voters in colorado approve recreational pot sales last year. as of january 1, stores will be open to sell pot to adults 21 years and older. those stores will also have to get approval from their local governments to do that. the inventor of the ak-47 rifle

has died. mikhael kalishnikov died on monday. he was 94. he designed the machine gun just after world war ii. it became a main stay of russia's armed forces and police. it also became the weapon of choice for griuerrillas and terrorists as well. we just showed you this. you can check it again. >> can't get enough. >> santa's global whereabouts online through norad. he's over eastern russia at the moment. it's so far without controversy, a children's advocacy group says online tracking site promotes violence since it shows fighter jets flanking santa's sleigh. the fighter escort has been depicted since the 1960s and insists it's something safe and

nonthreatening. >> this would be a squarely category of nontroversy. >> he's over russia. >> seems like he was going over water. >> you know how fast he travels. >> i'm worried about the lack of snow. >> is he leaving russia or is that the black sea he's going over. >> i don't know. >> you're the only one a cell phone. >> i will. being good is not over yet. >> he's saying that to you and people on set as well. >> time now for our political gut check of the morning. the administration made yet another last-minute change to obamacare deadlines extending the enrollment period for people seeking coverage beginning january 1st. also, the president signing up for health care coverage as well. joining us, cnn chief national correspondent john king. you heard -- we will get to the santa tracker in just one second. we'll get to the most important thing of the day, don't worry. >> the debate question is what

time did you start the egg nog? >> john king. back to obamacare. a day added to the enrollment period. is it being seen as a good sign that there's interest at the end or is this seen as moving the goalposts again. >> the administration says, look, we're giving people an extra day. if they sign up by midnight tonight now, if you haven't signed up, you can go online. that deadline was supposed to be last night, midnight, 11:59. it gives people an extra day. the administration says why not. if there's been a rush at the end. they acknowledge the glitches they've had. as we talked about many, many, many times, the more people in, the better the financial footing of the program. critics say there's been more proof, modifications made, deadlines extended. more proof, this thing is too

big, too bulky and doesn't work. lo and behold as we get to christmas, the political debate will continue and we'll carry it over to next year. if you want to, there's a period of grace. >> look, more time to sign up, it's got to be a good thing. that's what makes the program function. >> right. >> help me understand this. the president symbolically signs up for obamacare. now, remind me but i remember one of the rules of politics being, you never try to approximate normalcy as a politician. if you don't live the way other people do, don't pretend to. what do you think went into this and do you think it's effective. >> it's a symbolic move and the white house acknowledges that. again, everything about this program is so black and white, because it's been become so polarizing politically. he lives here in washington, d.c. the issue is this, though, he couldn't do it himself. when you logon to the computer, the computer verifies your social security number, your personal information. well, the database doesn't have

the president for valid national security reasons. he had to send an aide to the d.c. exchange to sign up. some say good for you, you're supporting the program. others say, i got kicked off, i tried to go onlien, i called a call center and i got put on hold. the president didn't have to go through that. this is such a black and white issue. some say good for you, others say more proof of the problem. >> if he didn't sign up, then -- >> he doesn't need it. that's what confused me. >> his staunchest critics would say, if we have to do it, you have to do it, too. you can see it. >> it doesn't cover people who already get it, it doesn't cover us who are covered by the military. it's smaller in scale. but this goes the other way. >> it goes the other way. someone who spent a lot of time covering the white house. the president has good health care. he always has a doctor in the house. i'm not saying that to be

snarky. it's a pretty good gig. republican, democrat, if we ever get to an independent in the white house, they deserve it. >> the ted line is tonight. we will watch it. what everybody wants to know, what are the final signup numbers for this round at least? take care, john. >> thank you. merry christmas. >> you, too. coming up on "new day," a man battling to take his wife off life support. he says it was her wish, it was an agreement. doctors say they can't. here's why, she's pregnant. which holiday movie do you consider must-see classics? the raging debate, ahead.

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♪ i just want you for my own ♪ more than you could ever know ♪ ♪ make my wish come true this song, didn't it the just scream classic to you? yes? you know the tune. you know that cute face. "love actually," classic, chris cuomo? >> i would have to say no, kate. i'll take the no on this part of this robust debate we'll have this morning. some people believe this should get entry into that kind of -- that huge -- >> that special class, christmas classic. >> pantheon. >> good word. >> indra petersons is somebody

who believes that "love actually" -- >> i like it. sorry. >> you put it up there with the biggies. >> it's my only one. hall of fame. we'll get there, okay? we'll get there. first a favor from mr. chris cuomo himself. this is what he defines as a white christmas, anyone who has snow on the ground already. breathe it in. the plains, midwest, even a tiny little bit in the northeast. this is the amount of country, about 47% of you, technically have a white christmas. let's do it my way, who will be talking about a white christmas today. we'll get to play here, sherri and talking about the temperatures making their way across. see if we can get the maps. there we go. seeing the first system exiting off the coastline. that's the one that brought the trouble for the weekend. that is gone. little system, tiny wave over the lakes that will bring more snow. and a clipper will make its way across. they will have actual snow falling for christmas eve and

