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 presents. pour some hot cocoa, gather

round the christmas tree. "newsroom" starts right now. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for being with me. right now more than 200 miles above the earth, two american astronauts are floating in space, performing repairs on the international space station in just the second christmas eve spacewalk in nasa's history. that mission, challenging and dangerous, got under way two hours ago. alina mochado is following it all. >> fascinating to see these two astronauts at work. if everything goes as planned they'll be able to wrap everything up and celebrate christmas back inside the international space station. >> copy that. >> reporter: a few minutes ahead of schedule, nasa started another spacewalk to support the

orbiting international space station. >> failure of an internal flow control valve. >> reporter: to american astronauts are venturing out. their mission? to replace a pump needed to cool the vessel. >> i don't know if you guys believe in miracles, but i got the hitch pin on the first try. >> that's awesome, rick. >> reporter: offer the weekend, astronauts rick mastacchio and mike hop kins, cooling fluid, ammonia. >> hooking up the big heavy ammonia lines are massive. if you were to leak ammonia, not a very pleasant chemical. you couldn't bring it inside. there's definite risk out there. >> reporter: mastracchio is wearing a replacement suit after a cooling issue with his suit

the last walk. >> it's 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 astronauts after five hours of meticulous work on saturday day one of the spacewalk is being called a success. >> i think i'm ready to leave this work site. >> 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. and this is a live look at mission control from nasa. obviously today is a big day here. you mentioned, carol, this is the second time ever we've had a spacewalk on christmas eve. the first one happened 14 years ago when two "discovery" astronauts spent eight hours working on the hubble.

>> very, very dangerous. >> today one went well and hopefully day two will go just as well. >> we're rooting for them. >> we are. alina machado, thanks. get ready to shop. that's what retailers are hoping. foot traffic is down a whopping 21%. stores are slashing prices as a result to get you back inside the stores and that includes target. discount prices may not help target this time. customers who were victims of target's credit card hacker are not happy. the retail giant released these pictures of their executive committee meeting. it is working around the clock until, quote, every guest need is met. alison kosik is in new york to talk about target and its woes. good morning. >> good morning, carol. you talked about overall sale this is holiday shopping season. they haven't been red hot for retailers. that includes target. that's as we head into this last shopping day before christmas. you take that, roll it into the

lawsuits and the reporters, stolen account information from target is hitting the underground market. talking about your stolen financial data. target really has its hands full. here is the latest on what's happening with this. customers who shopped at target in california, oregon, rhode island, they have filed what they hope will be a class action lawsuit alleging that target was negligent and did not protect their card information. more suits are expected to follow. now target's top lawyer monday, as you pointed out there, held a 30-minute call with several attorneys general to discuss details of the 30 million credit and debit cards that were breached. target is partnering with the secret service to investigate the malware that apparently hit its point of sale terminals and we haven't even touched on the perception that target has now. the way consumers see the retailer. the retailer has taken a big hit. that's according to brand index, a company which actually measures perception through

customer surveys. this company is saying target's perception scores have actually dropped to their lowest level since 2007, carol. you're seeing a lot of customers spooked about going into a target and spending money. >> not a merry chris ms. for target. i don't think their sales will be up this year. right? no. >> not expected. no, no. >> alison, thank you so much. despite sluggish retail sales, santa has plenty of work to do. he is already in the air. and santa was able to cut through all that red tape. usda granted his reindeer access to american air space. so, yea! he has already delivered 1 billion gifts. what about you? indra petersons is in new york. if you don't have flying reindeer, will it be tough out there? >> this is one time i actually have good news. hardest weather we've had to deal with was over the weekend.

you can see the remnants of the storm that caused all that trouble for everyone that tried to leave early is making its way offshore. yea for the procrastinators. little bit of a wave over the lakes and alberta clipper, fast-moving system is moving through. this is the good stuff, the thing that will bring people a white christmas. maybe some snow off the lakes here. and a good amount south of buffalo. you could see as much as six inches. overall not the big system. it's enough. in new york city, crossing our fingers we may get a bit of dusting of snow today and overnight. as far as the bigger one, what most people will be looking at, here is the clipper. we're watching it right now. notice midnight mass, east coast time, in chicago, maybe minneapolis, you're going to be seeing snow at the best time tonight. then there's tomorrow morning, great time. snow coming down, trying to open presents. still looking through indiana

and michigan, still seeing that snow. the system not a biggie. moving out of here. good two to four inches for the second system. that's who is getting the white christmas. not a big troublemaker for many people. i'm smiling. merry christmas, everybody else. >> right back at you. thank you so much, indra. >> sure. >> we're learning about one critical item on president obama's to do list this holiday season. that would be to sign up for obama care. the president joined the more than 1 million americans now enrolled and it comes as a key deadline for obtaining coverage is extended quietly. let's bring in athena jones, traveling with the president during his christmas vacation. tell us more. >> good morning, carol. health officials say that monday was a record day for health care.gov. more than 1 million visitors to the site as people were scrambling to sign up for coverage.

millions of americans got another day to get coverage. the cutoff day was monday. now you have until midnight today, christmas eve, to pick a plan. it's a welcomed delay for carla johnson, helping people sign up for healthcare.gov. >> that's great for the consumers, who have an early christmas gift for them. i'm excited that the powers that be made this possible for more enrollment. >> reporter: some states and insurance companies have also extended the deadline for coverage starting in january to give people more time to pick a plan. federal exchange healthcare.gov saw 1.2 million visitors over the weekend. 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 december 31st. i'm covered through the end of this year. my next coverage doesn't begin until january 20th.

>> president obama's staff signeded him up for a plan. his $400 a month plan is simply symbolic. the military provides his care. >> he felt strongly that he wanted to show support for the marketplaces and the millions of americans who shopped on those marketplaces. >> the overall pace of enrollment so far -- >> since october 1st more than 1 million americans have selected new health insurance plans through the federal and state marketplaces. >> reporter: enrollment is far shortly of the 3.3 million the government expected by this time. and with visits to healthcare.gov hitting more than 2.2 million over the past three days, you can bet officials can be closely watching the numbers again today. carol? >> all right. athena jones reporting live for us this morning. thank you so much. i just got an update about santa. that's not santa. that's edward snowden. a santa of a different kind, if you will. the real santa is over south

korea. american exile on the run is talking again to a reporter. that reporter has unearthed some interesting things. in fact, edward snowden is saying he has already won. we'll tell you more after a break. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isn't a thing at all? it's lots of things. all waking up. connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. we're going to wake the world up. and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. cisco. tomorrow starts here.

