good morning. arctic blast. a deadly storm system pounds the midwest creating travel problems all across the country. even the deflating the roof of metrodome in minneapolis. and it's not over yet. rocky ride. a cruise ship lifts heavily during a storm. we'll hear from an american on board. and cheap shot. a new york jets coach caught on camera tripping a miami dolphins player as he ran past. the coach is admitting what he did is inexecutable today. monday, december 13, 2010.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning, everybody. welcome to today on a monday morning. >> good morning, everybody. >> welcome back from your travels. >> we have got from some really hot weather in haiti, to my gosh, this is what the metrodome is supposed to look like. it's inflatable roof now collapsed, matt. >> it happened on sunday morning. luckily no one was hurt, but the vikings game against the new yoryiants had to be moved to tonight in detroit. the storm also caused major travel problems closing highways across the midwest, canceling thousands of flights. the latest in a live report and al will have the forecast coming up straight ahead. also coming up ahead, critics are supposed to review a

performance. but what about a performer's weight? a "the new york times" reviewer is under fire after taking a jab of the woman that portrayed the sugar plum fairy in "the nutcracker." what he said, and why he's not backing down and we'll talk to the dancer whether she joins us on an exchicagoive live interview. from the inspirational to the down right bizarre. the most popular viral videos and that ranks very high on the list. we want to begin with the deadly storm that pounded the meft and caused the minneapolis metrodome to collapse. the weather channel's mike seidel in cleveland with the latest. good morning to you. good morning, matt. another day the wind-driven lake-effect snow this following a weekend storm that was so bad it took out a major sports arena. cameras inside the metrodome

showed the first signs of trouble. snow leaking through the teflon roof. but at 5:00 a.m., it was an avalanche of snow that collapsed into the unoccupied arena leaving a gaping hole in the dome and the football field covered with snow. in the light of day, the metrodome looked like a crater. officials blame the heavy snow and high winds which caused drifts on the dome ceiling leading to the collapse. >> very high winds, that with the high snow accumulation really impacted us. >> reporter: because of the roof collapse, sunday's schedule game between the minnesota vikings and the new york jets was moved to detroit. >> i don't think i've ever seen it this bad i don't think. >> from heavy snow to high winds, winter weather battered the midwest. >> there is a lot of snow on the ground. >> residents spent sunday trying to free cars and homes from the snowy mess. >> this one seems a lot more packed down i think from the wind blowing, so theñr snow is really heavy.

>> reporter: the storm shut down parts of iowa and wisconsin, where officials warned some residents to stay off the roads. even major highways were closed across the region. and more than 1 ,600 flights cancelled in chicago. in the days ahead, residents will be facing bitter cold, while back at the metrodome, officials try to figure out what went wrong and when they'll be able to play football there again. you think it's cold where you are this morning? it's 30 below zero in international falls. no windchill. another freeze forecast for tomorrow morning in florida, matt. back in cleveland, the windchill 1. this happening a full eight days before the first official day of winter. >> just a tase. mike seidel in cleveland, thank you very much. meantime what can we expect today. al is tracking the storm. good morning to you are are good morning to you. this stretches from indiana all the way to new england. winds across the lake picking up

the moisture and dopng it down. winter weather advisories. lake-effect, winter weather advisory, lake-effect advisories as far south as nashville. snowfall amounts, indiana, 12 to 18 inches of snow. ashtabula to syracuse, 12 to 18 inches of snow. add to that the cold air. jet stream dipping way down to the south. 15 in nashville. 9 in chicago. pittsburgh, 19. afternoon highs will only get up to the single digits in minneapolis. 31 in atlanta. windchill feels much colder. 5 in atlanta. 3 in pittsburgh. and then over the next 24 hours, look how cold it gets. orlando, 24. stretches on into wednesday with temperatures 19 and 24 in central florida. 9 degrees in chicago. we'll have the rest of the forecast in just a bit. matt. >> al, thank you very much. we'll get to your forecast in a moment. now, the debate over your

taxes. not just yours, but everyone's. the controversial compromise faces its first test vote today. kelly o'donnell has details. kelly, good morning. >> good morning, matt. the vote comes this afternoon and could decide the fate of the president's compromise with republicans. extending job benefits and a whole bunch of tax credits. but some opposition from house liberals may not be enough to scuttle it. ♪ the newborn king >> while the first family enjoyed christmas cheer in washington sunday night, the president may get an early present on his tax compromise from republicans. >> we have a good cross section from left to right who are prepared to accept this. >> the house will be in order.

>> reporter: and there is a real turn around from some house liberals, who say the president's compromise gives too many tax breaks to the rich. last week, they vowed to stop it. >> reporter: it is not acceptable to the house democratic caucus. it's as simple as that. >> reporter: by sunday, congressman chris van holland predicted it would pass. house liberals will try to re-work the deal to make wealthy families pay higher tax on inheritance. >> members will record their vote by electronic device. >> reporter: the white house expects compromise to pass without big changes. >> i don't think anybody wants to be responsible for taxes going up on january 1st, because we couldn't come to a resolution. >> reporter: republicans support this deal, even though it would add about $900 billion to the deficit. >> i think it's worth it. it will create jobs and help our economy. >> reporter: in a "60 minutes" profile of the next house

speaker, john boehner says the president was disrespectful when he called republicans hostage takers. >> reporter: excuse me. i thought the election was over, mr. president. >> reporter: he worked as a janitor to get through school. he talked about today's kids, he got choked up. >> making sure these kids have a shot at the american dream, my god, it's important. >> reporter: there were a couple of different times that boehner actually teared up. people know that about him, he's comfortable in his own skin. after today's vote, it could take a few more days to play out before the house will pass it. it's a critical time for this package. matt. >> kelly o'donnell on capitol hill, kelly, as always, thank you very much. 8 minutes after the hour. here is ann. >> another sad development in the bernie madoff saga.

the death of his oldest son has been ruled a suicide. nbc's jeff rossen in downtown man hatten with the latest on this story. good morning. >> good morning to you. the official autopsy results are in this morning. asñr suspectedful mark madoff's official cause of death is suicide by hanging. if he was trying to send a message here, he sure did it. taking his own life on the exact two-year anniversary of his father bernie çómadoff's arrest. this morning, we're getting a first look inside where it happened. with theñr fishing business and multiple mansions, mark madoff's charmed life came crashing down after the scandal and came to a shocking end saturday morning. with his 2-year-old son sleeping in the next room, madoff hanged himself with a dog leach in the living room of his luxury manhattan apartment. "the new york post" published an

exclusive look inside. >> mark madoff was found hanging from a pipe in the living room of the apartment. >> reporter: sources say mark madoff was visibly depressed. days ago, he was sued yet again. this time, even his wife and young kids were named. friday afternoon, he stopped by his parking garage, gave the attendants a card and a $400 tip and said good-bye. >> i thought -- >> reporter: the "wall street journal" posted this headline friday night. hours later at 4:00 a.m., madoff sent a series of e-mails to his wife. i love you. send someone to take care of nick, their son. to his lawyer, no one wants to hear the truth. take care of my family. >> after the scandal, the madoff name became radioactive. he was a pariah. his friends had invested life savings, were bankrupt. the wife had to change the name

of his children. he was facing a lifetime of misery. >> reporter: mark and his younger brother andrew turned their father in in 2008. they haven't spoken to their dad or their mother, ruth, since. bernie madoff was informed of his son's suicide before behind bars. noçó word on his creation react. >> the security level he's in, as well as he has to get approval by the u.s. attorney's office, it's going to be a challenge for him. >> reporter: mark madoff has denied any knowledge or vorchlment in his father's ponzi scheme. not everyone believes him. even bernie madoff's angriest victims are saddened by this twist. >> i am very sorry for his wife, his children, and my heart goes out to them. anybody that feels that that's the only way out, i think it's extremely sad. >> reporter: late yesterday, a madoff relative i.d.'d the body here in manhattan. and the family will start

planning the funeral. none of the madoffs wouldñi go camera for this story or any other reports. but ruth madoff, who now lives in florida, is said to be heartbroken, and according to one published report, she blames bernie, her husband for all of it. >> jeff rossen, thank you for the story. let's get a check of the rest of the morning's top stories. gn natalie morales is covering for an. good morning. several suspects are arrested in connection with the deadly attack on coalition troops. six soldiers killed after a minibus was detonate to a joint nato/afghan base. 20 children and their teacher have now been safely released after a 17-year-old man wielding two saber swords took them hostage this morning at their nursery school in eastern france. elite national guardsman stormed the school and took the assailant into custody.

british police raided a home north of london, believed to be linked to the suicide bombing in sweden this weekend. it's the first terror attack in stockholm's history. the suicide blast killed only the bomber, but wounded two others. 22 sailors are feared dead this morning after a south korean fishing ship suddenly sank in the antarctic would sending out a distress signal. and north korea is sending out new warnings. the great atlantic and pacific tea company, better known as the a&p has filed for bankruptcy amid rising competition. the retailer operates nearly 400 supermarkets, the food emporium, and path mark. now let's head over to wall street. trish regan is at the new york stock exchange. >> investors would certainly like to have another week of gains. on the economic front, a number of reports due out, including a measure of inflation via the consumer and the producer price

index. we've also got housing numbers coming out, manufacturing numbers. retail sales, obviously, incredibly important right now, gnat natali natalie, because they are an excellent barometer of the health, or lack thereof, of the economy. one note on that front, comscore, which measures online retail sales, has seen a 12% increase in this year's numbers for the holiday sales figures versus last year. so we hope that trend continues. >> absolutely. trish regan at the new york stock ex >> you bet. sarah palin is urging americans not to forget haiti after spending the weekend touring the nation with an aid group. call it a knee-jerk reaction. new york jets conditioning coach says he made a mistake when he tripped miami dolphin's corner back. he came back later to play in the game. they are now reviewing the situation and looking at the appropriate next step. by the way, the jets lost.

10-6. miami beating them. 7:14, back over to matt, ann, and al. >> the appropriate next step is he should be fired. thank you very much. appreciate it. busy morning forop you. >> absolutely. just keeps getting better. more wicked wld for friends in the pacific northwest. they have been getting hammered with rain-snow inland, and it will keep coming inland. flood warnings and watches. snow, 1 to 3 çóinches. some areas as much as a half a foot. we're looking at lake-effect snows, and the winds will continue through the gulf coast and we'll look at that brutally cold air continuing to stream south for much of the eastern half right now you can see the golden gate bridge has mostly cloudy skies and a few rain showers north of ukiah heading

our way later tonight. in the meantime, increasing clouds and highs in the 50s to low 60s and areas north of healdsberg, a chance of showers. tonight into tuesday, rain off and on and catch a break on wednesday and more rain for the second half of the week and for the weekend, the rape looks heavy at times. and that's your latest weather. matt. thank you very much. amanda knox teared up in court as her murder conviction appeal moved forward italy. and we have the latest from perugia with this. good morning, keith. >> good morning, matt. the appeal just started, and already amanda knox wasted no time in declaring her innocence to a new judge and jury. when she arrived in court on saturday surrounding by guards, she appeared pale and uncertain. prison life she admitted has

broken her. she was scheduled to be a preliminary session, but knox, unexpectedly took over her own defense, declaring to the court she did not commit murder. given permission to speak to the court, knox, in fluent italian, says she is the innocent victim of an enormous mistake. her passionate appeal was broadcast on a flurry courtroom p projection. knox and her former boyfriend were convicted of the murder and violent sexual assault in 2007 of her roommate, meredith kitscher, an exchange student from england. knox expressed her remorse to the kercher family. choking back tears, she says it does no justice to meredith and her loved ones to take our lives from us. >> it was extremely emotional and clearly had an impact on everyone in the room, including

the jurors. >> reporter: knox's defense plans to attack the dna evidence used to convict her, claiming it was flawed. but the prosecution is also appealing. it argues the 26-year prison sentence handed down to knox is not harsh enough for what it called a brutal murder. and is asking for a life sentence. the strain of facing a life sentence clearly taking its toll.t( today, knox is back in her prison cell, preparing for her fourth christmas behind bars. the trial resumes later this week, but with the wheels italian justice moving ever so slowly, we don't expect a verdict in this case until sometime in the spring. matt. >> keith, thank you very much. keith miller in perugia for thus morning. 18 minutes after the hour. here is ann. a violent storm in the mediterranean is blamed for a rough ride on a royal caribbean

cruiseliner. passengers were tossed out of their beds and the boat left in shambles. lee cowan now with details. >> reporter: she is billed as royal caribbean's finest, but the 962-foot "brilliance of the seas" is a floating mess, after the ship steered head long into stormy seas. >> it was violent. we truly thought it was the end for us. >> reporter: forñr center phiin minutes, the ship pitched back and forth violently. furniture, christmas decorations, anything not bolted down, became a flying weapon. the cruise ship with some 1,600 americans on board left spain for a mediterranean cruise for a stop in alexandria, egypt's largest port. but severe winds and rain was battling seas all season long. >> i think he really put us in

harm's way. >> carnival's cruise ship had a fire knock out power last month, "the brilliance of the seas" has full power. but they say reports of the ship almost tipping over or coming even close to that should be greatly exaggerated. >> the boat was completely si sideways, and everybody thought they were going to die. >> it may not have been as bad as the ship in antarctica, but the damage was enough to shake passengers up, and they are at least a day away from dry land. lee cowan, nbc news. and coming up, what is elizabeth smart planning to do now? we'll have details from her .erth

still coming up, prince william and kate middleton release their engagement paragraphs.

good monday morning and time is 7:26. here's a look at morning commute. here's a look at the east bay. >> southbound direction, an accident gist after the show ended at the 7:00 hour. this has been affecting lanes for about a half hour now. as you head towards the bridge, the overturned vehicle causing a distraction. you are jamming up towards the san mateo bridge. you can use mission boulevard with some alternate and southbound 680 through the sunol

grade with an accident around highway 84 as well. >> clouding spilling across the bay area and misty skies with drizzle in a few spots with patchy fog. the rain is off on the north coast towards ukiah and into parts of the north bay. highs in the upper 50s and low 60s and rain for tomorrow. brief clearing and more rain as we wrap up the week into the weekend. time right n i7:27. more news after the break.