christmas day. a good amount of it. 6 inches of lake-effect snow is possible. even a dusting possible into new york city as some of the energy makes its way east. the clipper that we're hoping for, notice as you go into midnight mass, east coast time, chicago, minneapolis, starting to get snow and then again making its way farther towards tomorrow morning, christmas day itself. the best time ever, having that fresh snow falling, indiana and michigan as well looking for the snow and the thing quickly dissipates out thereof. not a big guy but enough. enough to get 2 to 4 inches of snow, dakotas, minnesota, wisconsin and michigan. you guys got the lucky straw. you're looking for a beautiful christmas. i am a little bit jealous of that. temperatures are cold, chicago, negative 16 degrees. yes, it may 2350feel like some you have snow but it's very, very cold. negative 16, that's too cold. merry christmas, guys. >> indra, we'll check back in

throu throughout the morning. a young husband and father is asking that his wife be taken off life support. but under texas law, he can't. because she is 18 weeks pregnant. cnn's pamela brown is joining us here. this is such a difficult story. >> it really is. two main heartwrenching issues at hand for this texas man, chris and kate. he says he was blind sided by this broad texas law that puts the rights of the couple's unborn child over his brain dead wife's wishes to be allowed to die. he says the doctors have no idea what kind of health issues this baby will have once it's delivered from his wife's oxygen deprivation. the hospital says it is just following the law. it's a crushing decision texas paramedics eric and marlise munoz hoped they would never have to make for one another. >> we're both paramedics, we've seen things in the field.

we both knew we didn't want to be on life support. >> reporter: last month, munoz found his wife collapsed and unconscious on the floor inside their home. she was rushed to the hospital but it was too late. doctors suspect she suffered from a pulmonary embolism. >> we reached the point where, you know, you wish your wife's body would stop. >> reporter: the hospital won't let munoz honor his wife's wishes and hdisconnect the ventilator. >> texas has taken the approach of an expansive view of police power, specifically that the state has a compelling interest in preserving the life of its unborn citizens. and that interest is superior to even the interest of the remaining family that might be charged with raising an ill child. >> reporter: the hospital says it's just following the state laws of texas. >> we have a responsibility of making sure that we follow the

laws, whether they are state or federal, when it comes to providing care to patients and that's what we're doing in this case. >> reporter: munoz says their 14-month-old son mateo, he understands his fight is unpopular but maintains it's deeply rooted in love for his wife. >> everything i do will be sort of what she was. i can't do her justice. she's a great woman. >> texas is one of several states with this law that invalidates pregnant women's do not resuscitate directives. meantime, it could be several more weeks before doctors can make a decision about taking the fetus out of munoz. >> we have arthur kaplan, you are an expert in medical ethics. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> we heard on the tail end, texas has a specific law that removes your do not resuscitate

concern if there is a child at place. >> what you want is a law that recognizes the difference between a one-day-old embryo and almost a baby due to be delivered. pregnancy, in other words, is not a single condition. so the law, i think, is why too broad. plus the dad is worried in this case. was the fetus harmed when his wife went through a terrible medical incident? we want to look out for fetal interest but you don't want a law that says if the fetus isn't viable, if the fetus can't live, then you've got to continue care for this poor mom. >> what does the hospital and kind of if you're looking at the law, a judge, what are they struggling with here? if it isn't as clear cut as the statute states, you get into gray area. >> i hate to say it, these cases are gray. you're almost going to have to say this fetus is 12 weeks.

it's not viable. this fetus is now up to 14 weeks, still not viable. 24 weeks, it is. i think you need to have a more fine tuned instrument. i hope the dad decides to challenge the law. it's too restrictive. individual liberty should, if you will, be followed unless we have a viable baby. >> what a horrible situation for this man to be in in an absolute sense. his wife, they believe, is gone. his mild may be gone but for him to be put in the position to argue to kill his child is very difficult. >> oh, it's the worst. you know, he's so well informed. you usually don't get that he's a paramedic, the wife is a paramedic. they know about resuscitation. they understood all of these details, if you will. he faces a horrible burden. but at the end of the day, it's the wife's decision that should drive this. >> they don't have it in writing. >> they don't have it in writing. >> it wouldn't even matter. >> under state law.

>> under state law. >> because of the draw they have. which is why the doctor says maybe you challenge the law. >> we know she was well informed. we know that many people heard these conversations. too bad it's not in writing. that would be better. all of us should put it in writing. but i think we know what she wanted and it's not happening here. >> you also wonder if she didn't want to be put on life support when they had those discussions with be too, it obviously changes the equation if you say that if you're pregnant or not pregnant. >> it does. texas is saying protect fetal interest. okay but not a nonviable interest. >> survivabilitsurvivability, v issues here. >> no one, everyone hopes they would never be in such a horrific position to have this choice or lack of choice before them. what do you think people should learn from this situation? >> two things. we have to pick someone to be our decisionmaker and write that