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13 minutes past the hour, live pictures of the spacewalk happening at the international space station. these predicts are taken from one of the astronauts helmets, mike hopkins, from missouri, in case you were wondering. they're working on putting in a cooling station. saturday they spent six or seven hours removing a faulty ammonia pump on one of the units. today they'll install a new pump that will also take hours and hours, painstaking work. it looks beautiful in space, doesn't it? you hope everything goes okay so they don't have to do another spacewalk on christmas day. 150 u.s. marines are assembled outside south sudan's border, ready to evacuate americans from that troubled african country. 100 citizens are believed to be

there as the country inches toward civil war. four navy s.e.a.l.s were wounded when their rescue mission came under intense fire. several high-profile cases. and the famous arctic 30 environmental activist jailed for protesting on an oil platform have a breakthrough today. russia has dropped one of its cases and possibly more. most of the activists were released but still face charges. victims of a nationwide meningitis outbreak. 64 deaths and hundreds of illnesses were linked to a steroid injection. they say they want to play a major role in establishing a fund for those who have suffered or died. a man without a country. edward snowden seems to have no

regrets about his bombshell revelations on the nsa and secret surveillance of americans and allies alike. former nsa contractor fled the united states and espionage charges in may and now lives under asylum in russia. today he is claiming victory. in an expensive interview with "the washington post," snowden says, quote, for me in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission is already accomplished. i already won. bart gelman conducted 14 hours of interviews with snowden and joins us now from washington. good morning. >> good morning. >> this must have been a fascinating conversation. i read your article. snowden describes himself as an indoor cat, rarely venturing outside. what is his life like in moscow, before we get to the other stuff? >> well, he doesn't talk a whole lot about his life or any personal questions. i have the strong sense that he is not in this sort of

confinement that some people imagined, even in hawaii he spent a lot of time indoors. he is a guy that spends a lot of time on the screen. he doesn't have a lot of needs. he sort of eats ramen and chips. and is deeply interested in promoting his cause now, which means communicating on the web. >> interesting. the former nsa and cia director said snowden will waste away in moscow and turn into an alcoholic like every other defector. you asked snowden about that. what did he say? >> as a matter of fact, he doesn't drink, never has at all. and defector, there's no evidence for it. there is literally zero evidence that he has shifted his loyalty to another country or is cooperating with the government of russia. he said that if he has defected at all, it was from his government to its people. he wanted to bring information to public attention that would allow americans to decide

whether they're comfortable with what their government is doing. >> okay. we'll go back to the matter at hand now since we turned the corner. and i appreciate that. he said mission accomplished. what does he mean by that? he says he has already won. >> it wasn't actually gloating. i was asking him, you had a purpose. you brought forth documents into the public record. you knew what you wanted to accomplish with that. have you done it? what he means by mission accomplished is he wanted the public to know what was being done in its name and what was being done to it in terms of surveillance. and he wanted it to be possible that decisions be made outside the secret bubble that they had been made since 9/11. he has had a great deal of public attention because many of his concerns have been validated by, for example, a federal judge, by the president's own

study commission. he believes he has launched the public debate that he wanted. >> interesting. interestingly enough, he said he never wanted to hurt the nsa. i am still working for the nsa right now. >> i imagine that they don't appreciate that quote. but he is -- what he is affirming is that he is loyal to his own government and the ability to defend the country, provided it stays within limits set by the public. >> interesting. does he believe he will ever leave russia, or is he comfortable with the fact that he may stay in that country forever? >> he's not answering a lot of speculative questions. it's important to understand that he did not choose russia. he was literally changing airplanes there. is he in russia because the united states revoked his passport in the transit lounge.

and he was therefore unable to fly out. >> well, there was word, what, a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to go to brazil. did you ask him about actively trying to leave russia? >> he has sought asylum and continues to seek asylum from a substantial number of countries. he had said from the beginning, even six months ago when he was inclade inclandestine communication with me. >> what's next? what might we expect next from edward snowden? >> i think he has felt strongly for a long time that he doesn't want to be the story, that his participation in the story tends

to distract because he either becomes the object of attack and he wants the conversation to be about the public policy questions. nevertheless, i think he does very much want to see his cause advanced and i would expect that you'll be hearing from him from time to time as he sees opportunities to participate in the conversation. >> barton gelman, thank you for sharing the information. if you want to read the article, and it's fascinating, washingtonpost.com. thank you for being with me this morning. >> thank you. seeing double? two popes at the same time. what's going on? we head live to rome. erin? >> preparations are under way in rome for this pope's very first christmas eve mass. i'll have that and more after the break. hi. my name is major leslie, serving with the screaming eagles 101st

airborne division in afghanistan. i would like to wish my husband and my eight children, avery, latasia, an 2001ette, darius, jessica, krista, elijah and ava, a very merry christmas. i look forward to seeing you soon. i love you. this is the quicksilver cash back card from capital one. it's not the "limit the cash i earn every month" card. it's not the "i only earn decent rewards at the gas station" card. it's the no-games, no-signing up, everyday-rewarding, kung-fu-fighting, silver-lightning-in-a-bottle, bringing-home-the-bacon cash back card. this is the quicksilver card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. so ask yourself, what's in your wallet?

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here's something you don't see every day, two popes at the same time. pope francis made a visit to his predecessor, pope benedict. americans are wild about the new pope. brand new cnn/orc poll shows that 72% of americans approve of pope francis and among american catholics, the approval rate is almost 90%. live in rome, i'm catholic and i understand why the pope is so

popular, but you tell us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. it is an absolutely beautiful day today in rome. thousands of pilgrims and tourists are here to celebrate. and they tell me this christmas eve is extra special. all eyes are on pope francis. the vatican is ready to celebrate the birth of jesus. the tree is trimmed. nativity scene is set to be unveiled. and everyone is excited for the pope's first christmas. >> to realize you're a part of the bigger picture. pope francis is all about that. >> we wanted to share this special moment with a person who is a beloved person and we appreciate all he is doing. >> reporter: nine months into his papacy much has been made about 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. and that's to name a few. and while this queer's christmas l liturgy remains the same, we can expect the unexpected. >> he does things that are very normal but abnormal in terms of the papacy. he brought in three homeless men in to the place where he is living to have breakfast with him on his birthday. i expect to see something similar over the christmas period. >> reporter: saturday his christmas message. pope francis urged the church's governing body to avoid gossip and focus on service. then he practiced what he preached, spending three hours at a local hospital, bringing christmas cheer to sick children. for the first time ever on monday, two living popes exchanged christmas greetings.