. border brew is brewing with san francisco city leaders who may roll out a $6 daily fee. san mateo is threatening to create a $12 fee. they hope to persuade san francisco leaders to drop the plan. supervisors will vet on whether to launch the study tomorrow. more local news in a half hour.

♪ ñi 7:30 on a monday morning. that is, of course, the internet sensation known as the bed intruder song. is that the most popular viral video of the year? we'll run through the list. matt lauer, alongside with ann curry. while meredith takes the day off. and the countdown to next year's royal wedding.

>> as prince william and kate release their official engagement photographs. and a "the new york times" critic calls this balanlerina's weight into question. >> jennifer ringer, young ballerina, just walked into our studio and you say huh? she has a beautiful figure. clearly i don't get this. let's begin with justice for elizabeth smart. brian david mitchell was found guilty of kidnapping the then-14-year-old back in 2002. we'll talk to ed smart in a moment. salt lake city. >> reporter: good morning, matt. elizabeth smart is calling this moment a victory and says she is proof there is life after a painful past. >> i am so thrilled to be here. i am so thrilled with the

verdict. >> reporter: it was the verdict that elizabeth smart has waited more than eight years to hear. guilty. >> i'm so thrilled to stand before the people of america today and give hope to other victims who have not spoken out about their crimes -- about what's happened to them. >> reporter: the jury, made up of seven men and five women, deliberated for five hours. he will go to prison and not a mental hospital for abducting smart and holding her nine months when she was just 14 years old. hiding her most of that time in the foothills of utah. >> this is an exceptionally victorious day for us all. as mothers, women, daughters, that we can go forward and these things don't have to have to happen to us. >> there is only one hero in this story and that's elizabeth. i want to commend elizabeth for her bravery. her resilience and her courage. >> reporter: the now 23-year-old took the stand and testified about her terrifying time in captivity.

she described a living hell. what it was like to be abducted at knife point, raped almost every day. >> he just made me sick inside. because i have heard many things in the court that i have not heard from her. >> reporter: at issue for the jurors, whether mitchell was mentally stable enough to understand the difference between right and wrong. the prosecution called him a master manipulator. the defense argued mitchell was delusional. jurors didn't buy the insanity defense. >> you have to be pretty callous to be able to walk away without having something tug at your heart. >> reporter: while the verdict was read, mitchell carried out a ritual he did every day since the trial began. afterward, he was led back to jail where he will await sentence. he may have stolen elizabeth smart's innocence, but he didn't break her spirit. >> i hope that not only is this an example that justice can be

served in america, but it is possible to move on after something terrible has happened. >> reporter: smart will now travel to paris where she will finish her religious mission. she will be back in time for mitchell's sentencing in may. he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. matt. >> ed smart is elizabeth's father. nice to have you back. and a big smile on your face and elizabeth seemed to be beaming in post-verdict remarks. how is she doing? >> she is doing great. such a relief to see brian mitchell, he may not want to take responsibility for what happened. >> that was important to you, by the way. >> it was. it was. i remember back originally they were working on a plea agreement and he would not accept being a sex offender, and if one thing came out during the course of the trial, was that he absolutely is a sex offender, and he could not get away without being labeled such. >> you must be incredibly proud

not only of elizabeth and the way she handled herself throughout this trial, but also proud of the jury. the fact that you and your family were at this trial every single day, i think there's two sides of that coin. first, i love your reasons as to why you felt that was important. and i want to talk to you about perhaps the other alternative. >> i think as a family, we wanted those jurors to know, and any witness there, that the truth needed to come out. brian mitchell was allçó about lies, deception, manipulation. and, you know, the time that elizabeth got up and walked out, she said, you know, during those nine months, he held me captive. this was a chance where i wasn't going to put up with the lies. >> that time, that was the one time we saw raw emotion from elizabeth during the trial. and it came after a defense psychiatrist told a story, was talking about that elizabeth perhaps had even chosen a name for a baby, had she become

pregnant by brian mitchell. after all of the testimony, so much of it being so graphic and awful, why was that story something elizabeth simply couldn't stand to hear or want to hear? >> it was just another one of mitchell's lies. mitchell was -- you know, he would tell her all the time, both wanda and brian, would force her to write things to say things, to -- you know, they was trying to indoctrinate her into their crazy mind-set, and she said, you know, this is it. this is a lie of brian david mitchell. and for the -- the mental health expert, he was saying, well, ms. smart allegedly, and it wasn't allegedly. brian mitchell, wanda barzee and elizabeth smart. and who had the right mind there? i mean, obviously there is some problem. >> there were times -- your daughter testified over three

days and there were things she had to testify to on the witness stand that you had not heard before. >> absolutely not. >> have you taken the approach with elizabeth that she will tell you what she wants to tell you at the time she wants to tell it to you? >> really, when she came home, we thought we want her to understand that nobody has the right to do this. and know, when we talk about helping children in prevention, that's one of the most important things that i believe kids have to know. and that's why i'm such a proponent of rad kids. it teaches nobody has the right to hurt you. you don't have the right to hurt anyone else, and the most important thing is that it's okay to tell. i mean, elizabeth, you know, we felt like if you want to tell us, we heard enough. but if she wants to tell us, that's fine, and she called us this summer while i was on that bike ride across the country, and she said, dad, you know, i'm

having to say so much more than i ever thought i would ever have to say to anyone. and the bottom line is, the prosecutor came out and said, elizabeth, this is necessary to drive home the point that mitchell is not insane. >> any father would want to be able to remove this episode from his daughter's life. i mean, you would love to just make this go away forever. unfortunately, it's part of the fabric of who elizabeth will be from now on. what are your hopes and dreams for her, ed? >> she was so inspired by the prosecuting team that the last day, when we went in to hear the verdict, that morning she was looking at what her school requirements were to finish up. she said i really think i'm going to go into law school. i wouldn't mind being a prosecutor. i think having a voice for those people who don't have a voice is so important, and i mean, she really got into it. so, you know, i think she'll

finish up her mission and finish up school, and i think she's really thinking of going into law school. >> we wish you and elizabeth all the best, to your entire family. thank you for spending time with us this morning. >> thank you. one last thing. currently the internet crimes is one of the greatest out there and right now in the senate, there is a bill. the omnibus budget bill that we hopes gets passed. they need the money. children like elizabeth that are being held for their lifetime in this horrible situation with child pornography, need to be saved, and we really need the emphasis and the funding to make the internet crimes. >> good of to you share your voice on that cause. thank you so much. let's get a check of weather now from al. to you by chevy, every model is backed by 100,000 mile, 5-year power train limited warranty. and we've got a celebrity

here. it's gladys knight. my gosh. gladys, how are you? >> we're great. we love it here. and where are your pips. >> right here. >> can you do "midnight train to georgia?" ♪ leaving -- >> i think you're leaving on a jet plane. a little peter, paul, and mary. you got confused. the week ahead, below-normal temperatures in the great lakes. earlier part of the week, warmer than usual in the oorn half of the country. and we keep the cold air in the eastern half the current. latter part of the week, cold air will not retreat. wet weather along the west coast as well. that's what's going on >> a rainy week ahead and mist with low clouds. for the afternoon rain in the

north bay slowly heading south into tonight and tomorrow. increasing cloud asks temperatures in the 50s and 60s around the bay area, but cooler inland around kicko and vacavill mid- to upper 50s. tomorrow plan on showers and things will dry out briefly on wednesday and more rain, heavy at times as we approach the weekend. and that's your latest weather. ann. >> al, thank you. coming up next, the most-watched viral videos of the year. that's right after this. ♪

back now at 7:43. more than 13 hours of video has been uploaded to youtube in 2010. what were the most watched videos of the year? youtube is out with a list. you want to go through them? number 7 on the list, our buddies okay go. their ruth goldberg contraption that lasted for about five minutes. >> that was one shot, one take. >> they had over 20 million hits. >> number 6 was something called double rainbow. have you guys seen this? >> you ought to listen to it. >> oh, my god, it's a double over here all the way. whoa. >> he sounds happy. >> he sounds like donna nash. at one point he's almost crying

with ecstasy about what he's seeing. he appeared on jimmy kimmel and jimmy kimmel asked him the obvious question, were you on drugs? he said not during this video. the old spice guy made the list. a lot of people have seen that. >> now back to me. sadly, if you stopped using scented body wash. >> and he's now got a record contract. >> he put the video on youtube. and he's since launched his recording career. >> 34 million. >> and the bed intruder song. >> these guys had this interview which was turned into this song. >> yeah, by the gregory

grandmother brothers and that one got over 47 million hits. >> and we had the makers of that video on, and it said that they were actually glad for it because they actually got a lot of hits. 700 billion hits in 2010. that's unbelievable. >> a lot of wasted time. >> no, it's fun, i love it. >> we have got a lot more coming up. a look at kate middleton and prince williams's engagement video. >> anyway, more coming up.

back now at 7:48, the big wedding is now 137 days a way. and prince william and kate middleton have released their official engagement photographs. >> reporter: nobody's keeping track, right? this is a couple that used to walk in and out of buildings separately so avoid being photographed together. so these photos are really being viewed as a breath of fresh air. and they may mark the start of a more modern royal age. they're at ease, affect not and in love. the prince of cuddles, one british headline read. >> they have had time to adjust to each other and that's what

carried them through and the reason they look so happy is because they are. >> reporter: always conscious of scrutiny and intense speculation. today even kate's wardrobe is getting credit, affordable and class eye. >> the world absolutely adores her because she's her own person. >> reporter: prince charles and diana appeared distant back in 1981. and in their first photo, queen elizabeth and -- the engagement photographer described the young couple as in their prime and brimming with happiness. the portraits mark a stark contrast to the jarring images of prince charles and camilla whose car was attacked by protesters last week. anarchist groups are already planning to disrupt the royal

wedding just four months away. the future king says he wants a very public celebration. and he and kate may be able to share a little more of their private side too. >> also this weekend, police confirmed that one of those protesters was able to put a stick through the window of that rolls royce, jabbing camilla during that ride. that rolls royce with few built in security modifications will likely be parked for a while. >> peter alexander this morning. and by the way, that incident involving prince charles and camilla made for a few laughs on saturday nightlife when paul mccartney stopped by for a weekend update a. >> i will be the voice of prince charles and you'll be camilla. >> great. >> and can you do an english accent? >> i can try. >> and action. >> oh, no! >> oh, goodness me j.

>> oh, no! >> oh, charles, do something! >> heavens i love you camilla! >> and i love you! >> i love you! >> and scene. >> he has a good sense of humor. he's going to take some heat when he goes home, but that's okay. >> we have got much more coming up too. including the uproar over a review that implies that this ballerina was too heavy. we're going to talk to her exclusively in just a little while. >> that's coming up after your lonews

>> good monday morn. 7:56 and we have the latest on the monday commute with mike inouye. >> same accident, different spot. an accident involving i semi truck as well as a passenger vehicle. no major injuries, but it's on the shoulder in the same area we had an earlier accident. slowing south all the way out of san leandro past the san mateo bridge. slow to the toll plaza with a disabled vehicle, but that cleared from lanes. over to san mateo it's all right and the 101 in both directions. scattered clouds all over the place. >> a few breaks towards the north bay around marin and san francisco, but fog around parts of the bay area. rain off on the north coast that will drop into the north bay by

the afternoon and hold off until later and tomorrow in terms of around the rest of the area, highs upper 50s and low 60s and some rain. a break coming wednesday and heavy rain likely latriytusa.ayd into saturday. 7:57 right now. more news after the break. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] now everyone can explore the world from home. at&t is making high speed internet more affordable than ever at only $14.95 a month. one-year price guarantee. a 13-year-old girl and her 18-month-old brother are stabbed dozens are times and a 14-year-old boy is to blame.

she was baby-sitting her little brother while the mother was away. they were alone when the 14-year-old boy came in and stabbed her with a kitchen knife and raped her. the teen stabbed the toddler when he woke up in the rape. she managed to grab the mother and ran to a neighbor's house. they found the suspect, the teen boy asleep in the victim's house. investigators say the suspect is a friend of the victim's older brother. more local news in a half hour. the "today" show returns in less than a minute. see you back here in a bit.

we're back now at 8:00 on a monday morning, it's the 13th day of december, 2010. it drizzled a little bit overnight. it's about 43 depressi 3 degree. it's comfortable, so much so that -- out on the plaza, i'm matt lauer, along with anne curry because meredith viera is off and al roker. there's a little bit of outrage viewing over a critic's comments about a ballerina.