down. that's not so hard to do, though it's important to tell the person you pick that you've asked them to be the decisionmaker. two, put into writing some of your wishes, these living wills or advanced directives. they would help us in this case. it wouldn't kick out the texas law that still has to be challenged if you will. at least we have a firm basis to say this is what she wanted, we know what she desired, even with a pregnancy this is what she wanted. >> that we certainly don't know here. even in his reckoning of the situation, it wasn't when she was pregnant. >> exactly. >> how do you figure out the viability of this fetus? that's the much bigger issue, when life begins, that we struggle with all the time in this society. the oxygen deprivation, 14 versus 16 weeks. >> up until about 22 you don't have a viable fetus. they don't have lungs, can't survive outside the body. >> do you know what kind of harm might have been done to this feel tuesday given -- >> we don't. there what we usually do with a

preemie baby is give more discussion to the parents. should that change just because she can't tell us that anymore? >> could also make the argument that as any parent she would want to do whatever it took for her child, even if that means ignore her do not resuscitate, keep her alive through the point of viability, make sure the fetus is there and give it its best chance at life. >> i think we can presume moms want to save their children. this couple is a loving couple. we don't have reason to doubt that. given these variables, i don't think the texas law gives enough room to have this discussion we're having, which is are you sure that's what she would want? are you sure the fetus can live, are you sure the fetus hasn't been harmed? >> all along the way, that man and his little boy, they have a son, is waiting, waiting. >> great to see you. >> thank you. >> pamela, thanks to you also.

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♪ don't want a lot for christmas ♪ >> welcome back to "new day."

that's from the movie "love actually." we are asking a very important question this morning. is it a christmas classic? with some movies, it's ovs. miracle on 34th street. >> christmas story. >> a christmas story. people are up in arms about this. one critic, christopher orr, at the atlantic, had this to say about the movie. >> i think "love actually" is not mere ly not a love movie bu an anti-love movie, first and last scenes of a variety of scenes without the middle part where people actually fall in love. >> where are you on the debate? >> my absolute favorite movie of all time. >> what? >> the girls, right, we like it? >> i don't know. i wonder if it does -- no, no, no.

i'm not saying i don't love it. you don't like it miguel? >> i wouldn't put it up as a classic. >> where is the bar for when you become a classic? >> for when it's all you want to do on a holiday. so many people, i asked, michaela as well. >> i love the movie as well. >> already nervous. >> can we ask, though, why do you like this? i understand it's the only one you want to watch. that's what your big plan is. i get it. why this movie? >> so many real moments you can relate to. so many movies that you consider classic, you can't relate to them. i don't know what the word is. boring. i'm afraid to say it, but that's the truth. there's nothing relatable anymore. cheesy. >> zuzu's petals? >> classic for me not be a classic for you? >> no, because then it wouldn't be a debate. >> who will be the decider? >> the people will decide.

when it becomes a classic is when it moves into generational significance. when you have parents with children that it carries through, where it becomes a big part of the season itself. oh, i can't wait for that movie to come on. that's when it means it's christmas. >> only time will tell. >> and you will shoot your eye out. >> there you go, classic line. astronauts out on a crucial christmas eve spacewalk. we'll bring you the latest and talk with an astronaut here on earth about what's going on outside the international space station. he has done four spacewalks like this. that's a live picture. we'll be right back. ♪

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to believe in miracles, but i got the hitch pin on the first try. >> breaking news. two americans outside the space station one hour into their critical spacewalk. are their suits holding up? live coverage this morning. trapped in the middle east, 29-year-old sentenced to a year in prison for what he says was just a joke. now his mother speaks out for the first time about their fight to get him back. >> a festivus for the rest of us, the holiday made famous by seinfeld is alive, well and

real, senator rand pauline talking it up on monday. the writer who introduced us to it joins us. gather round the festivus pole. your "new day" continues right now. >> 8:00 in the east. christmas eve. right now, we'll show you live pictures from nasa. astronauts are performing a spacewalk outside the international space station, a critical mission to replace the cooling station. they're continuing repairs. they started saturday but could not finish them because of problem with his a space suit of all things. mike mastrimito has spent time in space and is a professor.

he joins us now. we've been watching this feed all morning. can you talk me through where they are right now? >> sure, kate. it's good to see you and talk to you again. what's happened now is that they've gotten the area around the new pump unit prepared. mike hop kins has jumped in the robot arm. soon he will have that pump unit, which is about the size of a refrigerator, in his hands. they'll go and install it later on to get the space station full up and running again with its cooling capability. the other thing you can see in the background with these photos, kate -- i'm glad you're showing it -- magazine nif sense of the earth around you. some of the tough things about doing a spacewalk, one is you're working in the space suit and have to work against the pressure in the suit and the gloves but the other thing is that you have this amazing distraction right over your shoulder, which is the most beautiful sight you've ever seen, which is the earth. you can see how beautiful it is from those photos. when you see it through your

helmet visor, it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. >> you're so right. it's wonderful for us to be able to watch this in real time. i know that they train for this i know that they have nerves of steel and you have nerves of steel. one of the images we were just looking at, it looks like the astronaut is just dangling there, barely tethered on. is there any sense of security when you're out there in that weightless environment? >> there is, actually. it's taes kind of beilike being an airplane. it's so beautiful, you don't really get the sense of where you are necessarily. what happens sometimes is when you're closer to something -- like when i was above the shuttle and i was about 60 feet above the payload bay, i felt for some reason your mind takes over there and says, wait a minute. you're 60 feet above the ground

here or this platform, which was the shuttle. i kind of had the sense i needed to hold on. your mind has gotten used to when you think it's in a dangerous situation. if you let go, you know you won't fall anywhere and that's what you do and you get used to it after a while and your mind adjusts and you do feel safe. you concentrate on your work and it really is just a magazine if i have magnificent experience. >> we'll take your word on that one. talk to me about the difficulty in movement. the space suits seem so cumbersome. you see the rod they're working on. it almost seemed like he was using scotch tape, wrapping it around it. obviously i know nothing of what i'm talking about here. is it difficult to move around in that space suit? >> we do have tape in space. i've used it during a spacewalk.