francis met with benedict for 45 minutes. st. peter's basilica is the place to be on kiss mass eve. pope francis will celebrate the traditional mass. this year, there were a record number of requests to attend. >> really once in a lifetime, isn't it, that you're here in rome, we happen to be here in rome and a pope is going to say his first mass and you're going to be part of it. >> reporter: then on christmas day tens of thousands of pilgrims will flood st. peter's square to hear his message to the world. >> he is speaking the language of ordinary people. >> reporter: pope francis has his christmas gifts taken care of. 2,000 immigrants at a local shelter received special packs complete with a christmas card signed by the pope. they included prepaid international calling card so they would be able to reach loved ones during this festive time. the pope's christmas message is

clear. christmas is about helping others. carol? >> that's awesome. erin mclaughlin, thank you so much. be sure to tune in for our live coverage of the pope's first-ever midnight christmas mass 6:00 pm eastern right here on cnn. still to come in the "newsroom," the president signs up for his own health care plan on healthcare.gov. is it too little, too late for what some are calling a pr nightmare on pennsylvania avenue? our political panel will weigh in on obamacare next. hi. i'm major tom here in germany. happy holidays, merry christmas and happy new year to dad and mary and all my family and friends in toledo, ohio. love you guys. miss you very much. have a blessed new year.

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good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for being with me. time to check our top stories at 32 minutes past. two american astronauts outside the international space station, repairs to our cooling system. just the second christmas eve spacewalk in nasa history. future of u.s. troops in afghanistan appears to be in question this morning. the white house is getting impatient in that government's delay and an appeal to keep our forces there beyond next year. if afghanistan cannot decide soon, washington says it would have to prepare plans that would withdraw all u.s. troops by the end of next year. opening bell just rang on wall street, cast of new york city's ballet production of the nutcracker. in other words, they rang the bell. i thought we were going to see a picture. but we didn't. >> it's a great picture, actually. they wind up performing a little bit. so i'm missing that today, because i'm at the exchange, but

that's okay. we'll maybe show the picture later. it is santa's big night, carol. don't be surprised to see a continuation of the santa claus rally we've been seeing. expect trading to be light since everybody is in a holiday mood and the markets close at 1:00 pm today eastern. while today is expected to be tame, the markets have certainly made some huge moves this year. the dow has pushed ahead by 24% just this year. s&p 500 is up 28% and the nasdaq is higher by 37%. with christmas hours away, retailers pulling out all the stops. that's a silver lining for the last-minute bargain hunters like myself. you can find sales for as much as 70% off some items. retailers are hopping on this, because it looks like the sales numbers have been a little bit off. >> i have something that will improve yore mood, alison kosik. a little gift. look, we have pictures of the nutcracker people ringing the bell. >> so festive. >> that is awesome.

ah. i love that. okay. that's enough of that. >> okay. as alison says, not exactly been a stellar shopping season this holiday. retailers say foot traffic is down about 21% across the country. as you know, target is still reeling from that massive data breach. there are only a few hours left until christmas day. so, head out for the big, big, big old bargains, right? that's how retailers are trying to lure you back in the stores. george hal is in chicago, tracking it all. good morning. >> reporter: carol, good morning. have you been in those stores or you got all your christmas shopping wrapped up? >> mine are done. i'm done. and i feel good. >> well, okay, i am among the procrastinators, sadly. you have three groups, the people who shopped well ahead of time, presents are all under the tree. procrastinators, people like myself.

i travel all the time. and people right before christmas who are talking about the deals. we're talking about the procrastinators. here is what you can look for here in the stores. 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 ramirez found on michigan avenue. >> shopping after thanksgiving, because a lot of the deals are going on now. >> reporter: and in new york, stores like macy's and toys r us staying open around the clock through christmas eve to give shoppers extra time. >> very convenient. definitely helped save my holiday shopping. wasn't too many people. you go in early and you get

everything you need in there. >> reporter: the national retail federation predicts an increase of 3.9% in sales from the same timeframe 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 survey, lowe's, toys r us, boscov's and barnes & noble. shoppers are looking for everything. >> what you're going to see now is one size fits all. fragrances pull strong when you're not sure or a little

fuzzy, a gift card will take care of it quite nicely. >> reporter: so gift cards, a big deal according to the national retail federation. this week right after christmas. i wouldn't be surprised to see a gift card from me to you down there to the old world headquarters. i'm doing my best. i have to get out there and get it. >> i will take it, and thank you very much. george howell, get shopping. thank you so much. let's talk about obamacare. president obama signed up for obamacare. check that. someone who works for the president signed the president up for obamacare. it was a show of solidarity, they say. in case you're wondering, he signed up for a bronze plan that will cost him $400 a month since he makes $400,000 a year. he doesn't qualify for any subsidies. although the president will never use the plan, since he and his family received medical care through the u.s. military, he

did sign up and he is going to pay for that plan, which comes out to about $5,000 a year. let's talk about this. will cain is a columnist for "the blaze" and maria cardona is cnn political commentator. welcome to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. maria, seriously? why not sit the president down and have him sign up himself? with the white house photographer? >> because of all the security concerns, carol. his information is not actually in all of the databases that are required to have the information for somebody to actually sign up for real in person. so that's why they actually went to the trouble of sending somebody to have him sign up for real so that he could have the plan. >> but why did they do this? or at least have him gathering papers in hawaii and send out a picture? wouldn't that have been better? >> well, i guess it's symbolic

in the respect that maria just described, because of security concerns. of course, you know, there's been stories that many americans should share the same concerns, your information is not necessarily protected when you submit it to healthcare.gov. if this were truly symbolic, we would need to know some things, like was the president's information correctly relayed to the insurance companies? insurance companies getting blank or ghost forms or wrong birth dates or spousal information. we would need to know if the president was actually capable of purchasing insurance, not just selecting and enrolling. was he able to pay for one so that ultimately if he went to an emergency room or a doctor and presented an insurance card, they would accept it. we don't know any of those things. and those are becoming symbolic of the american people's experience with obamacare. as you describe, by the way, he is never going to present an insurance card or go to a doctor with obamacare as his form of payment. it was pr. >> it was pr. in fairness, every president has

great medical care through the military. >> sure. >> and you want your president to have the best medical care. right? >> the gop has actually, from the moment this law was signed, pushing and prodding the president to sign up. so this is clearly a situation where he is damned if he does, he's damned if he doesn't. and so for the sake of actually inspiring the millions of people that need to sign up and who have been signing up, by the way, almost 5 million are signed up now through either medicaid expansion, the state exchanges and the federal exchanges. i think the president is going to err on the side of making sure this health care law does what it was designed to do. let's not be stooges or grinches and make sure that americans have security. >> republicans have prodded the president to sign up so he can, quote, share in the suffering of other americans. but the republican jason chavitz