he said this woman, this -- she's in our studios this morning we're going to find out what she had to say about this. this comment set off a firestorm on the internet. >> also ahead, if you've got a book lover on your christmas list this year, and you're worried about what to get that person, coming up, a best selling author is here to share their opinions. >> i like your suggestions. >> and on wednesday, "time" magazine will reveal its personal of the year. right here on "today." just ahead, we're going town veil this year's finalists. >> some interesting names on that list. really, it's diverse. let's go inside, natalie is at the news desk. good morning, everyone, dangerously cold temperatures are gripping the midwest today after a weekend of heavy snow. at least six deaths were blamed

on the storm. major highways were closed in several states and blowing snow forced the cancellation of 1,600 flights in chicago. a buildup of snow even caused part of the roof to collapse at the metrodome in minneapolis. the death of ponzi schemer bernard madoff's son's death has been ruled a suicide. it's the second anniversary of his father's arrest. mark madoff had been named in lawsuits seeking to recover money for his father's victims. the compromise on extending bush era tax cuts faces its first test vote in the senate today, it also extends jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. about 30 cruise ship passengers were treated for minor injuries sunday after their ship was slammed by high winds and huge waves off the coast of egypt. royal caribbean's brilliance of the seas is en route to the final stop of its 12-night

journey. art historians studied magnifies high resolutions of the mona lisa and they found the tiny letters l and v in mona lisa's right eye. and elsewhere the letters cb and the number 72. a mystery just as intriguing as the lady's famous smile. a shoeless running craze hit full stride as a race in india billed as the world's first barefoot half marathon. not once did they have to stop and tie their shoelaces. it is now 8:03. let's go back outside to matt and ann. quite peaceful. >> thanks so much, natalie. >> the wind has picked up and i bet you may be regretting that coatless move right now. >> not at the moment, but maybe in the next half hour. this young lady shares a birthday with you, matt, december 30th. she's 40, she wants to know how

old you are? >> i'm 40 this year, how about you? >> i am 52 this year, i will be 53. thanks for bringing that up. >> any time. bhe who's your buddy, who's your pal? let's show you what's going on in your pick city today. we have got right now, buffalo is your pick city with all that lake-effect snow and that lake-effect snow stretches from chicago, indiana all the way into watertown new york where it's anywhere from nine to 18 inches of snow. snow as far south as beckley, west virginia and parts of the carolinas of the heavy rain and wind. sunshine from the plains down into the southwest. temperatures a little on the cool side, but not bad. this cold air is going to stretch all the way in here's a live look at your commute across the san mateo bridge, traffic is moving well, but, see much on the other side of the bridge. we have low clouds and also high clouds streaming in.

radar starting to turn more busy north of sonoma county. later on we'll continue to see more clouds filling in and plan on seeing some rain for the north bay. this evening on into your tuesday, then a brief break midweek, more rain, possibly heavy rain at times for the coastal mountains for the upcoming weekend. >> and that's your latest weather. it's a little chilly over there. now let's head back to matt. >> all right, al, thank you very much, the nutcracker ballerina called outtics critics for her weight speaks out in an exclusive live interview. uh, a little help... oh! you know shipping is a lot easier with priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus, you can print and pay for postage online. and i can pick them up for free with package pickup. perfect! cause i'm gonna need a lot of those. wow! i knew i should have brought my sleigh.

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goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums back now at 8:08 with fallout over a recent review in the new york city times that called a ballerina's weight into question. first natalie's got the details on this story. >> reporter: so many women feel great pressure to be thin and for ballet dancers, it's

especially intense. but now a quip about a nutcracker ballet star implying that she's too heavy is causing a huge uproar. it's a beautiful ballet that's a holiday ritual for many families. in the new york city ballet production of the nutcracker, 37-year-old dancer jennifer ringer has a high profile role. >> i am jennifer ringer and i am the sugar plum fairy. >> reporter: but it's not her performance that has everyone talkings, it's the contribute tyke. jennifer ringer looked as if she had eaten one sugar plum too many. ringer has been very open about her past battles with an for rexa. >> she came out in the past admitting to eating disorders and an for rexa.

>> an online fury exploded attacking the critics. we thought the critics were supposed to review the dancing not someone's stomach. this made me hot enough to crack a nut in my fist, one wrote. she has been so open about her body issues and disordered eating and this jerk says something so hateful. >> there was a ton of flack over this. >> reporter: there was such a firestorm, the "new york times" even posted a follow-up by the critic who stood his ground, if you want to make your comments irrelevant to -- ballet dancers have unusually thin frames. >> dancers are under incredible pressure to maintain a low body weight and because of that they're at increased risk of developing eating disorders. natalee portman who's just 5'3" lost 20 pounds for her role in

the current movie black swan to accurately portray the skinny world of the ballet world. a world where you've got to have an thin body and even even thicker skin. >> the aesthetic for ballet is not changing any time soon so it will continue to essential for success for ballet dancers to continue that ideal. >> we reached out to the "new york times" and they said the reviews by their critics peek for themselves. ann? >> natalie, thank you so much. we have got jennifer ringer now joining us exclusively. good morning. >> good morning. >> the first moment you read that review, when you read those words, what was your immediate reaction? >> it made me feel bad, it's embarrassing to see something bad written about yourself in print. so it did make me feel bad about myself. but, you know, i really had to tell myself that's one person's

opinion, you know, out of the 2,000 people that were there that night. so, you know hawhere i am right now, i was able to move forward from it. >> you didn't expect the reaction, the outpouring really from the public. >> i never expected it and i have to say it's made me feel very loved and supported, to tell you the truth, the outpouring of people that leapt to my defense was wonderful. >> especially in light of your eating disorder that you suffered years ago. and you suffered it after you had already joined the company, is that right? >> yes. >> do you believe that there's too much pressure on dancers that dancers are really more likely to suffer eating disorders? >> it is a field where our bodies are important. and as dancers, we're taught to attempt to try to be perfect, in every way technically and in

every way. i think for me, i was in my -- i was 16 when i became a professional and i think i just -- i wasn't prepared to cope with just being an adult performing world and i think that my coping mechanisms kind of turned into eating disorders and body image issues. so for me, i think it was more of just inability to cope, really. >> so when you see, for example, natalee portman coming out in which she's lost 20 pounds for the role, it sounds as though that it is representative of the true pressure that there are on dancers to be exceedingly thin? >> i haven't seen the movie, to tell you the truth. so i don't really know exactly what it says. but, you know, it's a physical profession, we're dancing all day long, a, a lot of times when you're dancing all day long, i'm

sure natalie must have trained like crazy, so there's a natural weight loss for dancing eight hours a day. and that was my problem, when i went through my eating disorders, you know, you're weak, you can't do the job, you can't perform it well. >> so your reaction then to the writer of the "new york times" who basically said that he basically defended that if you are in ballet, that you should sort of understand that your line, your body is also going to be something that may be written about. do you think that it should be? >> i think that that is a really complex question. as a doonser, i do put myself out there to be criticized. and my body is part of my art form. at the same time, i'm not overweight. i do have, i guess, a more womanly body type than the

stereotypical ballerina. but that's one of the things about the new york city ballet, we have every body type you can imagine, we have tall, we have petite, we have athletic, we have womanly, we have waif like and we have ever body type out there, and they can all dance like crazy, they're all gorgeous. i think dance should be more of a celebration of that, seeing these beautiful women with those these different bodies all dancing to this gorgeous music, that's what should be celebrated. >> so do you want an apology? >> no, it's his opinion and his a critic and he's paid to put his opinion into the paper and, you know, i know as a dancer that i'm going to get criticized and i also know that, again, there were 2,000 people probably out there and so he got to put his opinion in the paper, but everybody else had a different opinion as well. >> this morning you were able to voice yours, jennifer ringer, thank you. you're really lovely and really

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♪ ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ♪ "today's" holiday gift guide is brought to you by target. expect more, pay less. >> back now at 8:19, this morning on "today's" holiday gift guide, book buying 101. how do you choose when there are literally millions of titles to pick from. >> first up tackling fiction and nonfiction is patricia cornwell. congratulations. >> it's great to be here. >> but you're going to talk about other people's books which is really nice and you're starting off with the latest book by steve martin, why do you like it so much? >> this is a really provocative

book, and what i look about it is that it introduces us to art auction. he's embedded photographs of paintings in the text that i never would have thought. >> you call it mixed media fiction? >> it's new and incredibly brilliant of him and when you're reading it, you love looking at these paintings. >> the next book you want to talk about is "the reliable wife" it's about robert goolrick. you said it's about as ugly as there is lovely. >> she's plotting the vicious poisoning the man she chose to marry, but it's remarkably told and written. >> you're going to roll out of your chair laughing and this is a very witty brilliant guy. there's a scene of a burial at sea that goes as wrong as anything possibly can. >> you've got keith richard' book life. and do you think this is going to be interesting to people who

aren't rock 'n roll fans or stones fan. >> absolutely and love his love of music. he's almost teaching you to play the guitar in the book. >> and talk to me about "three cups of tea." >> this is a man who was changing a plan, it was a school he was building in afghanistan but it's a wonderful story and i love his scenes about mountain climbing. >> you've just covered fiction to nonfiction in the midst of 40 seconds. patricia, thank you very much. >> one of the must have cookbooks, warren brown is the found -- his book is united cakes of america. this one is for a real foodie, it's called around my french table. >> that's right, it's beautiful, it just has recipes that any person who loves to cook would just jump into and love to get started with. beautiful pictures, wonderful recipes. culture.

>> what more can you ask for? >> you couldn't really. >> the next one is filled with pictures and stats. >> and for me this is what i really get into. because it's ingredients of every single kind from all around the world. fantastic photos and you want something you can turn to all the time just to know how do i make manager really well and what is this ingredient? >> the food stylist handbook. >> yes, and i'm selecting this because i think it's great for people who love watching food shows to understand a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes. this book is supposed to train food stylists and give an inside look to it. it's interesting to know what goes on and how many different ways you can manipulate foods and make them look good. >> and the fourth book, you couldn't decide? >> for me it's all about family projects and i have made jams at

home and it a great way to be together with the family in the kitchen. but it's kind of hard to do alone. but i like the idea as a family. >> and i know you like the jam. >> i do as much as i can. >> and this is my favorite. lots of different creative recipes you can go crazy with and have your favorite flavors. >> we have been trying to decide whether we should make a bacon cupcake? >> a crumbled bacon on top of a cake. coffee table books are always a great gift. we have got the author of happy chic accessorizing, jonathan, good morning to you. first of american fashion designers at home and this book is from the far end over there. what do you like about it? >> it's so fun to see a glimpse inside the world of fashion designers. you have heard of them and you get to see how they live and it's always unexpected, a little

bit quirky and fun. >> well known names? >> well known names. >> and a lot of free pictures and i love this book because of the ideas you get out of this is pretty surprising. >> the fashion apartment therap how to be a real person in a small space and make it happen. >> and surprising. >> i'm all about surprises in creativity. >> and speaking of surprises. you've got a book selby is in your place. this has a lot of very interesting pictures. it's really an experimeenceable book. >> it shows you how to make your house, glamorous, unexpected and kind of excentric. >> and being a designer, we can understand why you would pick those first three. >> the fourth book was called

untouched by johnny rayside. he's a photographer. it's beautiful photographs. >> it's johnny rosea, no resu resuch -- retouching. there's something addicting about reading this book. >> i'm going to grab the book because i have a few seconds left and you've got susan sarandon who wrote the introduction and she said being with this photographer was always an event and the photos are stunning. >> yeah, the photos are incredible and very creative. >> jonathan, thank you so much. and thanks to all of our guests. and you can get more information about all of these books at todayshow.com. jessica alba after your local news.

good morning once again, everybody. time now is 8:26. checking in with mike, a new doesn't to tell us between. >> it's opposite your main commute, now for eastbound 80 right around rich machined park. coming out of hercules, in the westbound direction, jamming up as well. it looks like an action is a distraction. more of a probably, so about 35 to 40 -- the carcinus brings, through the caldecott. 880 shows yourle 30 slowdown, and walnut creek in both direction jamming up right around 24. rob, low clouds all over the place, too? >> clouds are starting to jam

up, a brief break around the north bay, but the story will be more and more clouds, eventually increasing chance of showers on the north coast, dropping our way by later on tonight. we'll see temperatures in the 50s to low 60s mostly cloudy through the day, tomorrow a chance of rain, then clear on you briefly on wednesday. more rain off and on, some of it heavy at times in the coastal mountaintops. the time is 8:27. more new after the break.

the most damageling

testimony in the richmond gang rape preliminary hearing could come this week. the final two witnesses are set to take the stand. the lead investigator and dna experts are expected to testify. seven men and boys are channelinged with the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl last year. attorneys will make arguments today over a defense request to suppress the police interview of the youngest defendant. more local news coming up in about half hour. "today" returns in less than a minute.