it's not scotch tape but space tape. it's a special kind of tape. it is a little hard to move around. it's a bulky suit. what you learn very quickly when you practice on the ground in the water is that if you use too much energy in making your motions at the beginning of the spacewalk, if you move your hands and grab the handrails very tightly, you're going to wear yourself out. you're fighting against the suit, the pressure in the suit and the bulkiness of the suit. one of the things you learn in training after time is to move very, very efficiently. move very slowly. don't grab things too hard and try to use very light fingertips as you're moving around so that you don't use all of your energy all up at once. you learn, you modify it. first time you're in the suit in the water, in our big pool when you train -- i remember my very first time i came home, i felt like i had been in a boxing match, even though i had never done any boxing. i just felt like i was beat up. you learn over the years that you get this training in you that you know you need to move

slowly and carefully and use your energy and strength efficiently to make it through an entire spacewalk. >> i know this is critical work being done on the international space station to help fix the cooling system. we'll get to that. but, man, this is fun to watch play out in real time. great to see you. we'll check in with you in another half an hour as we watch these truly amazing images from space as they continue the spacewalk. >> look forward to it, thanks. >> could be a great cure for any issues you may have. edward snowden, the man who leaked nsa documents and fled to russia has shared what life is like on the run. joe, what are the headlines here? >> reporter: hey, chris.

this was an interview with bart gelman at "the washington post." snowden says he already won, even though he faces charges in the u.s. he gave the paper a long interview in russia, with permission from the government. he says the mission is already accomplished. i already won. as soon as the journalists were able to work everything i had been trying to do was validated. i didn't want to change society. i wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself. snowden says he's not being disloyal and asserted he's trying to help the national security agency. chris? >> a lot of people would say i don't care what this guy has to say. he has become part of the dialogue of this issue certainly and talks in the interview about what the standard should be for collecting data. taking it for what it's worth, what's his rationale? >> the standard is reasonable suspicion. he says it should be higher. underlying legal issue that's controversial about the nsa data

collection and its practice of using the lowest american standard to justify gathering huge swaths of information. he says the standard should be higher. quote, i don't care whether you're the pope or osama bin laden as long as there's an individualized probable cause for targeting these people as a legitimate foreign intelligence, that's fine. i don't think it's imposing a ridiculous burden by asking for probable cause. because you have to understand, when have you access to the tools the nsa does, probable cause falls out of trees. he's not a lawyer, chris, as you know. >> no, he's not. and a lot of people would question whether he's the right person to give an opinion on this. joe johns, you are exactly the right person to be bringing us this story. best for christmas to you and your family. >> you, too, chris. fourth expected to arrive soon. aircraft came under fire over the weekend as they tried to help evacuate americans from south sudan.

marines are prepared to help get more americans out as south sudan's conflict gets closer and closer to an all-out civil war. elise labbot has more. >> this is the new normal. the u.s. military wants to make sure it has an emergency force on stand by. you have 150 forces moving from spain to jabuti. the country descends into all-out civil war, they'll be prepared. ban ki moon is looking to double its peacekeeping force from about 6,500 to 12,000. one bit of encouraging news, u.s. ambassador donald booth is on the ground, seems to be making some progress getting these factions, government led

and forces loyal to the former vice president to the table. we'll see what happens over the next 24 hours. chris? there's a lot of other news as well. let's get to miguel marquez, in for michaela. >> hi again. >> hello, hello. >> extended the deadline by a day to help people who faced website delays. president obama enrolled signing up for the bronze level plan. it is a symbolic move since he is covered by the military but will pay $5,000 a year. southwestern airlines flight to st. louis from kansas city had to turn around. a new plane was called to the terminal at lambert international airport and eventually took more than 100 passengers safely to kansas

city. year-end deadline to reach a deal. hamid karzai refused to sign a deal that would allow u.s. troops to stay in afghanistan beyond 2014. the u.s. had threatened to pull all truth troops out after december 31st if the deal wasn't done. u.s. officials tell ""the new york times" karzai seems to be calling their bluff. 100 more injured after two explosions hit a government building in egypt. top floor of the building, followed by a car bomb. government officials called it an act of terrorism that stopped short of blaming any one group. the blast comes as a nation prepares to vote on a new constitution. to california now where san jose police just released gripping surveillance video of an easter sunday car crash. oldsmobile cutlass smashing through the front of the store, reversing, then speeding forward.

