back and watch it now and feel like i did back in the day. best to you for the new year, and i hope you're enjoying this day, as well. thanks for being with me on it. >> merry christmas, my friend. we have a lot to discuss this christmas morning. what do you say? let's get after it. >> there is no collusion. >> i have decided to recuse myself. >> i think there's blame on both sides. >> i think the president needs to step up. it's white nationalism and it's unacceptable. >> the stunning vote to repeal obamacare. >> there's a reason the stock market is at a all-time high. >> the president ought to stop tweeting and start leading. >> we have a pluses on texas and florida and will also on puerto rico. >> this is not a good news story. this is a people are dying story. >> everything is burned down. >> historic year for california wildfires. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners say get that

son of a bitch off the field? >> the people run this country and not him. >> al franken. >> roy moore. >> harvey weinstein facing new allegations. >> enough is enough. >> one woman can make a difference, but together we rock the world. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to a special christmas day edition of "new day." merry christmas to you and all your families. chris cuomo, alisyn camerota with you. we have a big show. we're going to look back at 2017, all the big news stories. and we can't talk about this past year without focusing on the number one dominant news story, president trump's first year in office. from firing his fbi director, to overseeing a booming economy, we're going to break down the defining issues of the trump presidency so far. >> so, what did we learn from washington this past year?

chris cillizza gives us the top political lessons of 2017, including that it is possible to attempt to govern through twitter. and the democrats are now fired up. >> well qualified. all right, another one of the year's big stories, the hurricanes devastated houston, florida, the u.s. virgin islands, and, of course, puerto rico. but you know who was a standout in a good way? nfl superstar j.j. watt. he raised more than $47 million for the survivors of hurricane harvey. we'll get an update how houston is recovering. >> and we'll have a look at the role that faith has played this year. how do people live their faith amid the turmoil and crises? all that and more ahead. first, let's get a check of your headlines at the news desk. >> good morning, merry christmas. i'm alison kosik. pope francis touching on critical conflicts notably in

the mideast. john allen is live for us in rome. the pontiff not shying away from controversy, even on christmas. >> hi there, merry christmas to you and yours. you are absolutely right. pope francis famously does not pull his punches, even on the holiest of days on the christian calendar, and we saw him at it again today. in the beginning he was seen as a peace pope, and it was peace on his heart and mind today, in light of the recent decision by u.s. president donald trump to relocate the american embassy in israel and the controversy it's generated. pope francis began by praying for peace in jerusalem and reiterating the vatican's long-held support of a two-state solution. he mentioned myanmar, where he called for greater dignity for threatened minorities there, though very carefully without actually using the word

rohingya, a word he also avoided on his trip there out of fear of inflaming popular opinion and making things worse. then he mentioned venezuela, iraq, syria, several african nations, the conflict in korea, the threat of a nuclear exchange. basically any conflict under way or threatening to break out. if you were looking for a preview of the pope's diplomatic agenda in 2018, that's what we got on this christmas day. >> cnn's john allen, merry christmas, thanks very much. guatemala announcing plans to move its embassy in israel to jerusalem. the president saying he spoke to prime minister benjamin netanyahu and instructed guatemala's foreign ministry to initiate the process to make it possible. the central american nation is the first country to announce it would move its embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem since president trump's announcement

earlier this month. the u.n. voted overwhelmingly last week to condemn the u.s. move. at least ten killed and five injured in a suicide bomb attack in afghanistan. it took place near afghanistan's intelligence headquarters in kabul. the site is close to the u.s. embassy and several other diplomatic missions. i'm alison kosik. more headlines coming up in 30 minutes. >> all right. so let's begin this morning talking about the role of faith during such a politically charged times. families can sometimes clash over the heightened feelings of issues that affect their lives. so what is at root and is there a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, or is it just the train? we have a special group with us. founder and president of cordoba house, thank you for all of you being with us this morning.