8:30 now on a monday morning, it's the 13th day of december, 2010. our crowd being generous as always, donating to our annual toy drive and look who's our holiday elf this morning, that is the lovely and talented jessica alba. you know, look at this, we have

people, especially guys right now, somebody gave her his car keys. >> that's awfully nice. >> we have got guys going out and buying gifts right now just to run back here and donate. we're going to talk to jessica in just a couple of minutes. what do we have coming up? >> speaking about the holidays, a lot of people are finding it very difficult, in fact it causes a lot of unhappiness and stress. we have got some experts talking about how to eliminate some of the tension so that we can have a happy, happy holiday. >> also ahead, it's that time of the year or "time" magazine to name it's person of the year, and boy, a lot of story this is year who made headlines from the chilean miners, mark zucker, major year with facebook, stephen jobs introducing the ipad. we're going to talking to the people from time in just a couple of minutes. a lot of folks have urgent real estate questions like

should you sell or stay if your condo is under water and how much do you -- how much should you insure you home for. we'll have that with barbara corcoran. >> ladies, what is your man really thinking? we're going to take an inside look at the male brain. >> it's a very short segment. make sure you go in with a pistol. >> before we get in trouble on that subject, let us say good morning to jessica alba. >> hello. >> how are you? >> you can stand right there. so you're the new kid, the cast of these movies, they have been together for two previous movies, so were there any hazing rituals or anything like that? >> no, thank god. no it was amazing, because first of all, i love this franchise, i think anyone who's married or has a boyfriend or girlfriend

introducing them to the family for the first time, in kind of identify with everyone in the movie. it's like the perfect holiday movie and i get to do comedy. with ben stiller. they never had careers before this. >> i love your name in this, andy garcia. >> andy garcia. she's a pharmaceutical sales rep and she reps in- >> way to scratch your head meredith. >> it's a little bit too early for this. >> ben stiller is the spokesperson for this, he's a male nurse, right? what are your plans for the holidays? >> we actually have like an 84-person sit down dinner at our house? >> why is that? >> i'm related to everyone in

southern california. >> do you cook. >> we do like a 22 to 26-pound turkey and i cook one of two of those. i do the sides to greens to mashed potatoes and the whole nine. >> party at jessica's. >> you must have to start cooking now. >> it takes three days. >> good luck with "little fockers." mr. rockier? >> though it to me. let's check your weather and show you what's going on. for the week ahead, we have got much below normal temperatures in the eastern half of the country, above normal out west, we're also looking at above normal temperatures midweek, we have got down through the south, below normal temperatures in the northwest. and in the latter part of the week, it stays chilly for 2/3 of the eastern part of the country, a lot of here's a cloudy view of san

jose right now. we have some low clouds and also high clouds moving in on top that lower cloud layer. brief breaks in the clouds around marin county, but up the coast, you notice we have rain dropping down, that should bed headed our way later tonight into tomorrow. plan on some showers for your tuesday, then a brief break wen day into thursday morning, then more rain due in for the weekend. some of that likely to be heavy at times, into the north bay. >> and there is wild weather still going on all over the country, make sure you check it out. go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. joining us now 1984 heisman trophy winner doug davis. you're making a donation to our toy drive on behalf of capital one? >> $50,000 for the "today" show toy drive and we'll have a few more smiling faces on christmas morning. >> what about the capital one

cup and scholarship? >> it's a new award that's given out to the division one program for cumulative onfield performance. so $200,000 worth of scholarships for both men's and women's sports. >> thanks so much, it's great to have you here. >> al, thanks very much, when we come back, how to retain your sanity during the entire holiday season. is it possible? we'll talk about it. first this is "today" on nbc. [ .

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become now at 8:38. and this morning on "today's" family, happiness and the holidays. 'tis the season for joy and fun and for many americans stress and unhappiness. what can we all do to help our holidays be merry and bright. we have the author of the happiness project joining us

with katherine burg door of. they are joining us to give us some sense about all of this. i should also mention that you two are friends. what would you say among the man reasons why so many people get stressed out and unhappy, they run happy this particular time of the year? >> one thing i found in my blog, is that for a lot of people the holidays are like a high school or college reunion, you're with a lot of people you haven't seen in a while, they're like, hey, did you get that job? do you have a boyfriend yet? and so one of the things you can do is to really say to yourself, what are the questions i'm going to get from my nosey aunt sally and what's the answer i can give so that i can handle it the way i want to. >> and what are you learning from your blog, katherine. >> i think that happiness from

the holidays is a bit of an oxymoron. i think that happiness and holidays don't always go together. i think stress and sadness and difficulty. it's also a beautiful time of the year, but the expectations that it's going to be great, it's going to be perfect, that you wait all year for this time of year and it doesn't live up to your expectations. it's so disappointing. >> one person wrote us an e-mail. i am not on speaking terms with my mother just brings sadness and frustration. it's a kind of things that you're talking about, the balance between what you really wish it would be and the realities of our lives. >> and if you can know that in advance and be prepared and think that it's probably going to be the same old, same old, even though you want it to be or wish it to be different, you can prepare for it, but like gretchen said, it's helpful to not feel as sad or disappointed.

>> people play an important role because they really do keep those traditions going and that makes everybody happy in the long run because traditions do add to happiness. but if you're that person who says it's not going to be perfect, other people are not going to be dressed the way i want them to be, or behaving the way i want that. that can overshadow the day. it's important to have that sense of celebration of the holiday and let something slide if it turns out. >> and you can make new traditions, some people who are wistful for the past may realize that now is it. and if it didn't work, create new memories. >> that's an interesting point. >> make new things with your family, feel differently. >> i like to tell my kids that perfect is boring. it really is because it sort of makes this kind of limit on what can happen. and with relationships with your family, yes, it's going to be intense, but there's also opportunity and recognizing what probably is not going to be so much fun, but creating opportunity for something that could be fun.

>> sometimes the things that go wrong are the things that make the best memories, so the day the christmas tree falls over er the cat gets the turkey. at the moment you feel devastated because you have this whole big mess and it's not perfect, but in years to come everybody's laughing about it. >> things that are not going to be like how we expect them to be, like they're in storybooks, what do you say to yourself when that happens? what's the message? >> the message i would say is expect conflict. expect it's going to be difficult. expect zafts are going to happen. and have fun with that. >> and also know that conflict is okay, that it's all right if there's conflict, it doesn't mean that you don't love your family and that you're not having a good time. but they may drive your crazy, but conflict is fine. >> i find a lot of joy in the little things that our family has passed on, the certain things we eat. we wear bells around our necks

on christmas eve and that can kind of unify people. >> those little traditions that let you feel connected to the past and give you that connection to your childhood or connection to the way your original family did things can really add on to the holiday. >> thank you so much. some good suggestion this is morning on how to have a happy holiday. >> and coming up next, we're going to be revealing the finalists for time's person of the year.

"today's" time person of the year is brought to you by state farm. find an agent or get a quote at state farm.com. >> since 1927, "time" magazine has selected a man, a woman, a group even an idea as its person of the year. we're going to reveal this

year's pick wednesday on today. today we have a look at the short list of finalists. time's managing editor is back. going through the process, for those who don't remember, how do you come up with even the final list? >> it's the person or thing that's most influenced the culture and the news in the past year. for good or for ill. >> it doesn't have to be a great guy or a great woman. >> it's a person whose influence is overpowering. >> we're going to collect six finalists, the chilean miners, these guys trapped under ground for 70 days, why do they make the list. >> it's a feel-good story of the year, it's a story of human courage and pluck. and the chilean president who said we're going to do this and they did it. >> let's move on to steve jobs. massive year in 2010. introduced a little things called the ipad. is that why we makes the final list? >> ipad could be a transformational device.

it's changing the way we create and consume information. big, big year for steve jobs. >> the person or persons who most affected the news, our lives for good or for ill. question mark about this next guy, he's julian assange, he is the founder of wikileaks, why does he make the final list? >> he's changing the way we deal with diplomacy, the way countries deal with each other. >> embroiled in some personal scandal as well, we should mention. >> indeed. >> is she someone who is on the list. >> -- hamid karzai, why is he important? >> he's someone that's at the center of something important and dangerous in the world. he in many ways is a symbol of the things we're reckoning with, terrorism, taliban, the future

of our own safety. >> another guy who had a huge year is the ceo of facebook, and this is mark zuckerberg, over 500 million subscribers. if not this year, when i should say. >> they're pressing 600 million, one out of ten people on the planet subscribing to facebook. it's not only a new technology, it's changing the way human beings relate to each other. >> we're talking about a group of people, not a person or individual. and this is the tea party. why do you think they belong on this list. >> it was a huge change election, two years after an original change election. it taps into this feeling of frustration that people have, distrust for authority and distrust for centralized leadership. that's been the theme of the whole here. >> and wednesday we will take the question mark off of that graphic and reveal "time" magazine's person of the year. we'll see you wednesday. and again, we're going to have much more ahead in just a moment. the person of the year issue comes wednesday. we're back in a moment, this is

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>> he's one of the most fascinating people who i have ever met. he's like a head of state without a country, he's a religious leader. he's also doing some of the most important charitable work in the islamic work. -- world. >> reporter: around the islamic world, you'll see his works, in the restored monuments of old cairo, flanked by a new 74-acre park. in refurbished mosques in africa and even in the afghan army. but you'll almost never meet the man responsible for it all. one of the richest and influential but least known people in the muslim world. he told us this is the first interview he's ever given to an american television network. >> i have always taken the attitude that it's better that the work speak rather than the individual. >> reporter: i met him in a poor nation in west africa. we sat in a park he had just

refurbished, 600 miles south of tim buck tu. his goal is to show die versusity in islam, and show oppression in islam most often known for war, from baghdad to kabul. a region he recognizes many americans find formidable and intimidating. >> the horrible conflicts which are dominating the images of the islamic world and i can say without one it yoota of fear ist that's totally wrong. >> reporter: his personal history is as fascinating as the ancient works he preserves. 73 years old, he is the leader of a shiite muslim faith with an estimated 12 million to 15 million followers. so the faithful, he is like a king and spiritual guide. they believe he's the direct

descendant and legitimate heir of the muslim prophet mohammad. they call him an immom leading leader. >> an imom is responsible for the people who refer to him, he's responsible for the interpretation of favorite and he's responsible for their quality of life. so those three areas are areas which are my responsibility. >> broadly they're considered moderate. in fact al qaeda believes they are a bitter enemy. >> i have always referred to it as a conflict of ignorance and i still believe that's the root of the problem. >> reporter: born in switzerland, he grew up in the spotlight. his grandfather was the last aga cahn. his father was married to the late film legend rita haworth

and was said to be one of the richest men of his day. but when he assumed the role at 20 years old was private. skiing was his passion. ensconced among the international elite, he studied at harvard, is fluent in three languages, was on the cover of life magazine in 1958 and met president kennedy at the white house. today he remains very wealthy, the money comes mostly from the contributions of his followers which he then redistributes, liberally. >> i think the first thing is to try to replace that fear of poverty and the pain that goes with it. but some sense of hope in the future. that things don't have to be that way, that they can change. >>. >> reporter: trying to change a region, better known for war, with development and culture. the charities distribute about $450 million a year.

much of it in area where is the united states has interests including pakistan and afghanistan. >> richard engel, that's a really fascinating profile. thank you so much. still ahead, how to lose belly fat without feeling like you're dieting. i it is a strange thing. right after your local news. it

good morning, everybody. time now is 8:56. i'm brad cannon. mike has an update on the east shore. >> we have eastbound 80 jammed up, now we're down to a

28-minute drive. really slow after hercules, bull all the way down through berkeley and emeryville. 580 not so bad. there's a look. this is why it's so slow. slow from hayward stwnndony oakland. more news after this. talks holiday favorites. i think there are eggnog people and non-eggnog people. and which are you? i'm a fish. on a tree. [ female announcer ] if it tastes like the holidays, we've got it. safeway. ingredients for life.

wow. i love the way she plated that roast. yeah. i said "plated." he's been watching too many cooking shows. mm-hmm. [ female announcer ] serve a main course brimming with comfort and joy. safeway. ingredients for life. hawaiian airlines is making it easier for people in the east bay to say aloha. they're offering four week of nonstop daily flights for maui, running through january 10th in addition to the normal flight schedule, hawaiian airlines says it will use bigger airlines to accommodate more travelers. another update in about a half hour, and "today" returns in

about a minute. see you in a bit. most of you agreed with our call last week for a do not mail registry, to stop the flood of holiday catalog. garrett said i get 10 to 15 pieces of junk for every legitimate piece of mail. i'd love to turn them off. how wilson complains one needs mailing labels to unsubscribe, then spend an hour inputting data into the system. a supporter of a national registry said mailers would have to get specific opt-in permission in order to mail me the same information. diana added excess mail robs us of our most precious commodity,

time, but the direct marketing association said they produce thousands of catalog printing jobs, and a national registry will hurt the american economy. agree or disagree, join us online at nbceditorials.com. back now with more of "today" on a monday morning, 13th day of december, 2010. great crowd outside, kicking off their week with us. some of them are probably going to take off from our plaza and head off and do a little christmas shopping in new york city. >> back inside studio 1a, i'm matt lauer along with ann curry. the verdict that elizabeth smart had waited eight years to hear, the man who kidnapped her and held her captive for nine

months has now been convicted. we'll have her reaction to the verdict and our conversation with her father, ed smart. barbara corcoran is here to answer your real estate questions. >> also if you happen to be among many of us who carry a little bit too much weight in our midsections, you know that it can be unhealthy and even potentially dangerous. we have a doctor coming up who claims he knows how to get rid of belly fat for good. he's got some secrets that involves eating he's got some secrets that involve eating and i'm not sure about exercise. wi we're going to get to the bottom of that. >> lot to get to. let's go to the news desk. natalie is standing by with a look at the headlines. >> several suspects have been arrested in southern afghanistan in connection with this month's deadliest attack on coalition troops. six u.s. soldiers were killed sunday when a mini bus packed

with explosives was detonated at the entrance to a joint nato afghan base. this comes days before a major white house review of the war to date. swedish officials say a man killed by an explosion in stockholm saturday was wearing a suicide belt that went off prematurely. he was probably headed to a crowded train station or department store when his device went off. residents from the midwest to the pacific northwest are cleaning up and digging out after getting a walloping from snow and rain. oregon and washington were hammered by driving rains and flooding and chicago more than 1, 600 flights were canceled because of snow there. and trouble off the coast of egypt for royal caribbeans brilliance of the seas as winds of up to 100 miles per hour and swells as tall as 60 feet pounded the deck of the ship throwing passengers from their beds and sending the mega liner listing from side to side. several aboard were treated for injuries reportedly including broken bones.