says i'm not going to take a cheap shot at the president for signing up. he's the president of the united states. his health care is a little different than the rest of us. we get that. christmas cheer there, will. >> i love it. >> i want to go along the lines that maria was going along. according to the administration, 2 million people have visited healthcare.gov and 250,000 people have called on the phone to seek help signing up. of course, millions more have signed up for medicaid. the numbers are looking better, will. >> well, look. no, no, no, no, no. we have to recognize reality. obamacare has very much unperformed their own projections. they thought they would have 3.5 million people in the system purchase insurance through obamacare. you're talking about hundreds of thousands or a million people who have selected a plan. you can't pretend this has gone well. it hasn't. i don't know that 2014 is going to be any better for obamacare. we're look at a massive government program that so far is a huge failure. there's just no other way to

paint it. >> will, granted, the rollout has been botched. there is no question about that. and it is inexcusable. but i think that the protest from republicans are way too strong right now, carol. i think that they are looking at the fear that so many americans are not just signed up, will, enrolled and going to get health care in 2014, that it's going to become politically untenable for them to continue to embrace the repeal because then they're going to be taking health care away from millions and millions of americans. >> we'll see. >> we'll keep an eye on it in 2014 and merry christmas to you. >> you, too, carol. >> still to come in the "newsroom," it is the holiday season but for some of us the big family gatherings are just not possible. how to survive christmas alone. , after the break. just by talking to a helmet.

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i would like to wish my husband, gino and my kids merry christmas. love you all. miss you all and i'll be back in march. merry christmas. >> i will be home for christmas. no, i won't. i'll be watching "home alone" at home alone. it's playing endlessly on cable these days. >> just washed shine. i can't seem to find my

toothbrush so i'll pick one up when i go out today. other than that, i'm in good shape. ah! >> at least it will make you laugh. seriously, many of us will not be home for christmas or who will spend christmas alone. i know that sounds unbelievably depressing, and it can be, but it doesn't have to be. really. dr. jeff gardiere is here to help. good morning, jeff. >> good morning. >> spending christmas alone does sound unbelievably depressing but it doesn't have to be. please explain. >> it's all about the perception. it's not having to be alone but being by yourself and, therefore, having the time to really look at what your life has been about in the past year and having that attitude of gratitude for all the things that you have. i think it's also an important time for you to volunteer, if

you are going to be by yourself. get out there and help other people. it will get you to dwell a little bit less on your spending that time by yourself. >> eye like that. you also say you should connect with strangers. what do you mean by that? >> i'm saying that every moment should be a micro moment of intimacy and caring and sharing. and, therefore, having very nice conversations perhaps with a clerk or someone in a store or someone you meet on the street, i think it's so groovy now that we're all finally getting together, if you remember that old song, carol. not dating yourself. but it really is that whole idea of just being able to connect with someone else. and that brings the happiness. >> i absolutely agree with you there. you find that people are pretty wonderful and they want to share the love and usually -- >> that's right. >> -- it turns into a great conversation. i like that one. i like this one, too. you say treat yourself. i love doing that, treating myself. >> yeah. especially -- again, you're

having a lot of that time by yourself. wear your pajamas around your hotel room or in your home. wear your slippers. set up the environment with all of your favorite things. i can't get these musicals out of my head this morning, carol. but more than anything, indulge in some of the things that make you happy. have those guilty pleasures. but yet at the same time, and our next point, don't get too much into the vices. drinking too much or afraid of being alone and getting into perhaps relationships that may not be too healthy. so really try to control yourself with those things that you really do like. >> the one you skipped over that is important -- because i am guilty of this -- you say be mindful of unhappiness. i tend to focus on the negative when i'm sitting on my coach instead of the positive. i don't know why i do that, but i do. and it makes me feel sad. >> yeah, yeah. it's a natural tendency for us to look at the things that make

us unhappy or -- a lot of people get into this idea of you don't have to admit that there is unhappiness in your life and then, yeah, all of this fake joy going around and that's disingenuous. look, yes, i am unhappy about all these things but there is always tomorrow. while you are . >> excellent advice. you know, i'm lucky. i have to work on christmas but i work with great people. in fact, one of our writers came in with antlers in the shape of candy canes. it just made me smile. how nice is that. >> yeah. absolutely. if you make other people smile it will bring more joy into your life. listen you are loved. we all love you. the cnn family loves you. just have a great christmas and enjoy it. you'll be home maybe after

christmas. >> i was home before christmas so it was fabulous. dr. jeff, thanks for making it easier for all of us who have to work or stay alone this christmas. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> still to come he's made his list, checked it twice and santa is now on the move. i think he's over china right now. we're keeping a very close eye on where santa is and where he's headed next.

checking our top stories at 53 minutes past the hour. two american astronauts performing a risky repair job at the international space station. the astronauts are putting in a nump for station's cooling system. this christmas eve spacewalk was delayed a day due to an issue with one of the astronaut's space suits. it weighed 75,000 gum drops to take off the length of 150 lollipops. that's reindeer power. talking about santa's sleigh. we're getting important information on the whereabouts on this christmas eve. you know, the pressure of this assignment you have this morning must be intense. >> i think it's the best part, right? this is what everyone actually wants to know. i cannot possibly disappoint. where is santa right now? we know he has left the north pole. already made his way to russia,

australia and now he's china. he's gone through beijing, shanghai, the great wall of china. let's talk about how busy this man is. he's already delivered over a billion, yes, a billion gifts. you may ask what does it take? let's talk about the sleigh. we have a couple of facts for you. do we have that full screen? don't think we do. there we go. we have it. length, 150 lollipops. takeoff weight try 75,000 gum drops. propulsion, 9 rp. that's reindeer power. max speed, faster than star light. which you have to be if you've already delivered a billion gifts and still has a long way to go, carol. >> where is his fighter jets? i thought he had fighter jets this year. >> he doesn't need them. >> interesting. thanks so much. still to come in the newsroom, curtain closing on the stick. the niners found a memorable way

to go out. >> that was a good game. everybody is talking about the nhl. we have great video coming up for you next. a goalie has a puck in his pants, his teammates are not happy about it. we'll talk about that coming up. [ male announcer ] for every late night, every weekend worked, every idea sold... ♪ ...you deserve a cadillac, the fastest growing full-line luxury brand in the united states. including the all new 2014 cadillac cts, motor trend's 2014 car of the year. get the best offers of the season on our award winning products. like a 2014 ats and srx. hurry in, offers end january 2nd. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans.