father beck, let's start with you. this is your day, it is christmas. where do you think we stand from a spiritual perspective? >> well, i'm so interested that if you go to mass today, catholics, the gospel is not about the nativity, it's the gospel of john that says a light has come into the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome it. so for me it's a season about where is light coming into the darkness. if you look what's happening right now in our country and the world, take the me too movement. women, thousands of women, coming out of the shad dose, out of the darkness into the light. that's a christmas message. you saw the pope this month in myanmar and bangladesh there to visit his small christian communities, but is that where he's shown the light? no, on a small muslim oppressed group, the rohingya, and he actually said the presence of god's name is rohingya. yet a kid being bullied and they posted a video online, and

millions of people said this is darkness, this cannot stand. so for me, this is where you see the light. this tax bill. the president saying this is the christmas gift, the tax bill. well, the u.s. bishops have come out against it for a reason. most of the united states does not support it, why? because it disadvantages the working poor. and advantages the rich. i mean, this is a story about holy family leaves, why do they go to bethlehem? to register in a census. it's about taxation of an oppressive regime. and then they have to flee as refugees into another country. this is not just about reindeer and snowflakes. this story is about refugees. it's about taxation. it's about fleeing oppression. so, you know, it's a hard and maybe a political message this morning, but that is really the meaning of christmas in the light and the darkness. >> look, no getting away from

politics this year. there just isn't. it's become intertwined with everything in our lives, and i like you find beacons of light this year, because it's been a bitter, toxic year, rabbi. so what is the message for people? how will 2018 be different when we feel so sort of dug in to this? >> well, the political has certainly been very personal and you see this with families. families are at each other's throats at holiday celebrations, which should be uplifting times for love and celebration, and oftentimes you bring up one topic and the family doesn't want to speak to each other and go into separate rooms. >> if you're lucky. >> if you're lucky, or they leave. the issue is being able to find points of not just connection, but try to hear each other with what i call resilient listening, the kind of listening not just so we can argue with each other or make our point or prove we're right, but understand where people are coming from.

i'm reminded there is a light of divinity in every human being and our family members, and i think that the goal here is to be able to listen with a goal of understanding why do they think this way, what is the pain or fear they are speaking with, and have a different compassion when we listen. that is a form of light and is a spiritual practice for us in this season when we're with our family and arguing and with our friends and arguing a lot. >> nowhere is the sensitivity more acutely felt than your communit community. there's millions of muslim americans in the u.s. and they feel they are in the cross hairs, they are being blamed for terrorism, there's an overshadowing to it. what's the message for your community? >> important message to learn is every prophet was a window to god, and every human being needs to connect with god. it's the connection to god that unites us, not only with god,

but with each other and with creation. and it's the disconnect from god that divides us and that causes such division. to me the thing that we have lost, many of us, is that spirituality, connection to god. we revere jesus as a prophet and believe every prophet came with a particular signature, and jesus' message was particularly strong on the spiritual aspect. he taught his disciples to speak through and with the power of the holy spirit, and when we fill ourselves with this connection, the connection to god actually and spiritual practices fill us with not only this light of god unites us, it brings an intensification of love. it helps us overcome divisions. it gives us hope, because prayer itself is the embodiment of

hope. and we say god is hope, love, and charity. and this is what unites us together, and it's the need to recapture that, to intensify it, to do practices together that intensify and heighten, amplify our spirituality that will enable us to enjoy our diversity, celebrate our diversity, yet have as we call ourselves in americans, there's an overarching diversity. >> well, that is beautiful. on that note, thank you very much for giving us hope today as we celebrate christmas. thank you very much for being here. >> thanks for having us. up next, the year in politics. what were the defining issues of the trump presidency this year? we discuss next. ♪ psoriatic arthritis tries to get in my way?