the death of bernard madoff's odest son has been ruled a suicide. police say 46-year-old mark madoff hanged himself with a dog leash saturday on the second anniversary of his father's arrest. mark madoff had been named in lawsuits seeking to recover money from his father's victims. there's a new theory about one of the great mysteries of our solar system. origins of saturn's rings, the rings are the leftover debris from when one of saturn's moons crashed into the planet years ago. the chronicles of narnia took in $24.5 million. "the tourist" came in second and "tangled" third. you can add singing sensation to a resume that includes kbj agent and former president of russia. yes, that there is current russian prime minister vladimir putin, listen here.

belting it out over the weekend in st. petersburg for good cause to help raise money for children with cancer. he plays the piano, too. tale talented. four minutes past the hour. >> we saw kurt russell and sharon stone. they played with his audio like they played with our audio for music? we're going to show you, it has been brutally cold. we have lake-effect snow to talk about. we're talking anywhere from six to eight inches of snow. we have winter weather advisories as far south as nashville, from 6 to 18 inches of snow from south bend, indiana, to watertown, new york. look at these temperatures. 20 in atlanta. 24 roanoke. the afternoon highs only get up into the low teens in chicago. 48 in jacksonville. windchills make it feel even colder. and the cold air is going to

really plunge south tomorrow into wednesday. tuesday morning's lows, orlando 24, jacksonville 18. here's a foggy view, cloudy view looking over downtown oakland. you saw those temperatures nationwide. certainly tough to complain about a bit of rain. we do have showers heading into ukiah, mainly to the north around eureka. more clouds filling in, and we will see some rain early tomorrow. wednesday looks like a break, then rain back in for thursday evening into friday. some of that rain may turn heavy at times for the weekend. >> and and that's your latest weather. natalie? al, thank you. to the elizabeth smart case. last friday a jury found brian david mitchell guilty on two counts related to the 2002 kidnapping of the then 14-year-old. we'll hear from elizabeth's

father ed smart in a moment. first nbc's kristin welker is in salt lake city with the late latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. elizabeth smart smiled when the guilty verdict was read, calling the moment a victory and says there's proof there is life after a painful past. >> i am so thrilled to be here. i'm so thrilled with the verdict. >> reporter: it was the verdict elizabeth smart has waited more than eight years to hear. guilty. >> i'm so thrilled to stand before the people of america today and give hope to other victims who have not spoken out about their crime, about what's happened to them. >> reporter: the jury made up of seven men and five women deliberated for about five hours. their ruling means brian david mitchell will go to prison and not a mental hospital for abducting smart and holding her for nine months when she was just 14 years old. hiding her for most of that time in the foothills of utah. >> this is an exceptionally victorious day for us all. as mothers, as women, daughters,

that we can go forward and these things don't have to happen to us. >> there's only one hero in this story. and that's elizabeth. i want to commend elizabeth for her bravery, her resilience and her courage. >> reporter: the now 23-year-old took the stand and testified about her terrifying time in captivity. she described a living hell, what was it like to be abducted at knife point, raped almost every day. >> it made me sick inside because i have heard many things in the court that i have not heard from her. >> reporter: at issue for the jurors, whether mitchell was mentally stable enough to understand the difference between right and wrong. the prosecution called him a master manipulator. the defense argued mitchell was delusional, but jurors didn't buy the insanity defense. >> you've got to be pretty callous to be able to walk away without having something tug at

your heart. >> reporter: while the verdicts was read, mitchell sang hymns, a ritual he carried out every day since the trial began. afterwards, mitchell was led back to jail where he will await sentencing. mitchell may have stolen elizabeth smart's innocence, but he didn't break her spirit. >> i hope that not only is this an example that justice can be served in america, but that it is possible to move on after something terrible has happened. >> reporter: smart will now travel to paris where she'll finish her religious mission but will be back in time for mitchell's may sentencing. he could face the rest of his life behind bars. >> kristin welker in salt lake city. earlier this morning we spoke to elizabeth smart's father, ed, and asked him how elizabeth was doing after she had the weekend to think about the verdict. >> she's just doing great. i mean, it was such a relief to see that brian mitchell may not

want to take responsibility for what happened. >> that was important to you, by the way. >> it was. it was. i mean, i remember back originally they were working on a plea agreement, and he would not accept being a sex offender. and if one thing came out during the course of the trial was that he absolutely is a sex offender and he could not get away without being labeled such. >> you must be incredibly proud not only of elizabeth and the way she handled herself throughout this trial but proud of the jury. the fact that you and your family were at this trial every single day, i think there's two sides to that point. first i'd love your reasons as to why you felt that was important. then i want to talk to you about perhaps the other alternative. >> i think as a family we wanted those jurors to know and any witness there that the truth needed to come out. brian mitchell was all about lies. deception, manipulation.

and you know, the time that elizabeth got up and walked out. she said, you know, during those nine months he held me captive, this was the chance where i wasn't going to put up with the lies. >> that time, that was the one time we saw raw emotion from elizabeth during the trial and it came after a defense psychiatrist told a story or was talking about that elizabeth, perhaps, had even chosen a name for a baby, had she become pregnant by brian mitchell. after all the testimony, so much of it being graphic and awful, why was that story something elizabeth simply couldn't stand to hear or want to hear? >> it was another one of mitchell's lies. mitchell was, you know, he would tell her all the time, both wanda and brian would force her to write things, to say things, to, you know, they were trying to indoctrinate her into their crazy mindset. and she said, you know, this is it, this is a lie of brian david

mitchell. and for the mental health expert, he was saying, well, miss smart allegedly, and it wasn't allegedly. i mean, you had brian mitchell, wanda barzee and elizabeth smart and who had the right mind there? i mean, obviously there's some problem. >> there were times she -- your daughter testified over three days and from what i understand there were things that she had to testify to on the witness stand that you had not heard before. >> absolutely not. >> have you and your wife taken the approach with elizabeth, ed, that she will tell you what she wants to tell you at the time she wants to tell it to you? >> well, you know, we've really -- when she came home we thought, we want her to understand that nobody has the right to do this. and you know, when we talk about helping children and prevention, that's one of the most important things that i believe kids have to know and that's why i'm such a proponent of r.a.d. kids because it teaches nobody has

the right to hurt you, you don't have the right to hurt anyone else. the most important thing is that it's okay to tell. i mean, elizabeth, you know, we felt like, if you want to tell us, we heard enough. >> any father would want to be able to remove this episode from his daughter's life. i mean, you'd love to just make this go away forever. unfirefig unfortunately it's part of the fabric of who elizabeth will be from now on. what are your hopes and dreams for her? >> she was so inspired by the prosecuting team that the last day when we went into hear the verdict she -- that morning she was looking at what her school requirements were going to be to finish up and she said, you know, i think i'm going to go into law school. >> and again, that was matt earlier this morning with ed smart. coming up next, whether you're buying, selling, or perhaps a little under water. barbara corcoran has answers to your urgent real estate

questio quess.ion questions. later, what is your man really thinking? we're going to go inside your guy's brain. first these messages. [ female announcer ] imagine the possibilities with stelara®.

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take action. take advil®. good morning on "today's" real estate we're answering some of your most pressing questions. what to do if you owe more than your home's actually worth. barbara corcoran has some advice for you. we want to get started right off the bat. our first question is coming from norma in hollywood, california. good monday morning, norma. >> caller: good morning al, and good morning barbara. thank you for taking my call. my question is i purchased a condominium three years ago for $200,000. i put down $40,000 and i'm holding a ten-year interest only mortgage for $160,000. so seven years less. the value has depreciated

considerably, it's down to $70,000 and i real don't know what to do. i'm turning to you because i don't know what else to do. >> first of all, you have a little bit of time here, you have a full seven years. so there's no need to panic right now. if you can afford those payments and sit tight, that's exactly what you should be doing. because the other options open to you are going to ruin your credit. what your best option is to call your bank and arrange for a short sale. that will take you between six weeks and six months to get their okay. once you sell the house, what will happen is you won't be able to buy another house for anywhere between three and seven years going forward. if you can stay right where you are, that would be the best right now. >> can you hang out where you are, norma? >> i can, i don't know if i want to, but i appreciate that, that's very important to me. thank you very much. >> my pleasure. >> now we have got an e-mail from anonymous viewer.

writing we love -- we're thinking about moving to a warmer area of the country. what southern or southwestern cities have a good mix of cultural activities with good prices on homes. >> you should pack your bags and take a visit to austin, texas. the average price is $205,000. what's great about austin is it's a friendly town. you don't want to feel like an outsider once you move to a new place. their slogan in their town is keep austin weird. they have a film festival. >> you have to like that. >> but it keeps new people coming in there and you'll feel right at home there and you're certainly going to have your sunshine there. the other one i would suggest would be charleston, south carolina. it's a little bit more genteel. people are polite, they have tremendous beaches and golf. just like the other city, up 8% this year. so you want to keep your eye on

a rock solid real estate market. >> die jane sends us a video we. >> what advice would you give to sellers who are reluctant to reduce their price who fear that they then won't have any wiggle room when it comes to lowing their price. >> let's forget about wiggle room. that's not even part of the pricing strategy what. you want to do is price that house exactly where it should sell for or what it should sell for. and that's a hard thing to do because every seller out there is unrealistic and wishes they could get more of their house. you should make a list of every home that has sold in the last six months, not only the sale price, but how long each of those homes took to sell. and then you should share that with your sellers and make a list of every home that's in competition with their house. and take them out and show them. if the price is not right on the dime for you, you should refuse

the listing. stockpiling listings you can't sell. >> betsy? >> my question is when you go to insure your home, should you base the value of the home on the insurance company's appraisal of your home or do you base it on the banks appraisers because those values are very different? >> the only value you should have there is the insurance company value and that should be a replacesment cost value. because the purpose of insurance is to replace that home should anything happen. the bank's value has nothing to do with it. if you have a beautiful home, don't forget to think of add ones, things like furnishing, jewelry, technology equipment anything that's of great value and you look like you have a beautiful home there. definitely the insurance company's value. >> thanks for your questions and barbara thanks for the answers. still to come, how to lose dangerous belly fat for good. but first these messages.

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i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. it is a combination of two medicines and should not be taken more often than prescribed. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems, and children and adolescents may have an increased risk of being hospitalized for asthma problems. symbicort is not for people whose asthma is well controlled with a long-term asthma control medicine like inhaled corticosteroids. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop symbicort without loss of control, and prescribe a long-term asthma control medicine. be sure to see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. symbicort is a good choice to help control my asthma all day and night. [ inhales ] [ exhales ] ask your doctor if symbicort is a good choice for you. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

we want to thank everybody who's been donating for our toy drive. especially one company who's called stepping up. you've got the founder and ceo. what is your idea? and you have been involve with this. what are you donating this year and why? >> we have been involved with this toy drive for about six years now and we are donating products like this, stamps, inks, papers to make cards, scrapbooking gifts, home decor. it seems like young and old, male and female, all need to be creative. we all have this instinctive desire to make and create these. >> thank you so much for doing that and we want to mention that our toy drive runs through december 22 and you can also donate online at amazon.com/today. and meantime, still to come here

on "today," forgotten holiday desserts that will be a hit at your holiday table after your desserts that will be a hit at your holiday table after your local news. ♪ ♪ a blender for aunt sue ♪ head phones for uncle wayne ♪ pillow pets and hot wheels for my sister's kids in maine ♪ ♪ oh, walgreens has perfect gifts ♪ ♪ for all those on your list ♪ like a walgreens gift card ♪ for your daughter's teacher miss gilchrest ♪ [ female announcer ] finish up your list at walgreens and get $5 in walgreens super jingle cash with every $25 you spend. good for anything in the store. [ female announcer ] stay jolly with walgreens. [ female announcer ] keurig has over 200 varieties of gourmet coffee and tea to choose from. ♪ keurig is the way to brew fresh, delicious coffee in under a minute. way to brew. [ female announcer ] so with keurig, every cup tastes like it's brewed just for you. ♪

because it is. choose. brew. enjoy. keurig. good morning to you. 9:26 right now. laufra garcia cannon with mike, and he has a look at the morning commute. >> things are shaping up nicely for this monday morning. we have genting slowing, 101 also flows past the 8, an earlier car fire, but that cleared, so things should be smoothing out past the airport, typical slowing in both directions. no big surprises for 101 there on you there are san mateo, where we see a typical pattern here, as well as through the san mateo mountains. i have a problem speaking. the bay bridge toll plaza has no problem here. still gray skies around there. >> and we still have clouds spilling across the bay area,

and showers across the far north bay this morning, machined cino county northward seeing some of that. we'll see that spilt a little further south into the north bay later on this afternoon. 50s and 60s for the highs today. brief break wednesday into most of thursday morning, then more rain spills in, some of that heavy at times around themounta. coastal mounins. more news after the break.

a missing teenager is safe at home in shasta county after being found in san francisco over the weekend, all by chance. officers says a cousin of 15-year-old jean happened to be shopping at a sports store when she spotted her walking by with an uncle and at even. this morning the uncle is behind bars. officers had been looking for the girl since she disappeared from her home on november 10th. today san jose may be the

first city to regulate clubs. they'll hold a meeting after discussing appropriate rules, zoning and hours of operation. right now state laws require clubs to be 600 feet from a school. the council members want to look at restrictions around parks and churches as well. of course, that will be at the meeting and we'll have an update for you on nbc bay area news tonight at 5:00. another local update in about half an hour. have a great monday morning.