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in the last regular season

game at candlestick park the san francisco 49ers went out in style with a wild win over the atlanta falcons. >> tough season for atlanta. next year the san francisco 49ers will move to santa clara and building a $1.2 billion stadium there. they will outdo jerry's world in dallas. $1.2 billion. it will be called levi stadium. thanks for all the memories. the beatles played their last concert their. the 49ers have played there since 1971. the falcons almost spoiled the party. two minutes left in the game, atlanta went for the kick. atlanta scoops it up. puts them in position to either tie or win the game. but then matt ryan throws the interception to navarro bowman.

the 49ers in the final minute pull off the win and they also with the win clench a spot in the playoffs. what a way to go out at candlestick. we won't know how they are seeded until this sunday when the other teams play. they are in the playoffs and they walk away with an incredible memorable win. reports are swirling that tony romo is out for the rest of the season because of a herniated disk problem in his back. if you ask cowboys jerry jones he says no just back spasms. his head coach said romo is not out. he's day-to-day. here's the big catch. cowboys have a big game this sunday against eagles. whoever wins that game takes the nfc east, goes the playoffs, whoever loses that game is done. that's why it's so critical at this point. check out this christmas card by the ever outspoken floyd

m m em mayweather. 21,000 times it's been retweeted. lastly one of the most bizarre place you'll ever see in hockey. look closely. you'll see a puck deflected into the air. it lands into the pants of phoenix coyote's goalie mike smith. mike smith has no idea where the puck is. so he backs into the goal to defend but crosses over the goal line so it's a goal for the other team. the buffalo sabers. happens to be in overtime and it's a winning goal. trending this morning on twitter is #buttgoal. puck in the pants. i feel bad for him. puck in the pants. >> thanks, joe. i'll remember that hash tag for

the rest of my life. >> you're not alone. you're with your cnn family. >> cnn newsroom starts now. good morning, i'm carol costello. more than 200 miles above the earth two astronauts are floating in space. they are performing emergency repairs on the international space station and just the second christmas eve spacewalk in nasa's history. that mission both challenging and dangerous got under way less than three hours ago. ler ler leroy chow the flew on four different missions. good morning. >> good morning. good to be with you. >> we see these beautiful pictures of these gnaws floating almost ballet like, but that belies a high level of danger, right? >> there's no question more risk

being outside in the space suit than being inside the vehicle. the suits are well designed. the crew is well trained. we got a pretty good handle on it. you're right. when you're outside doing it you got a heightened sense of awareness. you're careful about everything you do. >> we're seeing these beautiful pictures in space and basically what they are doing it sounds so simple on earth, replacing a faulty pump in their cooling system. sounds like the simplest thing in the world. >> that's right. the actual procedure for the spacewalk are fairly straightforward. disconnect all the lines, take the filed box out, put the new box in and reconnect everything and rebolt it down. the work outside is not to make light it, is actually quite complicated and quite difficult work. you're maneuvering these big lines that have hype ammonia. everything looks like it's going

well. >> it seems to be. the international space station is suffering these little mishaps more and more. is that true? is the space station getting old and crusty up there? >> no. we designed the station so it can be maintained. think of the space station as a house although it's more big and complicated. your house there's always something that needs work and something that needs to be fixed or something that's failing that you got to go out and buy a replacement. this pump module was designed to be removed and replaced by astronauts. the procedures are well understood and the failures like this are not unexpected. >> leroy chiao thank you for joining me this morning. i appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> only a few hours left to get your last minute shopping sean retailers are slashing prices. but this year still foot traffic down a staggering 21%.

even still the average american is expected to spend about $740 this holiday season. ste stephanie elam is out in the madness. >> reporter: the sun just came up. we had a handful of people outside of the store. the store just opened up here at the best buy. as you can see there's plenty of workers around. they are all throughout the store ready for all the last minute people coming in. i want to take you down to meet one man who came in here. he was actually standing outside waiting to come in. this right here, this man right here, this is nick. nick, we won't talk about your gift. we're not going to talk to whom the gift is for because said person is watching. tell me, do you consider yourself an early bird or p

procrastina procrastinator. >> procrastinator. >> did you know what you were going to get? >> no. >> your spending more money than if you had planned? >> absolutely. >> do you think said loved one will be happy with this? >> yes. that's the overall goal. let's hope so. >> do you have any more gifts to get after you leave here? >> yeah. a whole bunch. >> you're not done. you're going to be in with the crowds? >> i'm hoping i can get up at 7:00 in the morning will get me through that early part of the day and then i won't have to do it again. i'll still be wandering these stores 7:00 tonight. >> don't forget you have to wrap them too. don't forget to get the gift bags and wrapping paper. >> that will happen at 12:00. >> unfortunately for a lot of people there are a lot of people in nick's situation. some haven't gotten out yet. but it is getting busy here and we're going to keep our eyes on it on the people who are

pretending it's their black friday of christmas. >> nick was great. thank you, stephanie for bringing a smile to our faces this christmas eve. despite sluggish sales santa has plenty of work to do. he's in the air right now. he's actually over china. he's already delivered more than 1 billion gifts. but what about you? are you like nick? so if you don't have flying reindeer will it be tough out there? christmas gifts? no. what a difference from just this weekend where we had this huge storm system that was impacting the entire chunk of the country with that's variables from heat to cold to ice. that system now is making its way offshore just the way we like it. now there's a couple of systems but it's a good thing. we could see chances for a white christmas, some snow. tiny little wave. but also now alberta clipper making its way into the great lakes. let's start with that wave i was talking about because it could be significant depending on

where you are. if you're south of buffalo could bring you as much as six inches of lake-effect snow. if you're in new york city there's a tiny little chance that we could see some flurries in the metropolitan system. looks like midnight mass east coast time, if in chicago, minneapolis, you may start to see some of that snow. tomorrow morning best of all the actual white christmas. we're still talking about indiana also in through michigan seeing snow falling. the system quickly exits out of here. either way we're talking about two to four inches of snow that could fall. stay cool and will stay. nice holiday gift for once from me to all of you. >> we appreciate it. thank you. russia is making some really big pr moves less than two months out from the olympics. vladimir putin is handing get out of jail cards for some of his more famous opponents

including members of the pussy riot punk rock band set free this week. they were in prison for a performance critical of vladimir putin. today one environmental activist from the famous arctic 30 the group jailed after protesting on an oil rig had his case dropped. and once the richest man in russia was set free on friday after ten years behind bars. jill dougherty joins me from washington. so what's up with this? >> reporter: i don't think it's just a pr thing, carol. although the timing right before, you know, the run up to the sochi olympics leads you to that and i think that is a factor. obviously russia has been under criticism for a number of things concerning the olympics, especially that anti-gay law and so, yes, you could argue that the president wants to make the image look better by freeing those people. but i think there are other things at play.