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listen to our beautiful music and beautiful graphic for christmas day. merry christmas, everyone. so, there were too many defining moments to count during this eventful first year of the trump presidency. let's now focus on four big issues that have had a real issue on the white house and the country. and let's talk about it with cnn political analysts david gregory

and john avlon. great to see both of you. let's start with the firing of james comey and what has led to the russia investigation and all of the ripple effect. that's been a defining moment, fair to say. >> no question about it. here you are in the first full month of the trump administration coming in with his american carnage inaugural, but really an administration taking shape, michael flynn goes, there's a comey firing, and all the dominos start falling with the mueller investigation. fights between the president and the press at unprecedented pitches and an investigation that normally doesn't happen in the first year of a presidency. this is serious stuff. >> if ever. >> and the real notable piece of that is the president then brings upon an obstruction of justice investigation on to himself. what was a real investigation into whether the campaign was somehow working with the russians to influence the election became an obstruction case, which is much easier to

prove and has led to a level of paranoia that he brought on himself. >> if he hadn't fired comey, he wouldn't be in the potential jeopardy that he may or may not be in. >> absolutely. and he also had some pretext to do it, given how politicized jim comey made the fbi, who certainly made a lot of mistakes, but just an incredible moment in this investigation. >> so, on the probe in 2018, what do you think? do we believe it wraps up this year? do we believe it happens early this year? what do you think happens? >> i actually think that it will wrap up sooner rather than later. my hunch is mueller and his team are streamlined about this, focused about this. they understand all the criticism. i think you have to believe this takes on a financial dimension.

i think the potential relationship between russia and the trump campaign, trump and his family. i think we've gotten indications of that, given their banking relationships. that's something i'll really be looking for in the year ahead. >> by any measure this investigation is moving fast, but this is vast. >> see what he did there? >> he's not wearing a christmas vest. >> i don't have the skills to pull off that. >> i agree with david, i think financials are going to be a key part. we've already seen with the indictments of manafort and gates that's an aspect, but also where trump attempted to draw a red line. look, it's got to be contained if you're raising the specter of firing mueller, but that's another thing to watch, too. will congress try to make that more difficult for the president

to do? are we heading to a saturday night massacre situation, or will we see the mueller report and respond as a democracy is supposed to do? i don't think it's in mueller's interest or intent to stretch it out. >> one thing about that, about the attack on mueller, the president made clear he doesn't want to fire him, but make no mistake, they are following the clinton playbook on discrediting mueller, which is how they'd like it to play off. >> in a year of incendiary talk, charlottesville and what happened in charlottesville and the protests in charlottesville stood out. listen to this. >> we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides. on many sides. >> it was the on many sides. >> it was just repugnant, a

harkening back to ancient patriots, to anti-semitism, it was ugly. and for a president of the united states to engage on that i think was, if not shocking, it rattled the ground that people stood on. even in his own party. this is a guy that does not have a sense of moral authority in this office and is sufficiently disrespectful to engage in the kind of talk that gets people digging into conspiracy theories, who start questioning the press and the very nature of truth. this is more tyrannical talk than anything else. this is not the stuff of democracy. it was just awful. >> and look, the oval office is primarily an office of moral leadership. different presidents have succeeded or failed by that standard, but one of the things charlottesville did for the country is made us confront the neo-nazi next door.

there were these white kids in polo shirts holding torches talking about blood and soil, and it was so repugnant, and for any equivocation to occur, i think that really crystallized the dangerous forces we've been playing with in our politics in a way that was absolutely undeniable. that, i think, was a crystallizing moment for our national conversation about what we're confronting and how far we have to go. >> for the haters too. those who loved what the president said the most was the white supremacists. but this was also a value trade on trump. he was never a strong moral candidate. the trade was, but he'll be good for the economy, and the economy by just about every metric other than wages, is doing great. so what credit does the president deserve and what's that forecast going forward? >> it's hard to say. he gets the credit that any incumbent should get, right? just as no incumbent should get all of the blame, there are forces not just about what's

happening in the economy around the united states, but around the world. there is a global advance in economies around the world, which is great. lots of underlying problems about wage disparity and so forth, but there was, interestingly, an expectation throughout the year that drove this bull market around tax reform, which i think is an incredibly mixed picture. but still this expectation for him to deliver in some ways that did fuel the economy. so i think that's true. but this other point about a politics that is about blaming other people for economic circumstances is still the ugly underside of what we've seen in terms of the strength of the economy. >> but what you can say is, the presence of a businessman president who wanted to focus on deregulation and cutting taxes did give a boost to the economy. but after his election, there was a lot of expectation the