amazingly, no one was seriously injured. police released the video to try to find more witnesses. now to indra and what the christmas forecast is looking like. >> i have something here that everyone is asking for. take a guess. >> yes? yes? >> santa tracker. not there. i am now made a liar on christmas eve. oh, wait. do we have it? just in the monitor. okay. we'll take it. there's santa. he has already left the north pole, he went over russia, making his way in through australia. you want to see how many gifts he's delivered? 640 million or so. that number is so small on the monitor, i cannot see it. maybe you can see it on the big screen at home. how many of you are going to be seeing a white christmas. by the first definition, if it's already on the ground, 47% of you right now already have a white christmas eve. we're talking about really, yes, across the dakotas into the

midwest, even the northeast. you're seeing a little bit of snow on the ground. now let's talk about who is expected to see the snow falling overnight tonight into tomorrow. pretty good amounts are going to be expected. the dakotas, minnesota, stretching all the way through michigan and even a little wave, tiny piece of energy across the lakes this morning with that lake-effect snow could produce heavy amounts. six inches south of buffalo. good amounts there. this could bring a couple of flurries into manhattan. timing, here we go. most importantly, right? christmas eve, if you're trying to make your way to midnight mass east coast time here, chicago, minneapolis, you could start seeing some of that snow. tomorrow morning, the best time of all, talking about that snow falling down. indiana through michigan, still looking for that snow. this guy quickly makes its way offshore. love that. temperaturewise, it is cold for a lot of you. talking about chicago. negative 15 degrees right now. bismarck, negative 2.

atlanta feels like 20 degrees. continue to be cool the next several days. new york city drops down to 29 degrees for your high tomorrow. i'm going to articulate why i love it. not everyone has a perfect family. when you watch "love actually," all these different scenarios. people feel like they have love all around them. >> love you, indra. >> you are not letting go. >> was that articulate? >> no joke. >> i made one comment. >> two commercial breaks ago. we don't even know what we're talking about. >> so important to me. >> when petersons is on it, she's on it. i mait made one joke about white christmas. now she bifurcates every forecast on -- >> does not mean a white christmas. >> you just asked for a fight, miguel. >> boom.

done. new friend. >> as much as it would be nice to have someone support me at this point in the show, i would go with her. >> team a. team b. we're good. coming up on "new day" an american sentenced to a year in a middle eastern prison for what he says was a joke. now his mother is speaking out about her family's fight to bring him home. a "new day" exclusive. pope francis is getting ready to celebrate christmas at the vatican for the very first time. will this be a new different kind of holiday message? cg/úññ at university of phoenix we know the value of your education is where it can take you. (now arriving city hospital.)

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pope francis will hold his first christmas eve ceremony tonight. his popularity is soaring. 8 % of catholics, 72% of americans in general say they like him. tens of thousands are flocking to st. peter's square to hear his christmas message. we'll break down what that message may be, what the significance is. religious commentator and host of the sunday mass, father beck. >> good to be here. >> merry almost christmas. >> 70 plus percent of our country agrees on nothing. >> we love authenticity. you guys were with me -- i was with you, i should say, at that conclave. it reaches 77 votes, two-thirds necessary for his election.

bergolio is terrorized by it. the cardinal next to him leans over and says, jorge, he kisses him, don't forget the poor. those are the first words that he heard after his election. don't forget the poor. he goes out on to that balcony. we expect he will bless all the masses there. he bows his head and says, will you please bless me? it was the beginning of a different kind of papacy, moving from the palace to the people. it was a sea change. people are responding to it. for too long, it was so removed from people. and now they are saying, well, i can identify with this man. he knows me. that's why he's so popular. >> also something we learned when we were over there. he took, obviously, the name francis. there was a little bit of confusion as to which francis, because the head of his order is a francis, st. francis, and he was asked and he said the poor one. obviously, francis of assisi.

it's been central to him. >> he says that name came to him when cardinal humes said to him, don't forget the poor. he immediately thought lady poverty. that's when he decided to take the name francis. >> how do you think that new and different pope -- it started at that moment when he asked for people to pray for them. how do you think it will transcend to this christmas mass? >> this man just sent 2,000 cards to immigrants in a shelter and gave them phone cards so they can call home and stamps so they can write home. now he will walk down the aisle and bless a creche of homeless refugees, that our god wants to identify with the poor. this pope is not going to let us forget that. i would expect tonight -- i don't know. i have not seen the text. i would expect he will talk about homeless refugees that we are celebrating tonight as god

become man. >> breaking the barriers, letting people reach out and touch him. he doesn't like being held up on a pedestal. that's inherently how this mass is played out, that he is a little removed. do you think he will be able to change the program? >> i don't know. remember with benedict, he couldn't walk down that long aisle. i would doubt that jorge bergolio would be on any platform. i see him going down that aisle touching people, kissing babies. i would see him being much more accessible. >> could be a mosh pit with this guy. they carry him over their heads all the way down. >> john paul ii never polled this high in popularity, and he polled high as well. >> members of the church have expressed concerns about how far he is going in changing the tone of the church. and for fear of change iing law