i think what he's doing he's sending messages. after all, he is a former kgb officer. he is smart. he's cagey. and he does want to send some messages. pussy riot. messages morality rules. russia wants to be the center of morality. and the president is saying i don't feel sorry for those girls being in prison because after all what they did demeaned the image of women. but they are getting out two months in advance. so not a big deal. then you go to the green peace people. the message there, don't even think about interfering with our production of oil in the arctic. it's very important energy to russia. don't even think about climbing on to any vessels and trying to stop it. then khordovsky, your get a personal thing. he doesn't like him and the

feeling is mutual. i think there's a bit of rubbing his nose into the fact that he's been in prison for ten years. i'm more powerful than you are. and you aren't as much of a threat as you used to be. therefore, i will let you out. so all of those are messages in addition to that issue of sochi. >> still, the timing is interesting. i don't think that vladimir putin is going to be placing any more people under arrest pre-olympics or while the olympics are ongoing. >> reporter: that's what a lot of people are saying that right now up until the olympics things are going to look pretty good. people released, no major problems. but after the olympics are over, after those cameras have gone some of the people you can hear this from gay rights activists, they are very worried that after the cameras are gone there will be crackdowns. we'll have to see what happens at the olympics. but it's an important moment, $50 billion spent on these

olympics. most that has ever been spent on olympics in history and it's a big deal for mr. putin. >> jill dougherty thanks to you. more than 1 million americans will lose their unemployment benefits this weekend. the program that gives emergency help to people out of work a long time could have continued but congress couldn't agree on a deal in time and white house warns it could make unemployment worse. alison kosik joins us from new york to talk about this. >> reporter: the job market is getting better but the problem is not where it should be. what the white house is saying is that with these jobless benefits expiring that could hurt the recovery. now what's happening is 1.3 million americans are expected to lose their extended jobless benefits on saturday because what happened was congress didn't renew the emergency program and what the white house is saying is if these benefits aren't renewed that people are going to have less money to spend, that will hurt demand and ultimately according to the

white house that would cost 240,000 jobs next year. democrats, they really want the benefits extended so we could see a vote for a three month extension when congress gets back in january. but some republicans are opposing this. what they are arguing is because the economy is getting better they are saying hey, it's time to start letting some of these emergency measures expire. it's also very expensive. $25 billion of taxpayer money. that's what it costs to extend these benefits just for another year. now the thing is, republicans may be willing to pass the extension if democrats agree to offset that spending somewhere else. carol? >> okay. we'll keep an eye interest but i'm not real hopeful. alison kosik reporting from new york. still to come, it's getting down-to-the-wire for nation tease retailers as new reports suggest not as chl you are hitting the malls. talk about the sluggish holiday sales next.

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checking our top stories at 16 minutes past the hour, about 150 u.s. marines assembled outside of south sudan's border ready to evacuate americans from that country. over the weekend four navy s.e.a.l.s were wournd wounded. >> no regrets for edward snowden and his revelations on a secret u.s. spy program. he fled the united states and espionage charges. he told "the washington post" he accomplished his mission by exposing what he calls government abuses. a bankrupt pharmacy agreed

to $100 million settlement for victims of a nationwide meningitis outbreak. the owners deny any little bit or wrongdoing but say they want to play a major role in establishing a fund for those who have suffered or died. you can tell me. are you struggling to finish your christmas shopping? well you're not alone. now retailers are pulling out all the stops to pull you into the stores. there's one store that may have a tough time attracting buyers, target after that massive data breach. helping us to sort through it a all -- let's start with the o r overall holiday shopping season. >> what happens retailers tried to get an "early start" on the holiday and they used the fact

that they were, you know, short on a few days between thanksgiving and christmas. so they pushed the, you know, the envelope up a little bit and tried to lure consumers in with early deals. the other big challenge was they discounted so early they ended up front loading the holiday. and we don't have more relatives just because there are more sales and more days to shop for. it's really about recognizing that consumers were just basically looking for the right items to buy and having a hard time finding them. >> will they have to change their formula for success in the future? >> well, don't expect, now, retail towers give up on thanksgiving day openings. this is a new tradition that's been set. they will keep that. the key is going to be how do they not promote so early and be so heavily into discounting. but this has been a challenge that retailers have been trying to overcome for the last few years. >> all right. we have to talk about target because it's trying everything but not having much success.

it's offering a 10% discount on its items, staying open later hours. but i'm not sure that's going to get people back into the stores if they are afraid to use their credit cards. >> well, target did a very good job of getting out in front of this right away. they basically, you know, let consumers know that this was an issue. and that if they had the, you know, anything they needed to check into so they gave them a game plan of how to get through the problem. then they offered a discount. so they did the right things. the challenge for them is that going to be enough for consumers to go in. consumers were basically saying they felt it was safer to shop then. now the big challenge became there was a limit put on some of the credit spending over $1,000 but here again is some decent news for target. most consumers didn't even have $1,000 left on their credit limits for many of their credit cards. this is a big challenge information. absolutely the worst time for

the breach to happen. however, they did do a good job of trying to get out in front much it. >> when it's all said and done and remember there are lawsuits out there as well, five so far. when all is said and done will target rapidly recover from this? >> this will be something that turns out to be very short-lived as far as a problem goes. if it continues to linger and it becomes a bigger issue than more than just the five or six that we've heard about, or that many, many, many customers saw that there were some wrong charges on their credit card they will do more. i'm confident they will do the right thing to get consumers to feel comfortable and be communicative to make sure this doesn't happen again and shopping in their location is safe. i'm not concerned long term. i think the real challenge will be it just may have swayed some consumers away a little bit. but, believe me they were very busy, you know, yesterday, they were busy this morning on the

way here. they look like they are really not taking much of a step back. >> we'll see. marshal cohen. thanks so much for joining me this morning. >> a pleasure. still to come in the newsroom a rush to the alter in utah. we'll tell you why some same sex couples are calling it a christmas miracle. [ male announcer ] this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice.

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in the state of utah gay and lesbian couples say it's a christmas they will never forget. a federal judge denied the state's efforts to ban same sex marriage, san antonio midst of this holiday season a number of couples are rushing to tie the knot. cnn's miguel marquez has their story. >> reporter: for gay and lesbian couples in utah, those two little words mark the sound of victory. >> now pronounce you bound together in the covenant of marriage what god has joined together let no one put asunder.