inherent destabilization of this man in the office would make markets nervous. a lot of specters on the global stage that would make you think people would be skeptical. as you point out, the gap is wages and the president campaigned appealing to main street, not wall street. people that felt left behind from the recovery of the great recession, and can he reach out and can those folks find relief and optimism in real terms, that's going to be a test in 2018. >> also the nature of the tax plan and how this president, not just the president, but republican leaders really screwed blue america, went out of their way to punish wealthy people living in blue states around deductions, property, things like that. really striking feature of how he's tried to navigate the economy. by the way, enrich himself and those in the same kind of business. >> fitting with the christmas season. they scrooged them. scrooged. >> that's what david meant to say. >> north korea, we have to end on this. it's reached a boiling point,

feels as though it's reached several boiling points in 2017. where are we? >> this is as yet unresolved, but it has accelerated. from the trump administration's perspective, they are trying to avoid repeating the mistakes previous administrations have done, kicking the can, which gets north korea closer to a missile that can hit the united states of america. we're right at a tipping point, and the rhetoric has escalated on both sides at times. trump has tried to pull together a global coalition. here's where you see the gap between what the pentagon says and what the president says, but i think in 2018 we have the olympics at the beginning of the year, incredibly close to the dmz. but the real question will be, do they feel they have an obligation to try to contain kim while they still can and what that means for 2018. very high stakes. >> does the united states sit down with north korea this year? >> i think so. i mean, i think if there's a willingness, i think they'll do it. i actually think there's two

sides to this. obviously, plenty of alarm. i think there's been a real process they should get credit for, for operating at different speeds. still, my fear in all of that, despite the diplomacy, is this administration may be willing to do something preemptively, which i think would be catastrophic and i hope and pray the north does not put america in a corner where it feels it can't not do it. >> teddy roosevelt used to say speak softly, carry a big stick. this president seems to think speak loudly and carry a big stick. that could back fire. >> thank you. what have we learned in politics? our top five political lessons of the year next. accident. seen it. covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ resolution #1: binge more. join the un-carrier, and get four unlimited lines for only forty bucks each.

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good morning. i hope you got lots of good stuff for christmas. welcome back to this christmas special edition of "new day." we've got a lot to get to this half hour. 2017 is a big year. a lot of change in politics. chris cillizza is going to take a look back and break down what

we've learned. >> and we'll check in with the one and only j.j. watt. the nfl star raised more than $37 million for houston after the city was devastated by hurricane harvey. first, a check of your headlines at the news desk. >> good morning. pope francis delivering his christmas day address and blessing to the world, praying for children around the world, including those dealing with renewed tensions in jerusalem. earlier the pontiff celebrate t christmas mass. at least ten people are killed and five injured in a suicide bomb attack in afghanistan. it happened near afghanistan's intelligence headquarters in kabul. the site is close to the u.s. embassy and several other diplomatic missions. a this point, no group has claimed responsibility. u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley celebrating a

negotiated $285 million budget cut to the u.n., calling it a big step in the right direction. haley slamming the world body for what she called bloated management. the cut happening after the u.n. voted overwhelmingly to condemn president trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. rescue crews racing to save 150 skiers who were trapped on a broken ski lift in the french alps. images show two helicopters there flying to the gondolas. emergency crews then forced open the roofs and lowered the stranded skiers with rope back on to the ground. the rescue operation taking nearly two hours. fortunately, no one was hurt. no word on what caused the incident. amazing pictures. the thomas fire in california now officially the biggest fire in the state's history. the fire scorching at least 273,000 acres. it's destroyed thousands of structures, as well, and it's now 70% contained.