well. >> conservative republican says he has been moved by this pope to focus more on poverty, getting back to passionate conservatism. he says i'm being affected by this, too. conservatives are looking at it and saying what are we doing here? you have to land on the side of pope francis. otherwise, who will you go to? >> catholics only in the poll. what do you think about pope francis' positions? 87% say about right. too liberal, 7%. what that could speak to is the secularization of the catholic church or being the right man at the right time. but so far it seems like he's get i getting support. >> what are the issues? immigration reform. any doubt where pope francis would be on that issue? down the line he will stand with

those who have no voice. he hugs the faceless man and then speaks about the faceless poor. he is consistent all the way through. >> father beck, appreciate the perspective. early christmas wishes. >> have a wonderful christmas. >> tune in tonight at 6:00 pm for cnn's special coverage of the first christmas at the vatican. a mock-umentary, a joke posted online, now the 29-year-old is being held in prison for a year. we'll talk to, including for the first time, his mother. making urgent repairs. we have our own astronaut down on the ground to give you the latest coming up.

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the american jailed in the united arab of emirates for making a parody video and posting it online. a court has ordered him to spend a year in prison before being deported. he has already spent about eight months in jail. joining us now this morning,

shezanne cassim's mother and brother. i know this is a horrific time for your family. thank you so much for being here. i wanted to ask you -- you said you had been hoping that your son would return and be able to celebrate so many holidays with you. july 4th, thanksgiving. now we are on christmas eve. how are you doing? >> i am feeling so sad that he is not with us today. >> have you heard from him since the sentencing? >> no. i have not been able to speak to him since the sentence was passed yesterday. >> do you know how he is doing, though, after the sentence? >> i'm sure he is pretty, pretty sad and disappointed. and i'm hoping that, you know, things will resolve and he will be back with us very soon. >> there's still, it seems, some confusion of how much time he will be spending behind bars. he has already been there eight

months, eight months plus. it was five months before he even knew what he was charged with. do you have any clarity yet on when you'll next see your brother? >> no, we don't. in fact, we and our attorneys are still waiting for clarification from the court as to how the sentencing will be implemented. so at this point, we're afraid that there's going to be another -- in the same way that the court dates and the judgment kept being postponed, we're afraid we're going to see that kind of delay all over again simply with getting some understanding from the court as to how the sentencing will be implemented. >> even for our part here at cnn, we have reached out repeatedly to the uae officials to try to get interviews and, of course, information around a dozen times and have not heard anything. how are you? >> tired, and scared for my brother. we're only 13 months apart, so we're very close. so to not have him close by to us and not have access to him is -- or easy access to him is

terrifying. >> and even after all these months it still remains the same, huh? >> uh-huh. >> is there a next step for you guys? what's next? >> really, just looking to support, trying to put pressure on getting him back as soon as possible. this is just ridiculous. just get him out of there. get him home to us. that's all we want. >> jean, do you remember what your first thought was when you got the information that your son was being detained and especially when you found out what he was being charged with and why? >> right. my first thought was actually despair and that has remained with me all these months. it's a feeling at the bottom of my stomach. you know, it's the pit of my stomach. i feel some kind of despair, not knowing where this is all going to end. >> is there anything -- how do you stay strong? how do you remain hopeful after

it's been one deadline missed, one court date passed, one holiday, another holiday without your son? how do you remain hopeful through all of this? >> i can't believe it, but i've got some kind of strength that has kept me going all these months. and somewhere along the line i think the lord above is taking care of me. >> shivan, we've talked about the united states government's involvement in this, trying to have backdoor conversations to try to have this dealt with. this is clearly not the way the government would want this handled. do you think the u.s. government, the state department, has done enough? are you still working with them to try to have this resolved without your brother having to spend another day behind bars? >> it just seems like whatever they've tried hasn't been successful so far. it's been eight months and he's still in jail. it doesn't look like they've been able to have much effect on the situation so far.

>> senator amy clobishar from your state has tried to keep the message out there. she called it, in a statement she put out, completely outrageous, as you basically had said. do you want more assistance from the government, from your senator? is there anything more that you think can be done other than simply hope, wait and pray, shalali? >> absolutely. we would love for them to do as much as possible. waiting is not an option for my family. we want them to help bring him home and where he should be. >> jean, you've been able to hear from him once in a while. how often are you able to get calls from him, do you think? >> about once a week. >> go ahead. i'm sorry. >> especially on a sunday. >> that must offer you some sort of comfort, or does it just break your heart even more? >> in two ways, some kind of comfort as well as, you know, it's so sad to hear him call from a cell.

>> how does he say, the last time you heard from him -- how does he say how he's doing, what are the conditions like for him when he is being held? >> he is a very quiet boy. he doesn't talk much. i sincerely believe he's certainly not happy there. >> have you come to terms after all of these months with any kind of reason why this has happened to your son, why this has happened to your family? >> no. not at all. it's very hard to come to terms with that. >> what do you think? i was asking shalali, but i want to get your take. what is next for you and the family? do you pick up, head over to the uae and start demanding answers or is that just as dangerous for you, i assume? >> i guess so. i guess. it's just hoping that somebody somewhere will help us to bring my son home. >> what are your concerns all along? what's the biggest concern been

for your sobn? >> his physical safety and his mental well-being. >> how is his mental well-being? >> so far he seems to be holding on. how long more, i don't know. >> jean, our network is seen throughout the world. if you could speak to -- you do get the chance to speak to your son, which is wonderful. if you had a moment where you could speak to the officials in the uae to understand what your family is going through, what would you say to them? >> please just understand what has happened. try to understand that he did not mean any harm. please send him home. >> jean, thank you so much for being here. shalali, shervon, thank you again. we'll continue to follow this with you, in the near term trying to find out how much longer your brother, your son will be behind bars. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> chris? kate, coming up, they're still at it outside the international space station, critical spacewalk to repair the cooling system.