'tis is season for shopping. we have got some steals and deals at home that will make your heads spin. we're talking 70% to 90% discounts on jewelry, handbags even gps systems. so itwe have got one doctor who says he has got the solution, it involves eating and he says it doesn't necessarily involve exercise.

so he really says this is going to work. i don't suppose -- i don't know that that hamburger is going to be on the list. >> avocados and olive oil. when you ask your guy how his day was, his typical answer was fine. that's it. experts say it's because a man's brain is wired differently than a woman's. just ahead we're going to hear the results of some new research and also how you can use it perhaps to help improve your relationship and how you approach the man's brain. >> i didn't hear a thing you said. plus on "today's" holiday's kitchen, what's old is new again, we're digging into grandma's recipe box to find some classic desserts for your holiday table, including chiffon cake.

>> can you give us a check of the weather? >> i just heard blah, blah, blah. we are looking at some rough weather moving through new england, heavy rain, strong winds, and lake-effect snows in the eastern great lakes today. more wet weather in the pacific northwest, windy conditions, snow in the interior sections of the northwest. snow showers as far south as the southern carolinas and look for sunshine, southern california, they're going to be gorgeous today, in los angeles, 83 and sunny. and sunshine i let's look at the golden gate bridge. i've got to get mike to take a look at that. it looks like a bit of slowing there. we'll get to the bottom of that, coming up with another traffic report. you can see clouds spilling over the bay area. i do think we'll see a few more showers dropping further south, probably not until later tonight

into your tuesday forecast, so a mixed bag of clouds today, then plan on quite a bit more rain later in the week especially towards of weekend. >> how do lose the belly fat without all that hard dieting and exercise. coming right up after this. h a lot of flibbity-flab or mumbo-jumbo. sounds like you need to name your price. no gobbledy-gook? never. do i still get all the dagnabbit coverage i need? sure. we give you a quote and you can adjust your price up and down to find something that works for you. ♪ this thing is okey-mcsmokey skiddly-doo. great! i think. diggity. oh! still not sure. the "name your price" tool. only from progressive. call or cly.k dato wow! ♪ they're from my garden club, up north.

[ female announcer ] this year, hallmark has all new ways to say it. well, there's the snow you wanted. we always make time for just us cousins. like the other night at olive garden. hey susan, you gotta tell the aunt jessie story again. -yes, you do! -ok, ok. joe: love that story. try olive garden's two new scaloppini dishes. pan-seared chicken breasts in a lemon-herb glaze. or sauteed pork in a creamy white wine sauce. both served with asiago filled tortelloni. with our unlimited salad and breadsticks. this is like being back at the kids' table. [ laughter ] olive garden. when you're here, you're family.

da [ younger brother ] oh, do you want it? yeah. ok, we'll split it. [ female announcer ] made fresh, so light... ...buttery and flaky... this is half. that is not half. guys i have more. [ female announcer ] do you have enough crescents? guys i have more. i'm george duran and this is the hunt's crash kitchen tour. attention, shoppers, there's a handsome man here to tell you about tomatoes. hunt's is the only leading brand that uses flashsteam

to give their tomatoes that backyard garden fresh taste. oh, my goodness. oh, sir. how are you? mmm. oh, that's good. i like the taste of the tomato... tomato! tomato... how is it? tell me the truth. it's good. isn't it time to take a fresh look at your tomatoes? this morning on get fit "today," losing that dangerous belly fat for good. his new book is called the leaning belly prescription to help you lose fat around the

middle without feeling like you're on a diet. travis, good morning to you. as an er physician, you have a sense probably pretty often how dangerous belly fat can be. >> so i have a little surprise for you here. >> i noticed something was under this napkin. >> this is what we're going to eat. >> oh. >> this is an alien invader inside so many of our bodies. people don't think of fat in terms of fat leads to diabetes, heart disease, many cancers, it's not just about i don't like the way i look in my bikini. >> if somebody comes in for example having a simple car accident, they're less likely to recover as easily if they have a lot of fat around their middle? >> it's so very true. but what's really important for people to realize is that belly fat is the most dangerous kind of fat. but what if i told you it's the easiest fat to lose?

>> you're going to have to convince me. because i don't believe it's the easiest fat to lose. let's talk about breakfast. one of the ideas is that you should choose high protein. >> would you prefer to eat this for breakfast or the bagel with the orange juice? >> i would probably eat this without the bacon. >> well, let me tell you bacon and eggs for breakfast is okay, because it's got protein that's going to fill you up throughout the day. and really the focus again. when we talk about lean bellies, everyone thinks that fat is what makes us fat. but think about 20 years ago, we went low fat, everything on the shelves was fat free. and what happened? we gained more weight as a nation. this is about incorporating good fats, lean proteins. >> bacon is not a good fat. >> this is where people need to realize. did you know that slice of bacon

and i don't eat bacon every breakfast. but some people are going to insist on eating their bacon. but a slice of bacon is maybe a quarter of the calories as in the bagel. but the way our bodies process it, you can lose 10, 15 pounds in four weeks. that's all carbs. >> and this is sugar. >> so all sugar versus protein for breakfast, fill you up throughout the day. most people don't believe this. this is why i wrote the lean belly prescription is because diets don't work. what happens when you go on a diet, you lose millions mas-- muscle mass. this is about eating foods you love and losing weight while doing it. >> but not pop? >> if you love soda. do you like soda? >> no. >> i grew up in the midwest, i used to drink soda every day. so there are alternatives to soda that are healthy and if you make this alternative, you can

lose a pound a week even if you don't drink any other beverages. >> it's specifically going to target your belly? >> now dairy, you are big on dairy, dairy is a high fat food. >> dairy, here's the thing about dairy, it's got calcium, it's got good proteins, dairy is one of these things that if you eat three servings of dairy a day, you're going to lose weight. but the key here is you're balancing out good carb. can you tell the difference. >> one's wheat pasta. >> much better for you, you're going to lose weight if you eat whole grains versus refined carbs. if i show you this over here -- >> these are basically about eating fats and you've got steak here and this is a very lean steak, olive oil, avocado and

waln walnuts. >> we're so afraid of fats in our country and we got so afraid of fats that we didn't think we could eat them and still enjoy the foods that we eat. so you can eat your steaks, you can have avocados. you can even in moderation enjoy a hamburger, be careful with the buns and all the condiments. you can lose weight eating the foods you love. >> really quickly, we're completely out of time. you say you don't have to exercise. is that right? >> well, it's about being active. a lean belly, it starts in the kitchen, not in the gym. if you're going to make phone calls today, get up on your feet while you're making phone calls. there's all these neat little things you can do to incorporate activity. doesn't involve a gym. >> and being active, including to the things that you see on this list have some fun outdoors. and that will help you out. thank you so much, dr. travis stewart trying to take care of our belly. thank you so much. >> and coming up next, we're going to be talking about the

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this morning on "today's" relationships, getting inside the male brain, it comes as no shock that men and women think very differently. but there is no research investigating just how opposite the male and female brains are. and it just might help explain a few things or two. good morning, ladies. and cosm orko delves into this later this month. it shows how we can approach the man perhaps better if we know how they're thinking, right? >> we're not going to get as annoyed if we know it's really how his brain functions. >> let's talk about the four areas that our minds are mismatched and the first one is how men and women deal with dress different

stress differently. how is it when you get them to talk to you about it, they just shut down? >> men has a part of the brain that oversees how you relate to people decreases in activity. whereas ours, as women, it increases, so when we want to vent or share the experience, the guy just wants to go off and lick his wounds. and it's particularly bad if we're both under stress because he's not going to want to listen and he's not going to want to talk either. >> so the brain then decreases activity when stress is involved? >> it's part of the brain that sees connecting with somebody else. >> dale, what does this tell us as women about how we can learn to relate to our mates a little bit. >> we can be more understanding and as kate implies we can change our behavior and not go into this place where we will be fighting. but we need to leave him alone

when he's having that stressful time or that stressful moment, even though we want to engage because that's what we would want. but we need to let him be on his own and not take it personally. and then later, you can say i would really like know what happened when he's not so stressed. >> let hem go into their man cave. >> and call a friend if you would like to talk to somebody, but don't keep pushing. that's the real issue, is don't keep pushing him. >> next area is, you know, when you ask your man how is your day, and they say, fine, and that's it. you get nothing more. what part of the brain is that that gives us a limited grunt. >> it's so maddening, there's a part of the brain which is in charge of verbalization and picking up verbal queues and in men, it just sort of explains why they don't like to talk unless they really have something important to say. and they connect better with people often by bonding through

some shared activities like shooting hoops with a friend, whereas with women, we like to connect by chatting and we finally know men don't have that chatting gene. >> so what should we do, dale? >> i think what's important is to think, again, it's not about you and it's not directed at you, but it feels that way. so what you can do is, again, let him do what he needs to do and call your friend and have that -- if you have the need to talk, talk to someone you can talk to because you have to do it. but also say, i do want to talk about this and do it while you're doing something physical like take a walk, walk the dog, do something that's engaging physically and then you can also talk while you're doing it. now it's a disaster to say let's sit down and talk about this. because it's not going to happen. he will feel intimidated, you will feel rejected and you awil start to get more angry. >> men seem to struggle with remembering important moments, and we're talking about the

little details that women obsess about sometimes. is that it? is it that we're just obsessed or that men have a different way? >> it's all about the brain, men store memories on the right side of they brain, which focuses on the big picture, women on the left side, which really forms emotional connections to events and orders them. so that's why we remembers you had a great time on the first date, but he doesn't remember you wore the cute red dress or what the waitress said to you. >> so i'm hearing you say it's important to make sure the man remembers the facts. >> you can remind him. you can make it a test and say do you remember this, do you remember that? forget it, that's not going to work. say i remember when we went and had this to eat and that to eat and you said this. and that will trigger something in his brain and he will feel as if he's a participant. you don't want to distance yourself and you want to have

empathy and passion for your mate. >> it's typical that all the men in the control room are saying we don't have anymore more time for this segment. kate and dale thanks so much. vintage holiday desserts making a delicious come back. but first this is "today" on nbc.

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aroundoriech. plait. it is so good. "today's" holiday kitchen is brought to you by twizlers, a twist you can't resist. >> this morning on "today's" holiday kitchen, lost desserts, whether it's a delicious pie you remember from your youth, you may want to bring back on oldie but a goodie. the editor of cook's country magazine, good to see you. >> we don't have a lot of time here because they were talking about the women versus the men brain. we like food.

>> we like the male brain. >> what are we making? >> chiffon cake. they're making these cake force the brown derby. there's a secret ingredient which is vegetable oil. half a cup of vegetable oil. >> instead of butter? >> it's an angel food cake mixed with a pound cake. we actually have water which is really interesting and it has vegetable oil. a little cake flour and sugar. baking powder and now we're going to take those whites. if you do it wrong, folks, this is overbeaten whites. >> that's not good. >> so we'll just finish it up. let's talk about a third of these to start. whisk it in. and then we'll fold the rest in. >> okay. >> so it's a nice, fluffy batter. >> this gives it the rise. but the vegetable oil gives it a really nice texture. >> instead of using a spatula,

you do it nice and easily. 225 for about an hour, 300. her house burns down halfway through the book, she's staying with stephany crawford and she makes a very famous southern cake which we brought it back. it has two white cake layers. inside it has bourbon and pecans. and then it has a nice fluffy frosting on the outside which works great. and by the way, here's a cake decorating tip, we're going to do a couple of things really fast. so if you want to take a spoon. here's a spoon. you can just do this little things, a little twist like that. that's real easy to do. but then if you have one of these cake stands, you can start in the mid sen cher.

>> and we want to get back here, because we only have 30 seconds left. >> the cookie crumb crust has a chocolate custer, as a crumb custer. it came from oklahoma city and from duncan hines. he found this. and the last one is the chiffon cake. boom, ther

good morning to you. it's 9:56. i'm laura garcia cannon with mike. what are you starting with? >> livermore has some

last-minute slowing. that's an odd situation, with bursts of slowing. westbound 580, likely because they're in a lot of fog. that's why we still have some slow traffic and a good volume out of tracy and stockton. a nice, lighter volume, eastshore freeway not a major issue. now the metering lights are still on. don't change lanes like that guy, and on the golden gate bridge, the low clouds are still hanging around. >> you can see the clouds spilling in here and showers up on the north coast. we'll probably see more of those dropping our way later on this evening for the north bay, and for the rest of us, by tomorrow morning, so we'll see highs in the upper 50s to low 60s today. plan on rain for your tuesday, then a brief midweek break, therefore on wednesday into thursday, more rain comes in. some of that rain looks kind of heavy at times. laura? >> thank you very much, rob. police are on the lookout for a possible serial robber who

targets women late at night. police say the robber may be behind eight separate robberies in the past month. they all happened in neighborhoods around embarcadero road in palo alto. the woman told us that it started with a man slowly jogging toward her as she took on outside alone. >> i don't know self-defense, i don't have any weapons, of course i had no idea what he was going to do. as far as i knew, he could have come up to stab me. >> the woman says he grabbed her purse, then ran around to a dark-colored four-door sedan. police say they're not sure if all the robberies are connected, but they have never seen so many attacks like this. be on the lookout. another update in about half an hour or so. have a great monday morning.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television hey, everybody. welcome to fun-day, monday. december 13th, afr a big, big weekend for both of us. you had yet another -- but this was very special -- book party four. right? down in indianapolis? >> yes. i flew to nashville, tennessee and a wonderful woman named kelly crockett lined up this book party for me. and jane who is like a genius, genius, genius author. this was in nashville.