firefighters and aircraft remain on standby in case of any new flare-ups. the cause of the fire remains under investigation. parts of the northeast are seeing a very white christmas with near blizzard conditions in some areas. the freezing rain and snowfall are expected to spread across the region today, impacting travel on the roads and potentially in the air. strong wind gusts expected to make it feel even colder. more than 60 million people are under winter weather alerts in the midwest and the northeast. i'm alison kosik. merry christmas, have a great day. 2017 ushered in a new administration, new governing party, and some surprising lessons in the world of politics, if you're open to learning. joining us now to tick through some of the top lessons of the year is chris cillizza, cnn politics reporter and editor at

large, the point, as he's known. >> merry christmas. >> same. i got what i wanted. >> boom, nailed it. >> well done. well done. >> thank you. >> so, learn us. >> why don't you tell me? tell me where we're at. >> you can opine on this. here are our lessons. a democrat can win in alabama, lesson number one. >> somewhat self evident. doug jones is going to be in a senator in only 2018. donald trump won that state by 28 points months before doug jones won it. >> a democrat could win in alabama? jones won, but the chance that creates optimism for other democrats? >> if i was an up and coming politician democrat in alabama, i would not think my chances are now 50/50 in every race. there is not a roy moore running in every race, but this is one of the five most conservative states in the country and has

been for quite some time. there isn't a roy moore in every state, but if a democrat can win there, i think it opens up a lot of money, recruitment, and maybe potential retirements in the republican side. >> lesson number two, this is what our producers think. a president can govern by twitter. >> govern would be the word. >> i see we honor donald trump's odd capitalization by capitalizing govern in that sentence. that was probably me typing it out. yeah. i mean, govern is loosely used. i think he helped himself governingwise with twitter on the tax debate. i think he did. he saved enough on message. he still picked up the phone and made phone calls, which is the important thing. >> old-fashioned way. >> not like, hey, you should vote for this. do i think twitter is worse is more harmful than helpful?

yes. i don't think there's any debate about that. but he is -- maybe it's a president can be committed to trying to govern via twitter, because that's quite clearly what he's doing. >> go on. >> remember in the start of the year when the message was he might not even -- who knows if he'll use twitter, he may give it up as president. >> a reckoning over sexual harassment. >> yeah. clearly the story of the year in the culture, not just in politics, but i think also in politics. in december, late november, early december, we had three congressmen resign in a week, al franken in the senate, john conyers, trent franks. from everything i hear, there is considerable continued concern on capitol hill. anyone who spent any time up there knows, it's more mad men than girls in the way of the

culture up there. many of us wondered about that for a very long time when this might change. hopefully, this is the time it will change, but my guess is, 2017 isn't the end of that story as it relates to politics. my guess is, it's the beginning of -- it's the end of the beginning, rather than the beginning of the end. >> i think that's safe. i don't think we've seen hard changes. going after bold-faced names is easy. bullying a guy to resign because you've got the numbers on him like they did with franken is easy. corporate systemic change where they take on liability and where they may have to pay money, that will be hard. stopping those settlements with our money in government, that needs to happen. >> glad you brought that up. i need to mention it. the fact there was a secret account that paid for sexual harassment claims made against lawmakers funded by taxpayer dollars, it's gotten attention. it should get way more. i mean, how does that happen? that's the systemic issue. >> of course, they are talking

now about legislation to change all of that. >> talking about it. >> the issue we have, it's like any other legislation in congress, the issue is urgency bleeds away over time. that's what we see with almost every issue. >> lesson number four, and this is recent, the democratic base is fired up. that's the alabama lesson, right? >> alabama lesson and the virginia governors lesson, which are both relatively recent the last few months. yeah, if you look at democratic turnout numbers and democratic composition of the virginia and alabama electorate, it's stunning. one factoid to -- well, your friends have to be nerdy to be wowed by this, but to wow your nerdy friends, doug jones won more of the black vote in alabama than barack obama in 2012, but it's stunning. and it was a bigger percentage, 29% of the electorate in the special election, 28% in 2012. remember, that was when the first black president got re-elected. so there's an energy. that's not about doug jones, by

the way, it's much, much more about donald trump. and in the alabama case, roy moore. >> lesson five is also debatable. robert mueller is the most powerful man in washington. >> i think that he is. maybe, again, maybe i'm giving him too much faith, but i believe the way in which the investigation has been conducted will lead to a series of conclusions that the majority of the american public will listen to and take seriously. >> more powerful than the president of the united states? >> well, he is -- he is not more powerful than the president of the united states, but i would say in terms of the fate of donald trump's presidency, and i'm not saying donald trump is going to be impeached. i'm saying mueller's findings already have had a significant impact on donald trump's presidency. we have two aides having pled guilty to lying to the fbi and cooperating as witnesses, two others charged. it's already had an impact on