we'll check in with an astronaut who has done his own spacewalks. festivus. "seinfeld" made it popular. we'll talk to the man who wrote the episode. and guess what, festivus is real. >> you gather your family around and tell them all the ways they have disappointed you over the past year. >> and is there a tree? >> no. instead there's a pole. requires no decoration. i find tinsel distracting. 1ñp ...for the year. hi. sorry.

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live pictures of the spacewalk. you can't ask for better than that. astronauts are out there. they're working on a critical mission to replace a piece of the cooling system and are giving us a christmas gift of amazing images while in process. now, we have with us astronaut

mike massimino, who has performed four spacewalks himself. visiting professor up in columbia. right now you're down in houston, which is good. it's close to nasa, all making sense. you told us before, mike, you're going incredibly fast even though it looks still on our television screens. it's like some 17,000 miles an hour, whipping around the earth. what does that do in terms of making the task more difficult? >> well, it changes -- one thing it changes, chris, you can see that on the screen now, it changes the lighting. as we talked earlier, they were around south america, the atlantic ocean as the sun was shining then they passed over europe into china. right now they're probably somewhere over china, entering where the pacific ocean is where it's dark right now. it's nighttime over there. you go from this change of very bright light -- it's not even like a light. it's almost a pure whiteness to it, how bright the sun is in space when you're space walking.

you go from that transition, when you enter into the darkness of it, where it's dark, nighttime over the earth. it's like the absence of light. it's the blackest black. and yet what you do is you turn on your helmet light. that's what they're using right now, the lights on their helmets that illuminates the area they can work in. they go from this change of bright white light to very dark, dark, about every 45 minutes. we talked about the temperature earlier. that's another thing. >> how difficult is it to stay in the same spot as you're working. it looks like they're spending a lot of time playing with the tether, with their body position. >> that is a very important thing to do. if you're working on something in your house or your car, whatever it might be, you want to be really stable. if you're floating around, it's not going to be so easy. so mike hopkins has his feet in the robot arm.

his feet are planted. and rick has an extra arm almost, a clamp that he can attach to a handrail to keep him really steady. so you have these tools to help you remain really solid. but you really want to get into a good position. >> how many steps have they had to memorize in completing this process? >> you know you don't necessarily want to memorize everything, chris. you want to have kind of a game plan in your head and be able to visualize it. it's a technique that astronauts have handed down. there are certain things you want to know for sure that are really important. but generally you want to have the flow of the spacewalk. kind of like the flow of a game. maybe when you're doing your broadcast. you want an image of what that's going to do and then play it over in your mind as you're

thinking about it before you go to bed and have that in your mind. the details of every little tool setting, that's more than you want to memorize. you'll mess it up if you try to memorize everything. that's why we have a checklist. there's a person inside, working the robot arm. the checklist is being read to them by an astronaut who is on the ground. making sure they have every step along the way. they want the big picture in their mind. >> mike, thanks for giving us this. bon natale, merry christmas to you and yours. >> bon natale, chris, and to your family. they're doing all this hard work so we can continue all this great work on the international space station. that's the gift from nasa to the world. >> thank you very much. we'll have you back for sure.

that's one impression of what's going on, on christmas day. forle millions of others it's a different experience. millions of other also go hungry this holiday season. it's not just confined to the holiday. we know that. christina aguilera knows that. she is lending her voice to the effort. ♪ twinkle twinkle little star >> christina aguilera is lending a hand and her voice in the fight against world hunger. ♪ how i wonder what you are >> the grammy winner says becoming a mother played a key role in her decision to get involved. >> when i look at my son, i realize all the opportunities that he has around him. every child deserves the chance to dream and to hope. >> aguilera recently traveled to ruwanda as an ambassador for the u.n. world food program.

>> it's so lovely to see them smile and their eyes light up and for them to be eager to get a good education and in the long term try to provide for their family and break the cycle of going hungry. >> this is aguilera's third trip with the world food program. she previously visited guatemala and haiti. >> why not do all i can to give these children a voice of their own, to be heard and to have the same opportunities everyone else should have? ♪ like a diamond in the sky >> now to find out how you can help, you can go to cnn.com/impact. >> absolutely. >> coming up next on "new day" it's that time of year again. no, it's not christmas. festivus, the holiday for rest of us. it's not just a comedy bit from "seinfeld." we'll find ought outline about it from the son of the man who created this holiday.

