oakland international airport in a live report. >> per all of that rain is causing landslides and more in southern california. a live report is on the way. >> per bob redell is at the north pole today. he will show us how the christmas preparations are going in a live report. >>. >> you better not be naughty. there just two shopping days left until christmas. it is thursday december 23rd today in the bay. >> it is 6:00. i'm marla tellez. >> we want to get right to the forecast. good morning. a chilly start to the morning in parts of the north bay. 30s to wake up to this morning along with patchy fog. thank goodness no rain to slow you down on this get away thursday in terms of travel plans. highs in the mid- to upper 50s and cooler in the north bay

where we track clouds. in the high country, don't worry about snow, but freezing fog at times. the clouds offshore with a developing christmas day storm. we will talk about that in a few minutes. checking the morning commute. 680 right now, the pass that is holiday light for this hour. westbound and eastbound. travel times from highway 4 and the pass, 580 looking good. the same story around the freeway, guadalupe parkway. everything is still in the green this morning. marla? >> thank you, rob. expect busy airports and roads. holiday travelers have extra company this year. aaa has new numbers out this morning. today in the bay's christie smith is live at oakland international airport with a look at how it's going there. good morning, christie. >> good morning. it's busy when you see people turn the corner and they see the line and mouth the phrase omg.

that's what we see. we were going to show you the curbside check in and it's kwiz busy, but we stopped when we turned the corner and saw the security line. one word for you, it is long. moving well, but it goes past security and past baggage claim down the side of the building that goes along with what the airport is saying. travel is up at oakland international about 1% to 2% this december over last december. that's the busiest days of the week and aaa is saying 3% more californians are hitting the road this season and it may be pointing to a boost in consumer confidence. one thing for sure, travelers didn't expect to be shoulder to shoulder like this. it's crazy. i thought i was here early enough to miss some of them. >> what time is your flight? >> 7:05. i have time. >> if you are heading out through st if o, a live picture

looking at the domestic terminal, our photographer told us things are getting busiyer. the best advice is arrive early and maybe a little bit earlier than you thought because everyone we are talking to are saying i thought i was here early. now i only have about 30 minutes until the plane takes off. live in oakland, christie smith today in the bay. >> thank you, christie. this morning two people are shot dead and four others injury and a manhunt for the gunman. south san francisco police are looking for three men seen driving away from the scene at lyndon and eighth lane last night. police said neighborings called 911 and police came out and found three people on the ground. two were already dead. we spoke with a woman who said her brother was shot in the leg. >> he is traumatized right now.

>> police say they are looking into whether there was an argument before the shooting. they saw a 2000 to 2004 brown chevy impalla with tinted windows driving away after the shooting. >> a portion of the quiksilver county park in south san jose is off limits indefinitely. santa clara parks department shut it down after a company released a by product of meg 18 gas and at the northern end of the park. they don't know if it's harmful to human animals and they smelled a noxious strong odor tuesday. a few trails are closed until further notice. president obama looks to be ending the year strong. he is stringing a series of unlikely wins with help from republicans. the passage with a treaty with russia and don't ask don't tell

are talking come back for the president. the tax compromise did not go over with members of the democratic party, but he showed diplomacy he will need for next year as the republicans take over the house. when he does get ba being from a hawaiian vacation, they want to repeal the health care reform law. steven spielberg denies reports he is joining nancy pelosi's team. "the washington post" said he would help pelosi rebrand her political campaign. pelosi is said to be talking with marketing experts about building a stronger brand. a spokesperson for spielberg said he made it a point to direct movies, not politicians. 6:05 and parts of san bernardino county are buried in mud after heavy rain caused severe floding days before

christmas. 60 miles east in the city of highland outside of los angeles, roads turned into rivers and mud went into dozens of homes. live in highlands with a look at the highlands there. good morning, john. >> reporter: good morning, guys. you are seeing us pan across the damage that is done here. we are in the middle of this neighborhood called highlands. you mentioned that. we are actually on highland. this is an off lot of mud here. at least three to four feet in some areas. right up to the door, right up to the windows where it's not actually supposed to be. over here you saw this pickup truck here. this is one of many that electric like this in the area. you see how high the mud is and what it's done to the garage. this is sad stuff considering where we are in the year and how