the arc of his presidency. i think bob mueller is the most important man to donald trump's presidency, legacy going forward. >> i'll give it to you on that basis. >> taking on a little technicality, asterisk. >> nobody can exert more power over the president than bob mueller. no one individual. >> that's fine. it's phrased differently. we'll give it to you. >> i helped you. pay me a dollar later. >> thank you. >> thank you. thanks so much. meanwhile, the hurricane season was devastating this year, but there is a silver lining and we're going to talk with houston texans star j.j. watt. he raised more than $40 million to help people impacted by hurricane harvey. we'll tell you what's next there.

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merry christmas. welcome back to a special christmas day edition of "new day." it's been exactly four months since hurricane harvey made landfall in texas. it was a category 4 storm. one person trying to help texans get back on their feet is

houston texans star j.j. watt. the nfl player raised more than $37 million for his home state. j.j. watt joins us now from houston. merry christmas, big man. >> merry christmas to you. >> so, the money that you have raised, how's it helping people during the christmas season? >> it's all at work. the money is at work now. we're working with four great organizations, sbp is helping to rebuild homes and they are going to rebuild hundreds of homes. partnering with americare, who's giving out physical and mental health care, which is equally important during this time. working with feeding america to give out food and drinks, obviously, during this tough time people need that nutrition. and we're also working with save the children to get over 1,000 childcare centers back up and running, because that's important, parents need a place to get their kids to be safe and, obviously, get themselves back to work. some of these childcare centers

also provide food and community services, as well, so it's extremely important we get those back up and running. it's a very long process, we're working over the course of the next two years, but the money is at work and i've gone out and visited and seen some of these sites. it's truly incredible what these people went through, but also the positivity and energy they have throughout it also. it's really inspiring and i can't thank everybody who donated enough, because your money is doing great things. >> you're a young man, young in your career still, yet you're known for taking on community efforts with real passion. what was the moment where you knew you had to step up here? >> oh, i mean, you know, these people supported me throughout my whole career. i've been in houston for seven years. they've supported me on the field and off the field, and when you see your city going through something like that, see the people supporting you going through something like that, you have to step up. you have to find a way. i heard a quote one time, "if

you can, you must." i feel like it was my duty. i'm so grateful for everything they did for me and i want to be right there with them side by side doing whatever i could to use my platform for good. >> you were named "sports illustrated" sportsman of the year for lifting up the people of houston during a difficult time. what did that mean to you? >> you know, i think it's so much bigger than a single person honor. i'm very honored and humbled to receive that award to share with jose altuve and the astros for everything they did for the city, but it's so much bigger than any of us. it's a city, a culture, the entire people. over # 00,000 people donated to the fund and so many more helped out, whether it was physically helping out, getting in boat and saving people, firefighters, policemen, everybody who stepped up and helped, i think everybody deserves the award. i'm fortunate to be the mouthpiece and i want to give everybody the credit who deserves it. >> good for you. it's always about team.

when people like you said, if you can, you must. and you have special talents and brought them to bear. the reason i say you're still young in your career, i've been following you all along since college. you're seven years in, but you ain't normal, big brother. let me tell you something. the way you handle yourself as an athlete, the way you train, makes you special. how are you doing in coming back from your injury? >> i appreciate that very much, very kind of you. i'm doing good. it was a gruesome injury, but the recovery is going well and i have a lot of on tptimism for w the future holds and helping my team out. i just can't wait. every single day is a new step and takes a lot of single steps to climb a mountain. i'm working up that mountain one day at a time and i can't wait to get back to the top. >> i look forward to the videos that make me feel great and terrible at the same time, where you do amazing physical skill sets. i love watching you, even when you dunk the basketball, never seen anybody make it look as easy as you do.

at your size, you know what i mean? you're a big man. you have a big heart, as well. you're helping people who deserve it. looking forward to you getting back on the field. you're not a new york jet, but you can't have everything in life, j.j. watt. you're good with your community. you have to take your blessings where you find them. >> thank you, i appreciate them. send back any videos of you working out or dunking. i'll take them. >> sadly, there are none. only thing i dunk are donuts in coffee. be well, best to your family at christmas. >> you, as well. happy holidays. >> allison? >> let's say you received a gift you do not like. should you regift it or return it? christine romans joins us with what to do next. after my dvt blood clot, i had a lot on my mind. could this happen again? was my warfarin treatment right for me? my doctor told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots...