>> the festivus pole. >> the tradition of festivus begins with the airing of grievances. i got a lot of problems with you people. now you're going to hear about them. you, krueger, my son tells me your company stinks. >> oh, god. [ female announcer ] right when you feel a cold sore,

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kramer, i got your message. i haven't celebrated festivus in years. what's your interest? >> just tell me everything. >> many christmases ago i went to buy a doll for my son. i reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. as i rained blows upon him i realized there had to be another way. >> what happened to the doll? >> it was destroyed. but out of that, a new holiday was born. a festivus for the rest of us! >> as i rained blows down upon him. boy, that brings back great memories. this is christmas eve. let's talk festivus. you just saw it on "seinfeld." a lot of us have greerchss to a grievances to air. senator rand paul did.

he said i have a small grievance with people who think my hair is not real but enough about paul. festivus is bigger than any one politician. we are very lucky. writer dan o'keefe. his father created festivus years ago. he is a writer on "seinfeld." he is here to tell us the background. i'm sure it's not the jerry stiller version. >> he may have been raining blows somewhere, but a combination of alcohol and mild mental illness and internal reader's digest politics. i think some of the pressure of that with everything else led him to decide to create a holiday that was just for his family that wasn't beholden to anything political or religious. he decided to, every year, somewhere between october and

may, make his family celebrate this very peculiar holiday with very peculiar aspects, which did not involve that pole. that was made up by a writer named jeff schafer. that was his joke. and, actually, i didn't want to put it on tv. >> you didn't? why? >> because it was sort of like a family disgrace. and then my younger brother let it slip that this went on. so the other writers and jerry said, yeah, we would like to give this to america. and i said i don't think america wants it at all and i don't think they should have it. >> america is laughing it up. >> they prevailed and in and out chickens have come home to roost. >> so you were george running out of the diner? >> faster, yeah. yes. i tempted to run out of the diner. >> the holiday at home also include the airing of grievances and the feats of strength? >> no. i was not forced to wrestle my father. if i had, i would have been raised by the state of new york. not by my parents.

the grievance thing, though, yeah. a lot of it was a lot -- most of it was actually airing grievances into a tape recorder, talking about all the indignities that my father had suffered at readers digest, all the indignities my brother and i had suffered at school and all the indignities my mother had suffered at the hands of myself, my brother and father. so, yes. grievances was a very real part. the other stuff was made up for television. >> the pole, which everybody sort of talks about. >> yes. >> which you smashed a little while ago, it was actually a clock in a bag nailed to the wall. is that real? >> yes. >> there must be some reason for that. >> in this creepy little pamphlet. i call it book, '05, the real festivus, i was forced to reveal that. i don't know why. i don't know what it means. he would never tell me. he would always say that's not for you to know.

i honestly don't know what it is to signify. >> the most powerful symbol is one you do not understand? >> something about time and the womb of -- i have no idea. >> it's actually making sense to me right now. >> that's scary. >> what sleep depp deprivation do to you. >> that's possible. >> would you ever have expected this would have ever been? this is one of the lines and episodes that everyone remembers. it is a classic. >> yes. >> you knew it was going to be? >> no. i thought you were about to say a line from the show. >> did you ever thought festivus -- >> no. i thought it would be cut out for syndication. there were five stories in that episode and that was one i didn't want in there and really had no hope for. and, no, not at all. i thought it was kind of going to suck. and i was really surprised that alec bergen, jeff schafer, they

contributed some stuff that was arguably funnier, but this has seemed to metasesized. >> thank you for the gift. it keeps giving. >> sorry i gave it to you. did rand paul really -- >> yes, yesterday. >> it's big now. >> led to bipartisanship with cory booker. >> threatened him with feats of strength. >> when rand paul tries to seem relevant with 15-year-old pop cultural references reminds me of when bob hope used to dress up with the fonz. that's just me. >> your burden, america's burden. >> happy festivus. >> thank you for the gift of festivus. >> every time he laughs when i say happy festivus. >> this is the response to when somebody says happy festivus. >> if that's not the good stuff,

we have even more for you after the break. "the good stuff" after the break. ♪ [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette, you celebrate a little win. nicorette mini delivers fast craving relief in just 3 minutes. double your chances of quitting with nicorette mini.

what is festivus? >> it's nothing. >> when george was growing up -- >> jerry, no! >> all religious aspects and so he made up his own holiday. >> another piece of the puzzle falls into place. >> and instead of a tree, didn't your father put up an aluminum pole? >> jerry, stop it. >> weren't there feats of strength that always ended up with you crying? >> are you happy now? >> sounds like every day on "new day." just kidding. >> if you're not celebrating festivus, you're probably getting ready for christmas. if you are, from our family to yours, we wish you the best of health and happiness on this christmas eve. thank you for being with us. lot of news this morning. let's hand you over to "the

newsroom" and miss carol costello. merry christmas. >> merry christmas to all of you. i think it's going to be a great one. and a great day. "newsroom" starts now. slashing prices as millions fewer americans are out shopping this year. happening now 200 miles above the earth, a complicated and dangerous spacewalk. two americans on the critical mission to fix the space station. also, mission accomplished. edward snowden speaks out saying, hey i already won. the reporter who sat down with him, straight ahead. plus this -- ♪ here comes santa claus here comes santa claus right down santa claus lane ♪ >> we are serious. here comes santa claus, tracking his every move. right now he is over japan and, guess what, he has delivered almost a billion presen