close we are to christmas. they are likely not going to be home in time for christmas. we have aerial views as to how widespread the damage is. sat stuff. we talked to folks who were evacuated. about 200 folks were evacuate and obviously shaken up and emotional and upset about this. the sad part is, it wasn't in place. there was no evacuation plan in place. they didn't warn the residents it was going to happen. it was more as the water was coming down and the mudslides started to move, they realized they needed to pack up and move as well. the clean up will begin and as to when they will get back home, there is water moving through here. we spoke to one of the officials here who said while there is water coming through, they won't let anybody back in. that means the danger is still here. live in highland, california, back to you. >> thank you very much, john.

>> the field at san diego's qualcomm stadium is under water this morning, but a bowl game scheduled for tonight is supposed to go on as scheduled. hard to imagine how, but you can see there is about a foot or two of water. crews will get companies working so everything is cleaned up in time for tonight. they are playing fittingly, maybe. several homes are on the brink in northern arizona. they destroyed five homes and three more could be baushed o washed away soon. the rain has been enough to damage another dozen homes in that area. >> steve jobs has a new title this morning. the financial times named him the 2010 person of the year. jobs is a ceo of cupertino-bised apple. they are praising jobs for being a stern task master who understands the art of the possible. that means he is pushing forward instead of milking old success.

the financial times points out 60% of apple's sales come from products that did not exist eight years ago. >> per caltrain wants to remind everyone that fares are going up on january 1st by 25 cents per zone. that means a one-way ticket between san jose and san francisco will increase from $7.75 to $8.50. they are cutting trains from the midday schedule. about 38,000 people use trains to get up and down the peninsula every day. >> time now is 6:09 and we will check in with rob for a look at today's forecast and a look at the commute. >> we are watching fog this morning. you can see the fog reducing visibility down to about a quarter mile. one thing you are watching and a live report from the areas north of los angeles. good news with the rain moving in. for our weather, the thing we will have to watch towards the

weekend is that system right there. you can see the clouds spilling in and today we are expecting to be dry. big time changes as we approach the weekend. >> that is correct. we have a big winter storm on hand. possibly bringing more precipitation than we saw over the past couple of days. today will be chilly and dry. that will hold up through tomorrow. 45 degrees today at los gatos. 55 in gilroy and temperature-wise we are looking good in terms of numbers. warming up to 65 tomorrow. there is that storm we are telling you about. rainy and windy conditions dealing with rain through sunday and looks like a break on monday and tuesday. another round of showers as we head into the middle of next week. if you are trying to get up to the fresh powder, you could encounter problems. >> they went to freezing fog closer to home and patchy fog

around the north bay. taking a look at the traffic maps. you will find the bayshore freeway with travel times on schedule. here's the commute. highway 101 through the north bay. fog reducing visibility down to a quarter mile at times. freezing fog is a problem on interstate 80. be careful heading up to the high country this morning. back to you. >> thank you very much. you will be able to catch the giants world series run the way it was meant to be seen and heard. the audio and dave fleming, you will be able to hear them as you watch the baumgartner masterpiece at 7:30. that is game four of the world series against the rangers relived. a schedule of all the games is on csn bay area.com. >> 6:11 now and a guy thought he was doing his elderly neighbor a favor and he ended up being her get away driver. that story is coming up.