in a beautiful home. they rolled out the red carpet. we just had such a great time with all the ladies in nashville came out. janie was a home run. she got up and gave a beautiful speech and she is the living end. then sunday night, i couldn't stop. you said i couldn't go out on sunday nights? but i had to make an exception. >> jennifer miller's ongoing birthday party. she's almost 51 now. >> her husband and stepdad are with us in the studio. i don't know how they're still standing after last night. >> i'm hearing reports from a lot of people that were at this party. i do in the appreciate you keeping my co-host out -- partying like crazy when she's got to work the next day. >> you had a very busy weekend. you took off friday. >> i had to take off friday. we flew down to mt. vernon, texas, where dandy don meredith was born. his original name was joe donald meredith. he always said -- jeff and hazel

meredith -- baby boy. we went down thursday night. there he is in the booth, of course. and it was a great night of remembering him. people stood up and told the most wonderful stories. we were all -- it was like we were all reliving it again with don right in the room just crying the memories. he truly was one of the funniest human beings god ever made. >> there was a funny story when you were pregnant? what did he say? >> i don't know if i can say this. >> is there something i don't know? why wouldn't it? >> it's a true story. when frank called him when he found out that i was pregnant the first time and there's dead silence. don, kathie's going to have a baby. dead silence. don goes, don't you worry, frank. 3 1/2 years later don calls him back, says guess what, kathie's

pregnant. dang, got wrong -- we have some pictures. there is a museum there. like at the don meredith museum. that's cody and frank and me standing out front. cody was his god son. cody's there in the middle. he flew all night long from california to be there. it's darling little museum. such a great town. i think it's got a population of 2,000 total. then there was the service the next morning that was, you know, as you would expect. filled with people who are just still in shock that he's gone and full of a gazillion memories of life with him. so we send our love to susan and his children and i loved going to mt. vernon. it was beautiful. there was -- we went to see his boyhood house. says "proud boyhood home of don meredith." he was a real hero to the people there. it was great. >> we got lucky because both of wrus traveling and both of us

got out because those winter storms that really smacked the middle of the country. >> we had had no trouble. >> me either. >> heaven forbid if you were going to minnesota. >> oh, my god! did you see the dome in minnesota? it is not this hard dome. >> it is inflatable! who designed that? >> here's the before. picture of the dome. look at the after. they actually have video of inside the dome. >> look at that. can you imagine if there had been people, guys playing and all the fans and -- >> i don't get that kind of dome, quite frankly. >> there was 17 inches of snow, i guess a very heavy, wet snow on there but wouldn't you think a place like minneapolis you should make it a hard dome! like a super dome! >> i guess they're used to it. >> they're going to rethink it now, i think. >> they're going to replay the giants/vikings game tonight. >> well, they're going to play it for the first time. they've rescheduled it. >> i hate when she corrects me. >> i just don't want people at home to be confused. >> but guess what?

it's free! but that's ridiculous because everyone's going to go. >> that's great. maybe some people who have never, ever been to a pro football game will have a chance to go. >> but that weather really whacked the country. minneapolis got hit hard. where else? all the way in that middle of the country. winter came early. not for us. not yet. >> winter had nothing to do with "saturday night live." i didn't get to see this. i'm in bed by 9:00 but i get to watch it on monday mornings. >> they had paul mccartney on and he was doing one of those week intelligent update news things and they were talking about, you guys remember camilla and charles were in the car that got hit with eggs, attacked? this is these guys' rendition of that attack. let's watch. >> welcome. are you ready? >> i am. >> so i will be the voice of prince charles and you'll be camilla. >> okay. >> can do you an english accent? >> i can try. >> okay. and -- action!

>> oh no! oh goodness me! oh camilla! >> oh, charles, do something! >> oh hefavens, i love you, camilla! >> i love you! >> i love you! >> end scene. how do you think that went? >> that was probably the best thing i've ever worked on. >> isn't he something? i go back to 17 years old. paul! paul! i promised i was not going to do it when i went to see "it was a hard day's night." i thought that's just so juvenile. of course i did. >> i loved paul. he was the best. donna who works in our wardrobe department said in rehearsal paul mccartney just sat at the piano and just started playing yesterday for everybody who was just sitting. just started playing. can you imagine sitting there and listening to him play just

for you? >> no. no. i met him one time. >> and? >> his wife, linda, was alive at time obviously and she was on the show with regis and she was doing a vegetarian dish. he just came to support her and love her from the sideline. he was just gracious to everybody. he just beamed. he was just so proud of her. >> so there are some new photos out of kate and will. these are their engagement photos. she apparently did her own makeup, because that's what she likes to do. they did a casual one, then they did a more -- this is i guess a more formal one. >> that's so sweet though. >> they look like the real deal. don't they? >> they do. they look very much in love. that doesn't look so staged. and yet people are already saying that he's going bald. people are not nice. people are not nice! >> some people go bald. how old is he? 20-something? >> 28 or 29. >> some people have that premature balding. but he still looks cute.

>> yeah. >> that's just mean. >> oh! yeah, he's going bald. >> he sure is. >> maybe they're not mean. they're just realistic. >> he'll wear a crown his whole life anyway. >> his brother's not. his brother's got a full head of hair. right? >> yes. and there is some question about why he might have that big full head of hair? >> what? >> people are mean. what can i tell you. so if you were kate and you think that everything's going to be great because you are a princess and whatnot, "us" magazine talked about a thing she was not going to be able to do anymore, one is spending christmas with her family. i guess there is some rule that you have to spend christmas with the queen and the royals. >> i don't know if it's a rule, they are just expected to. it is almost like a watch out what you wish for, you may get it. every girl dreams of being a princess or something like that and living happily ever after with prince charming, who's going bald -- i mean that's

reality. he might be prince charming but people -- fairy tales are stupid, hoda. they just are. they set you up for disaster. think how many of the royal marriages have not lasted. >> i know. >> you wonder if it was just a natural way that a couple falls out of love? or combination of all these things he's talking about such as not spending time with your own family, her sister has to be her lady in waiting. >> just standing there all the time. >> yes. can't get a cab anymore. she has to always walk one step behind her husband for the rest her life. >> i think that's being silly. >> prince phillip has to walk behind elizabeth. >> oh, he does. you're right. let's see. are they doing it here? >> and she will have -- i don't think she's doing it on purpose. i think she's just a fast walke. >> believe me, no, look, he's like come here. see? she's still behind him. >> maybe she doesn't have to do it yet until they're married.

>> there they are, side by side. >> let's find out from one of our royal watchers. >> it is our "favorite things" time. wou >> would you want to marry him? >> i'd be arrested. >> he's actually 28. it would be totally fine. no, i wouldn't want that kind of life. would you? >> yeah. >> you would? >> yeah. >> no, you wouldn't! >> i don't know. >> maybe you would. >> be honest. >> favorite things. this is a very cool thing. this is a yoga mat that looks like an average yoga mat until you look closely and realize there's an ipod speaker. so while you're zenning out to your yoga, all you need to do is crank a little tune. ♪ >> with yoga? >> yeah. people like this. can you picture the downward dog? come on. ♪

>> this is just your way of getting your play list on again. >> any time i can get a song in. >> all right. so those are $32 at gaiamd.com. >> at christmastime there are darling things that are like stocking warmers. look at the little mittens. little cashmere mittens. they come in different colors. herary the thing, hoda woman. they come with this little thing so just like that neck warmer thing, you crack it and it warms -- you put it inside your mitten? >> no. you put it in there and then you can put it in your pockets or you can put it in your breast pocket. whatever. and keep you warm. just keep you nice and warm. they're $15 on sale today. the sale ends today.

tomorrow they go to $20. get in there. it is a nice little -- isn't that sweet? >> sweet holiday gift. coming up next, we'll have the scoop on all the entertainment news you will abdishing about all week. plus donny and marie are here. they're creating some of their own buzz. they're on broadway for the holidays. first these messages.

>> announcer: "today's buzz" is brought to you by keurig. choose. brew. enjoy. >> it's fun-day and that means it is time for "today's buzz" where we bring you up to date on all the entertainment news that you can actually handle that happened all over the weekend. >> here with the inside scoop, bravo's andy cohen. typically andy aslow is on twice a week but this week it is different. he's on every single night. why? >> who needs that much info? >> people are interested in what andy has to say. >> i'm freak o out so much that

donny and marie are here. i'd like to be able to get through this interview. >> hey! >> hey! >> you're a childhood fan, right? >> i'm going to see them friday on broadway. i'm dying. i bought my own tickets. >> call when you get backstage. >> hold it down. you'll get your time. all right, you people? >> just want more camera time! >> we saw the pictures of kate and will. >> yes. yes. taken by mario tostino who photographed diana so beautifully. apparently kate did her own makeup. >> she did a beautiful job. >> she did. i have to say, i'm big proponent of the way that the prince is wearing his hair right now because it's really short and that is the way, if male pattern baldness is a tragedy. so he's wearing it really short and i think that's the way to go. >> what's going on?

>> he's losing it. >> like many, many millions of other men and women. >> i don't think there's anything so bad about it. >> it's bad if you wear your hair long. matt lauer, one of the most handsome guy on television wearing his hair super short, he knows what he's doing. >> talk about miley cyrus. there was some disturbing news about her over the weekend. >> i know. on tmz. >> how can it not be illegal? >> you know what? it is a form of -- >> tell the story. >> busted on tmz for smoking what looks like dope. it is actually something called salvia and it is a form of sage and it is legal and apparently gives you a very intense 20-second ha louhalucinagenic. i have to wonder who in her

posse releases pictures or a video of every time she does something bad at a party. >> her dad tweeted. sorry, guys, i'm so sad. there is so much beyond my control right now. basically saying, kind of convicting her. that's what he's saying. >> she did -- i mean it's on video. >> so what's your take on this for the future of miley? i walked to buy some magazines yesterday with my daughter, there's a hannah montana thing on the side. right next to this magazine -- >> i think she's miles away from lohanville and i think -- my prediction, knowing nothing about anything, is she's going to be fine. >> what do you mean knowing nothing about anything? >> what's he doing here? >> nicole richie. >> got married over the weekend. reverend run who i follow on twitter officiated the ceremony. lionel richie, her dad, was there and gwen stefani. it was at lionel's house but they had apparently a baby

elephant at the ceremony and katy perry had one at her ceremony so i think this is a hot new thing. i just want to say, if kathie lee and i ever become committed to each other, i would like baby pandas at our ceremony. >> we are committed to one another! >> in a deeper way. >> look closer. >> in a deeper way. >> you guys really do have something special. okay. again, catch andy every night. >> every single night. >> on bravo's "watch what happens live." that's at 11:00. >> live. >> who are your guests? do you know any of them? >> i know all of them. tonight rebecca romaine and kenan thompson. >> you have to have kenan if he's going to be playing hoda on "saturday night live." >> i think that's hoda's worst nightmare. everyone who winds up playing hoda ends up -- >> stop it. >> thursday denne nesise richar.

up next, sara's here to reveal the fan of the week. and brother and sister donny and marie are still going stronger than ever. now they'll try out a first. we'll find out what it is.

it is time for "fan of the week" when we give a special shout out to one of our biggest fans. >> i may just know who it is. once again after searching through hundreds of fan entries

we found one of the fourth hour's most devoted followers who really stood out from the rest. it is time to give this lucky fan the recognition they deserve and the winner is -- drum roll, please -- vanessa morrow! >> look out, mountain, georgia! >> stop it. >> from our affiliate wrcb-tv. now vanessa is going to college to become a teach person she works at a daycare presently, she is a sagittarius and loves to sing and play piano. she met you. she has an autographed picture of hoda's crazy hair, because that happens. why she's our biggest fan, she found out about -- >> she's sleeping with kathie lee's. >> we can thank "the soup" later. she loves the reactions during the wild animal segments, hoda. her favorite cooking guests are paula deen and curtis. >> she showed up with that

picture at my book signing. i had to sign it. >> she wonders if hoda -- i never knew this -- realizes she lifts the words from the teleprompt weather kathie lee is reading. she lips them. >> i do? >> yes. >> really? >> yes. >> she loves the no-makeup show. she thinks you guys are very brave and she watches klg and hoda because it is her daily medicine and it makes her day better. >> thank you very much. >> thanks so much. >> do you this and i'll do what you do. still to come, before there were the jonas brothers, there were the osmonds. we'll sit down with donny and marie. plus jill martin takes the pressure off with gift ideas for under $20. and the newest member of our "joy fit club" after your local news.

good morning to you. it's 10:26. i'm laura garcia cannon. mike, hopefully the traffic is letting up? >> just a few minutes makes a big difference. the bay bridge toll plaza, the lights have been turned off, so you have a few more minute toss spare. into the city or over to the oakland side. oakland is shaping up nicely for this morning's commute, even though there are gray skies -- and that easy drive heading toward the san mad i don't bridge, through the construction zone we have a new -- and still a peninsula on the other side, but rob, we can't so i it because of the haze still hanging around. no problems as far as the drive

goes. how's the weather? >> we also have high clouds, and for the north bay area, ukiah northward, them drop to the south a little later on tonight into tomorrow. highs 50s into the 60s plan on rain for tomorrow wednesday into early thursday. and then the rain rolls in again. some of that we think will be heavy at times along with breezy conditions straight out through the weekend. it is 10:27. more news after the break. - hello! - ha! why don't you try a home cooked meal... with yummy hamburger helper? oh! tada! fantastically tasty, huh? ummm, it's good. what would you guys like? hamburger helper. what?! one pound... one pan... one tasty meal!