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welcome back, everyone. so if you do not love one of your gifts, you're not alone. 15% of all gifts are returned each holiday season. i'm surprised it's so low. christine romans has the best way to return those unwanted items. >> i return none of my gifts. i love everything you all are going to give me. >> yeah. and you've already had some of it to drink. anyway, is returning -- are stores prepared, or do they think it's a hassle? >> they do think it's a hassle. they're careful because there is return fraud that happens when people buy or -- they steal or buy stolen goods and return it or wear or use somethings and

try and return it -- use some things and try and return it. keep the receipts, put items in the box, don't take the tags off. logical, common sense kind of advice. but be organized, and return it as quickly as you can. >> i wanted to ask about the timing. people should go out tomorrow and make returns? >> no, you don't have to go tomorrow. i would say two weeks is the max here. places like apple will extend you a couple of two weeks return it. they general have a pretty short return window. most places have, you know, maybe 30 days. after that, you would get store credit instead of your money back. and you want your money back. the most generous windows are places like nordstrom, kohl's, generous -- >> forever? >> not forever, but they will give more time. what it somebody bought you this gift back in november, right? >> right. >> so you want to make sure that you keep as much of the details as you can together. >> have return policies become

tougher? >> yes, because of return fraud. people trying to figure out how to get a different price for something. they have gotten more stringent. and you heard of restocking fees, especially for electronics, restocking fees. maybe the company will charge a little because they've had to adjust inventory because you bought something and then returned it. i mean, just always make sure you get a gift receipt for the gifts you're going to give and keep receipts as much as you can. >> say you didn't get everything you wanted, or say you didn't get everything on your list for other people, is now a good time to still go shopping, or do prices tick back up? >> this is a great time. there will be a lot of really great sales here because you're going to see all these retailers trying to adjust inventory. clothing, apparel, this is a great time for apparel. sometimes you're having a hard time finding sizes, but when you return to stores, great deals. holiday decor, 75% off. video games, a good time, and electronics. those are the best deals. i will caution everybody, when you're going to return your

gifts, don't load yourself up on other debt. be careful that you're not buying what you don't need. >> how we do that? >> you never do that. >> you go to the store and see things and get inspired. >> i know. >> what about gift cards? i have a bunch of gift cards i've never used. >> there's a debate about whether gift cards are the essence of the gift giving, if you're giving a gift card. we'll leave that aside. say you get five or six, there's a surprisingly large percentage of people who don't use them. they go in a drawer, and they forget them. there are card-swapping sites where you can go and trade one card for a different brand or cash it in. i would say look for 80 cents to 90 cents on the dollar is pretty much what you should expect. if you're swapping a card,

sometimes there's a fee to do that. don't let that money go to waste. >> and tell us the names, are you allowed to tell -- >> i would like to specifically vet them before i put them out there. there are two or three that are well regarded. >> good. after you've got them, maybe you'll tweet it or put it on maybe? >> how about i do that? >> i appreciate it. merry christmas to you. >> research. >> all right, that does it for this special christmas day edition of "new day." >> hope you have a great holiday. "cnn newsroom" begins after this quick break. merry christmas, everyone. i tried hard to quit smoking. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how. [burke] abstract accident. seen ♪ video-it. covered it.c

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well, merry christmas and happy holidays to everyone. i'm pamela brown in for john and poppy. and this morning the president is celebrating his first christmas as the commander in chief in mar-a-lago and it's already been a busy holiday for him and his family. on christmas eve he wished troops a merry christmas and did a church service, but also launched a stream of attacks on twitter and touted his accomplishments. cnn's dan merica is with the president in florida. dan? >> that's right. the president has golfed, he has spent time at his resort, and