>> reporter: it was ruled same sex marriage are legal denying the state's request to halt them calling 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. >> braved the cold all night long. >> reporter: and long twits tie the knots getting their hands on marriage licenses. >> try number four for us. >> reporter: it's a victory nine years in the making. utah now joins the nation's capital and 17 other states that have legalized same sex marriage. >> it's huge deal because for mormons who have been spending these years fighting this battle they've seen it happen across the country but didn't expect to have it come to really their backyard. >> reporter: the conservative states refusing to back down. filed an appeal in the 10th circuit court. the state's governor accusing shelby being an activist federal

judge and working to determine the best course to defend traditional marriage twin borders of utah. >> it's that much harder for conservatives to make the case that this can be stopped when utah, one of the most conservative states in the country has now legalized it. once the dominos start falling you won't be able to stop them. >> you may kiss. >> reporter: miguel marquez, cnn, new york. >> still to come in the news room an american in exile and on the run but edward snowden claims victory in his revelations on a secret u.s. spying program. we'll hear from "the washington post" reporter who spent hours with him. [ male announcer ] every inch. every minute. every second --

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. good morning i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. let's check our top stories. right now two american astronauts outside the international space station performing emergency repairs to a cooling system. just the second christmas eve spacewalk in nasa's history. the future of u.s. troops in afghanistan appears in question this morning. the white house getting imbasht that government's delay in approving a deal to keep our forces there beyond next year. washington says if afghanistan can't decide soon, can't get its act together it will have to prepare plans that would withdraw all u.s. troops by the end of next year. he's a man without a country but edward snowden seems to have no regrets about his bomb shell revelations on the national security agency and its secret surveillance of americans and allies alike. he fled the united states and espionage charges back in may

and lives under asylum in russia but claiming victory this morning. in an interview with "the washington post" snowden said quote for me in terms of personal satisfaction the mission's already accomplished. i already won. just last hour i spoke with the reporter who conducted more than 14 hours of interviews with snowden, among the quotes i asked him about, snowden describing himself as an indoor cat who rarely ventures outside. >> he doesn't talk a whole lot about his life or any personal questions. but i have the strong sense that he's not in the sort of confine. ment that some people imagined even in hawaii he spent a lot of time indoors. he's a guy that spend as lot of time on the screen. he doesn't have a lot of needs. he sort of eats ramen and chips and is deeply interested in promoting his cause now which means communicating on the web. >> interesting. you know the former nsa and cia

director michael hayden said snowden will waste away in moscow and turn into an alcoholic like every other defector. up asked snowden about that. what did he say? >> he doesn't drink, never has at all and defector there's no evidence for it. there is literally zero evidence that he has shifted his loyalty to another country or is cooperating with the government of russia. he said that if he's defected at all it was from his government to its people. he wanted to bring information to public attention that would allow americans to decide whether they are comfortable with what their government is doing. >> so, okay, we'll go back to the matter at hand now since we turned the corner. so he said mission accomplished. what does he mean by that? he said he's already won. >> you know, it wasn't actually gloating. i was asking him, you had a purpose.

you brought forth documents into the public record. you knew what you wanted to accomplish with that. have you done it? what he means by mission accomplished he wanted the public to know what was being done in its name and what was being done to it in terms of surveillance. and he wanted it to be possible that designates be made outside of the secret bubble that they had been made since 9/11. to that extent because he's had a lot of, a great deal of public attention, because many of his concerns have been validated by, for example, a federal judge, by the president's own study commission, he believes he has launched the public debate that he wanted. >> interesting. interestingly enough too he told you he never intended to hurt the nsa. but actually is trying to help it and in your article you quote him as saying i'm still working for the nsa right now. they are the only ones who don't realize it. not many americans -- >> yes. i was going to say i imagine

that they don't appreciate that quote, but he is -- what he's affirming is he's loyal to his own government, even to its own ability to defend the country provided it stays within limiteds set by the public. >> interesting. so does he ever -- does he believe he'll ever leave russia or is it -- is he comfortable with fact he may stay in that country forever? >> he's not answering a lot of speculative questions. it's important to understand he did not choose russia. he was literally changing airplanes there. he's in russia because the united states revoked his passport in the transit lounge and he was therefore unable to fly out. >> there was word a couple of weebs ago that he wanted to go to brazil, so did you ask him about actively trying to leave russia? >> he has sought asylum and continues to seek asylum from a substantial number of countries.

he had said from the beginning even six months ago when he was in clandestine contact with me and two other journalists if he had his choice he would be in iceland. when you're under pursuit by the united states on felony charges it's hard to out how to get there from here. >> so, what's next? what might we expect next from edward snowden? >> i think he has felt strongly for a long time that he doesn't want to be the story. that his participation in the story tends to distract because he becomes the object of attack and he wants the conversation to be about the public policy questions. nevertheless i think he does very much want to see his cause advanced, and i would expect that you'll be hearing from him from time to time as he sees opportunities to participate in the conversation.

>> thanks for sharing the information. if you want to read the article and it's fascinating, washingtonpost.com. thank you for being with me this morning. >> thank you. >> still to come in the newsroom pope francis making his first christmas on the job and what americans really think about the pope. we'll tell you next. d"

. the cutest ever. here's something you don't see every day, two popes at the same time. pope francis who is celebrating his first christmas in his new role made a holiday visit to his predesjobs pope benedict. americans are about pope francis. a brand new cnn poll shows more than 70% approve of the pope and among american catholics pope francis' approval rating is almost he 90%. we go to rome and easy to see why this pope is so popular. >> reporter: it is, carol. there's a real sense of excitement here in rome. thousands of pilgrims and

tourists are in town to celebrate. final preparations are under way for the christmas eve mass and all eyes are on pope francis. the tree is trimmed. the nativity scene is set to be unveiled. 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 to name a few. >> it 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. pope francis urged the church's governing body to avoid gossip and to focus on service and then practiced what he preached spending three hours at a local hospital bringing christmas cheer to sick children. for the fundraiser time ever on monday two living popes exchanged christmas greetings. francis met with benedict for 45 minutes. 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 pilgrims will flood st. peter's square to hear his message of the world. >> people are listening to him because he's speaking the language of ordinary people. >> reporter: pope francis has already taken care of his

christmas gifts, 2,000 immigrants at a local shelter received special packages complete with christmas cards signed by the pope and including an international pre-paid calling card so they could phone home. his christmas message already seems clear that this holiday is about helping others. carol? >> awesome. by the way, cnn will carry the pope's christmas mass message that will air at 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. still to come the year 2013 may be the one that washington will be glad to leave behind. we'll break down the biggest political stories of the year. i couldn't wait to see her again.

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mcdonald's tells employees, get this, don't eat fast food. that's the advice posted on an employee website. i'm not kidding. it promotes raw vegetables and says pass on the pickles less salt. the mcdonald's site has been in the headlines before. >> i know it's a head scratcher. a bit of a head scratcher. this is all emanating from its internal website. it shows me they are mcclueless because telling mcdonald's employees stay away from fast food, the very thing they are

selling. in fact they say fast food is typically high in calorie, fat, sugar and salt and puts people at risk for becoming overweight. fast food isn't the healthiest. it's a little odd they are trying to tell their own employees this. now mcdonald's is defending the posting. saying portions of this website continue to be taken entirely out of context. it goes on to say it provides useful information from third parties. mcdonald's agrees with this advice. one thing to keep in mind it's not mcdonald's running this site it's an outside company that seems to be running it. the company is also noting it has added healthier menu options including oatmeal, egg whites and smoothies.