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the regents are meeting later today on how to fix a budget mess. they hope it won't be a repeat of this scene from last month. today they'll vote on a plan of the retirement age for newly hired employees and increase the age for receiving maximum benefits. it alsoly would also decrease contributions to most premiums. the regents will also vote on 20 strategies to fix the school system's financial problems. among the recommendations include increasing the enrollment of nonresident students who play about three times the tuition residents pay, as well as creating a way for certain students to complete their majors in three years, and develop fully online courses for a degree credit. thanks so much for joining us. "today" continues next. we'll see you bright and early

tomorrow morning. have a great day. ♪ we're back on this fun-day monday and the brother and sister team that, over the years -- 48 years, marie's telling me -- has done it all, tv shows, concerts and of course vegas. >> hard to believe after all these years donny and marie are making their broadway debut together. >> we've done it before but not together. there aren't many roles can you play as brother and sister. >> this is called "donny and marie -- a broadway christmas." today we find out that you have broken a record that has never been broken before. what is it? tell us. >> just found out this morning, broke a record for -- i guess we

broke a record for attendance at the theater? >> for a single performance. >> unbelievable. >> remember we were at frankie and john's and someone said which show should we go to? they all ended up going to see donny and marie. >> and i am so ticked off. opening night i get this bouquet of flowers. read that entire line very carefully. >> to marie and danny osmond. >> who is it from? >> the record breaking danny osmond. oh, that's funny. you mix it up a little bit in this show, though. right? it is not just all holiday. it is a little of your "paper roses." >> "puppy love." you've got to do those. it is a full variety show, it is a lot of energy. but yes, there is a christmas flavor to it obviously. >> singers, dancers, everything? >> oh, yeah, everything. >> this is a big show. >> we had little children there last night, i said do you have any idea who we are? >> they said sonny and cher.

>> they remember me from "dancing with the stars." one little girl was like, oh, my gosh, because she knows me from my dolls. she was like, daddy, she can sing, too. you have all these generations that remember you from different things. >> now we understand you have been extended -- excuse us -- top january 2nd which means that's the whole holiday. >> yes. it's just so exciting. we didn't expect it to go this long but it's working, you guys. this is our dream. if this works, we'd love to be here every year, make it an annual tradition. >> maybe a andre bocelli to come in. >> every year. >> i might even get him to ice skate. >> i love when you guys did your show in vegas, you guys had writers who worked on the show and you found out that it was not authentically the two of you. you guys are better when you just do your own thing. >> we experienced that. we had great lines all that kind of stuff. then we said, let's just throw the script away. we've got the template, now let's just say it the way we want to and it works.

>> it was just a template because we hadn't done a show together in 25 or 26 years. we wanted to make sure that it flowed and all that. but once we got on stage and we did the brother/sister thing. you know. >> oh! >> that is typical of what i deal with every day. >> wow. >> that's what works. >> you got a mean left there. >> knnutrisystem. >> how much did you lose? >> 50 pounds. i wish i'd lost 165. >> donny, it is hard to believe you just turned 53 years old. >> i'm 97. i am not too bad for 97. >> you showed us pictures of your grandkids. >> you've got three? >> three grandchildren. five boys and a wonderful life. and the same one. >> pretty unbelievable. >> 33 years in may. >> you broke so many hearts when you married debbie.

right? remember it was -- >> it was mine, baby. >> how are you doing? you had such a hard year. >> i'm doing well. it is one of the reasons we came here is to just kind of keep the holidays busy. my kids are coming in a week, they're finishing up school. what better place to stay busy and have fun than new york? all the things you can see. they're going to go ice skating. do a bunch of fun things. >> spend christmas here? >> my older children, my son, tough for him. he's doing a play in london. he just said i need to be away for christmas. my oldest daughter's working so she'll come in after christmas. it is going to be kind of a different christmas for me. >> but you look younger than your children. >> yeah, you do. >> oh, yes, you do. that's not from nutrisystem. >> i believe in happiness and even though life is tough, it's a place of mind and you know, you give over that to god and you keep walking forward and with faith and my mom taught us that, always stay positive and you try to find the good in

everyone. >> like your book says, laugh now because you'll laugh eventually about it. just enjoy life, every enjoy every single moment of your life. >> everything is an experience. i have a lot of empathy for people that don't -- >> we're certainly enjoying new york. we hoped this would be successful but hearing we broke the record and are extended, guys, it couldn't be better. >> we decided to work christmas day. i said i just want to work. it is the best therapy for my heart. serving other people and doing a show christmas day is fun for me. you forget about your stuff and do something for somebody else. >> what's your favorite christmas song? >> i think when we do "winter wonderland" in the show. >> sing a little. >> no. he will." gone away is the bluebird ♪ ♪ here to stay is the new bird ♪ >> while we're singing that, all the donny and marie christmas shows are behind us. just the highlights of it all. then it starts snowing in the theater. >> you're starting to cry.

>> it is something in the air. it's her perfume. >> i don't even wear perfume. in the show it is fun because we -- remember the television specials? >> yes. >> they don't have those anymore because you have youtube and all these places you with download. >> there are other people on this show named marie. i know you might understand that, but there are other people. >> it's now turned into the "donny and marie show"! >> all you need is $25, not to get into their show but jill martin has gifts for the trend setter in your life. love you guys. good luck with the show. .

time for "look at me now" and the "joy fit club" and induction of the newest member. >> 31-year-old sara ford called herself an emotional eater. here's her story.

>> my name is sara. i'm 31 years old and i don't remember a time in my life when i wasn't concerned about my weight. growing up my family moved around and i turned to food as a comfort. i often ate in secret because i was so ashamed and as a teenager i became a very emotional eater. my biggest downfall was portion sizes. even with healthier options, my portions were double or triple what they should have been. through my college years and adult life i allowed everything but my own health to be a priority. i put all of my energy into taking care of others and completely forgot to take care of myself. i was physically and emotionally exhausted and i felt like i was drowning in the extra pounds. i felt like i was missing out on my life. when i was 27, i hit my highest weight at 265 pounds. i finally woke up one morning and decided that i was tired of being fat. that day i went out and i bought a treadmill and i made a rule that if i was watching tv i had to be walking or jogging.

over the next few months the weight seemed to melt off of me. after losing 80 pounds, i hit a plateau and knew that i needed a new goal to motivate myself. i decided to do a triathlon and in july of this year i completed the go diva women's triathlon in philadelphia. it's brought so much energy into my life. i approach every day with the confidence an belief that i can accomplish anything. >> great. before we meet sara, here to show us her typical meal is the leader of the "joy fit club," "today's" contributing nutritionist, joy bauer. >> another astounding weight loss super hero. she's amazing. i think she fell into that same pattern that so many people are familiar with. she took care of everyone else except herself. and used food to squash emotions and to comfort her. what i wanted to show you is how much of the starchy, junky, white carbs she ate in a day. we usually look at what they ate in terms of all of their

unhealthy food. we'll just zone in on one day and the starchy white stuff. a pile of white pancakes. an outside white bun for fried chicken sandwich. three slices of bread with butter at some point. a big plate of white refined pasta. and chocolate chip cookies. >> doesn't look like a lot to me. >> this equals when you look at it in terms of slices of bread, 20 slices of white bread. >> wow. >> she doesn't eat any white stuff anymore, she's dopd over 100 pounds. it took her about five years but i am certain it is off for good. >> let's bring miss sara out. >> this is sara's before picture. all right, sara, let's see the new you. >> wow! woo! okay. sara, oh, my gosh! >> good morning, darling. >> you seem to always keep an upbeat demeanor. we said in even watching your piece you didn't seem sad, down in the dumps. you always seemed to be optimistic. is that the way it worked with you? or were you pretending? >> to a point, yes, but i think

a lot of it was a show and it was a lot of work on a daily basis to kind of put on that front, a big smile and a big laugh. >> while you're crying inside. >> yeah. >> boy, the triathlon,ky not believe you did all that. >> thank you. >> how do you feel differently? >> in every way. i mean everything is different. the energy that i have. my perspective on life has changed. i really can do anything. >> wow. we're so happy for you. >> congratulations. >> thank you. thank you. >> thank you, joy. up next -- jill martin finishes off your shopping list. gifts under $25. every single one. not kidding. >> look at jill. úe

♪ have a holly jolly christmas we are counting down the holidays with gifts under $25. >> "today" and "us" weekly contributor jill martin is here to share unique and creatively designed gifts that won't break the bank.

>> hello, jill. >> hello. >> everything here is under $25. if you haven't done your holiday shopping, like me, these are affordable and creative. >> okay. >> let's start with the vino. shall we? >> happy holidays. >> cheers. >> happy holidays. >> this is great. personalwine.com. one from you, one from hoda. you get the bottle of wine you choose for under $25 with the label. you can upload a photo, text. that's actually your signature i got somehow. >> that's probably from my social security card. thanks a lot. >> no problem. personalwine.com. if you want a little added extra with $8 from macy's. >> a little bling. >> very cute! >> okay. createmychocolate.com. i created peanut butter and almonds for you. kathie's kiss. >> what's mine? >> this is a milk chocolate and crunch. >> i can't have this. >> starting at $7. go on createmychocolate.com. pick your chocolate and

toppings. they wrap it up for you and ship it. >> that's adorable! >> isn't that great? >> giveawing.com. $24 for the children in your life. i included cody and cassidy, somehow i done think they'll be using this placemat. >> i'm going to make them. >> one for hannah! >> i love that, hoda. >> your niece. this is great just because it is creative and something that a child could give their aunt, uncle and grandma. >> i love it. >> adorable! >> it teaches at the same time. >> hoda, i know you love these gloves. these are $15.50 from american eagle, ae.com. they're fingerless gloves. >> so you can play with the ipod. >> then you put this on and they become the mitten. yeah. >> it has a little flap. it is a two-for-one. >> and a cute little design. >> is that a foosball table? >> it is. >> that's crazy. >> first i want to show you these usb drives. >> darling. >> i just want to show everybody because they weren't on this one at the time.

see? then you go -- there. the teams on amazon, $24.99. get your favorite players. that's great for the boy or man in your life. >> barely made the $25. >> yeah, barely made it. i was suffering there. this is $19.99 from jcpenney. a foosball table. how great is this? >> smart. >> so cute. now this is the new hottest hello kitty. now it is all about the french bulldog. they have all different things available at sears starting at $3.99 to $24.99. purses, socks for your dog. >> stop it. come on. >> this is the hello kitty -- >> the original creator of hello kitty. >> he maxed out on that, moved on to a bulldog. >> from cats to dogs. >> smart. >> this is great and the biggest craze for tweens. these are hair bands. you know how you always lose your hair bands? >> oh, my gosh.

got to have them. >> $3 to $12. available at macy's. >> how cute! you just forget it because i always lose my hair bands. if you want to package it with something, nail files and glitter and leopard, just a fun at-home facial. this is originally $180. they're offering it for $25. lingskincare.com. exfoliator, cleanser to rehydrate your skin. only, right? >> it's a good deal for the holidays. >> yeah. >> cosmetics, eyeshadows for travel. >> those are cute. >> very cute. >> the green, i'm not sure. >> they have all different shades. these i love. these are -- i'm giving these as my holiday gifts this year. jewelry plates from bloomingdale's. $12.50 to $25. you put them next to your bed. they say all different things. whatever your theme is, flowers. it is just a pretty gift. we love themey.

if you cannot think of anything and you like the ultimate, ultimate gift -- >> i don't like how this is cued up. if you can't think of anything -- >> kathie lee and hoda mug. >> these are $12. >> you can buy two. >> buy two. >> now they're sold out. >> cheers! happy holidays. >> thanks so much. we'll be back with more of "today" on nbc. honey...? [ mom ] yes.

honey, i can't find my internet cord. oh, i'll borrow hailey's. you're downloading movies. fast! from here? where is her cord?! we switched to at&t high speed internet and got wireless access. no more cords. wireless, okay, honestly, can i just get a cord, please? dad, the cord's invisible. [ female announcer ] for a limited time, call to get high speed internet for just $14.95 a month with a 1-year price guarantee. it's our fastest internet for the price! oooh. videos online? here? how much is that? nothin'. at&t high speed internet at home includes access here. our invisible cord is really long, dad. oooh. [ female announcer ] get access to the entire at&t national wi-fi network for no extra charge. so for a limited time,

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as always, our annual toy drive gives gifts to millions of underserved children all over the country and we are extremely grateful to all of you who have taken time to help out. >> today we have kay napier and you are here to tell us about what, kay? >> well, we are a skin care and cosmetic company in the botanical space. we're a very generous company and our independent consultants

are are equally generous. we have 30,000 of them. we are giving $120,000 worth of products. products for babies that are safe and several hair care product and this highlighter product that teens will love. >> wait a minute, what's the highlighter product in for your hair? >> no, to your face. it delivers vitamin e and vital nutrients but also makes you look great especially during the holidays. >> it is good for teens especially. >> the whole theme of our compan company. through our consultant base and with our products and donating to young teens. if you don't start out beautiful, you end up beautiful. just a wonderful, wonderful company. i've only been there 15 months. >> you are loving it. >> thank you so much. happy holidays to you. if you want to donate from home, head to amazon.com/today. tomorrow we have a great

singer, carrie hillston will perform and the queen of cupcakes stops by. >> we love her! see you tomorrow, everybody. what is tomorrow? >> booze-day. imagine that. ♪ i'm gonna get it, i know i'm gonna get it. ♪

♪ i can't wait ♪ every little step, brings me closer to the gift. can't be late. ♪ ♪ rip it open in a second and it's time to play. ♪ ♪ i was up all night in anticipation feeling electric jewels of jubilation. ♪ ♪ yule tide carols from the local congregation. ♪ ♪ make it tough to hold my patience in check. ♪ ♪ is it time yet, is it time, i can't wait. ♪ ♪ is it time yet, is it time, i can't wait. ♪