>> mcdonald's hired an outside company to write to its employees. >> it's not the first time this internal website came under fire. it's one stunning problem after another. this website had a financial planning guide allotting only $20 for health insurance and no money for food kind of making the company seem out of touch with its employees especially with mcdonald's advice on how to get out of holiday debt. get a second job. cherry on top. one installment in this website put out an etiquette guide to employees on what to tip pool boys and masseuse or an au pair. these are people on minimum wage. $9 employees at best. it's a real head scratcher as to if they are really thinking about who their audience is in reading this. >> maybe they should hire their own pr person and have their own

employees -- no that would make too much sense. alison kosik. >> maybe they are listening. >> i don't know. all right. take a dysfunctional congress, the line derailed presidential agenda and never ending battle over obamacare an what do you have? a year in politics of course. candy crowley has a recap. >> reporter: the year of living angrily. >> sit down and shut up. >> stand up for your country or do you want to take it down. >> reporter: this place is a mess. >> i resoundingly reject that allegation. >> reporter: white hot rhetoric, icy cold relationships. that said 2013 started as inaugural years often do, nicely enough. >> my fellow americans we are made for this moment and we ill seize it. >> reporter: and he was popular president with an ambitious agenda, revamping the tax code, reforming schools, better job training, a new energy policy,

improved voting process, immigration reform and gun control. none of it has happened. turns out january was the kindest month. the president ends the year with an approval rating that has gone south even if kusd on saving the health care reform he won in the first term. >> there was a time when i was a young invincible. after five years in this office people don't call me that any more. >> reporter: another year like this and they will call him lame duck. crews, rubio, paul newbies. >> i simply wasn't going to leave to it democrats alone to figure out how to fix it. >> reporter: republican rand paul blocked a presidential nominee to get clarity on the use of drones. >> i'll speak can i can no longer speak. >> reporter: a politician from

the lonestar state. ted cruz staged an overnight filibuster to make the case against filibuster filling time with a bedtime story for his kids. >> do i not like green eggs and ham i do not like them sam i am. >> welcome to new jersey. >> reporter: in a moment all his own another of the 2016 rising new jersey governor chris christie win as landslide re-election and sounds like he's opening a presidential campaign. >> i know that if we can do this in trenton, new jersey, maybe the folks in washington, d.c. should tune in their tvs right now and see how it's done. >> reporter: also in a league all her own the former first lady former senator, former secretary of state left washington for something else. built not without a few choice words. >> the fact is we had four dead americans. was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night and decided to go kill

some americans. what difference at this point does it make? >> reporter: hillary clinton's benghazi moment. if she runs for president expect republicans to make it a tv ad moment. >> i now declare you spouses for life. >> reporter: number five brought to you by the u.s. supreme court. less a 2013 moment than a page in history for gay rights. under the cover of boring senate democrats blew up the status quo with the first rules change banning filibusters for presidential nominees except for the supreme court and sending republicans into orbit. >> let's not forget about the raw power at play here. >> reporter: the change will give any president with a senate majority the power to reshape the lean of federal courts. this 2013 moment another one for the ages. coming in at number three -- >> further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. >> reporter: the moments that didn't happen. work left undone.

mega problems unaddressed. gridlock. it's not just about traffic any more. >> senate stands adjourned. >> reporter: the first government shutdown in 17 years and people read that voters largely blame republicans, producing the democratic talking point of the 2014 election, republicans as obstructionists. >> if we don't have our own way we'll shut government down. you and that attitude are a luxury this country cannot afford. >> reporter: by year's end republicans had a counter point, the president's affordable care act. obamacare got off to a troubled start and his broken you can keep your insurance promise. >> when we get to january 1st it will be clear more americans will have lost their health insurance than will sign up under the new obamacare policies. >> reporter: as it happens the final moments of 2013 are the tee up for the politics of 2014.

shutdown versus meltdown. but the mid-term election will begin. happy new year,. candy crowley, cnn, washington. >> up can vote on what you think 2013 top sports top stories. go to cnn.com/yir. vote cigarette open until this friday. we'll have the results december 30th, 9:00 a.m. eastern time. hamas security sources say israeli air strike killed a 4-year-old girl in gaza. three other people living in that same house were wounded. the air strike follow as shooting earlier today of an israeli citizen. that incident success blamed on a sniper in gaza. more information in the hours to come on cnn. we'll be right back.

>> in the last regular season game at candlestick the 49ers went out in style with a wild win. hi, joe carter. >> the falcons can't catch break. next year the 49ers will move to a nice stadium it's $1.2 billion stadium in is santa clara. it will be called levi stadium.

it will outdo jerry's world in dallas in that fort worth area. this long last night to candlestick park. thanks for all the memories and there have been plenty. the beatles played their final constlert. 49ers have played there since 1971. while the falcons as bad as they have been all season they almost spoiled the party last night. atlanta goes for the kick and gets by navarro bowman. matt ryan's pass is picked off by navarro bowman. totally redeems himself by scoring the 89 yard interception for touchdown. 49ers would win and lieutenant clinches them a spot in the playoffs. we'll see how they are seeded. bad news for some of your detroit lion fans. season be ticket holders. they opened their mail this week and what do they find? playoff tickets. the lions are not going to playoffs, they lost to the

giants this last sunday they were eliminated from the playoffs, but to be fair the lions did say they mailed those tickets out like most nfl teams do last week before they were eliminated when they were still in contention. to be fair it's been a long time. detroit lions hosted a playoff game since 1993. >> they were out one game. it was ugly. they lost by a billion points. >> is that official? trending this morning, one of the most bizarre plays you'll ever see in hockey. watch the puck. deflected in the air and lands in the pants of phoenix coyote's goalie mike smith. mike smith has no idea the puck is in his pants. he backs up and cross the top of the goal line and it's a goal for the other team. the buffalo sabers. it's overtime so it's a game winning goal. #buttgoal trending all over twitter. i've never seen a game end with

a butt goal. puck in the pants. >> i can't either. joe carter, thanks so much. thanks for joining me today. legal view is next but first, i want to leave with you this special christmas reunion between two members of our armed forces and the children they have been away from for six months. ♪ >> you miss your kids like crazy. >> you never understand until they are gone, and it's hard. >> it's christm