>> trouble lurking on the highway day buffetsful. how to protect yourself and your guests. >> bob redell is a guest at the north pole this morning. he is visiting santa. we will check in with him live, next. a live look at san jose. we are thrilled you have joined us this morning this christmas eve eve. we still have a lot of show left. don't go anywhere. save $523! 16 minutes could save you 16%!

come on... isn't it time an auto insurer gave it to you straight? that's why you should talk to state farm. but not yet. first, talk to any one of the 40 million drivers who already have state farm. 40 million. yeah, that's more than geico and progressive combined. by a lot. 40 million drivers. more savings. and discounts up to 40%. where else you gonna get discounts like that? call an agent at 1-800-state-farm or go online. a picture of the bay bridge and you can see temperatures around the bay area, 40s and 50s. 40 in north pole alaska. oh, wait. there is a minus in front of there. a live report coming up. >> today is the last chance to

ship fedex express in time for christmas. more than 223 million shipments moved through fedex during the holidays. all of that traffic is paying off for fedex investors. they posted second quarter earnings of 89 cents per common share. before you ship, you have to buy and malls are getting big business from last minute shoppers. most of them are men. the national retail federation said 20% of guys wait until december 9th to start christmas shopping. >> it's getting close to panic time. there is still 2 1/2 days left. the ratio of men to women in the mall increases dramatically. >> one study puts that number at 76% of women are shopping on that last sunday before christmas and men 71%. it's time to take you to the

north pole where santa lives. sending bob redell to the coldest spot we can find, north pole alaska, minus 40. you frozen yet? >> getting there. the main goal is just to stay out of the o bit pages. so far, so good. santa is quite busy. we have been trying to lure him out so we can talk to hill. no luck so far because he doesn't want to be disturbed. obviously the big flight around the world is coming up. you might remember we got one of the helpers. can we go over the checklist for christmas eve? toys? maps to all the kids's houses? radar clearance from nor add? rain door food? >> we got it. everything is under control. >> what am i supposed to do?

he is 3 foot 2. i can't take that. i will end up in the hospital. >> he doesn't seem very mobile. stiff this morning. >> i'm not doing gymnastics either. it's quite cold out here. i can girl an tee if we were to go inside where it's warmed up, i would be running away. >> who named skittles? did you give him that name? >> he's not my elf. this is santa's elf. that's what santa told me. >> i know you have children. did they have special requests? did they send you with a list to deliver to santa directly? >> absolutely. i delivered one forever my younger daughter for some of my daughter's friends and already sent the video back so they can take a look. it's good for them, especially my younger daughter to understand that santa is watching and she better behave. she is watching right now.

she better behave. >> does she brag to her friends that you may be able to send a letter, but i give it to my dad and he gives it in person? >> maybe a little bit. >> they must be very proud of you, bob. >> get inside. you are making me cold. >> stay warm. >> i'm sorry. hope you are okay. merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you. in just more than a week, california will swear in new leadership in sacramento. jerry brown will take the oath of office on january 3rd. brown will host a reception and the chronicle reports they will cover expenses, but brown plans to keep a tight budget. president obama's former right hand man can run for mayor of chicago. more than two dozen will challenge the candidacy claiming he didn't live in chicago.

the board disagrees. emanuel owns a home and pays property taxes in the city and has spent washington working as the washington steve of staff. a skype houj affected bay area users. it was reported before 9:00. skype tweeted that users might have problems signing into the service. two hours later the engineers were working to fix an issue. they rely on super nodes to connect users with each other. large numbers of the super nodes went down, causing the communication break down. >> let there be light as long as it is from an energy-efficient bulb. they are standing firm to ban the sale of light bulbs by the end of 2012. the conventional 100 wa watt and brighter bulbs. they say fluorescent bulbs last longer and are more expensive by almost $2 per six-pack.

the mercury in energy-saving bulbs could cause hazards if they break. a similar law here ban conventional bulbs by 2014. california will implement it next month. vending machines are taking seafood to the next level of convenience. when you see the seafood favorite crab, you can buy it on the spot alive. crab selling machines are popping up at subway stations in china. the freshly packed treats sell for less than $10 and are kept in hibernations at temperatures between 41 and 50 degrees. if you happen to buy a dead one, the company will give you three live ones for free. the curtain goes up on spider man musical after a stuntman was seriously injured. producers turn off the dark made necessary adjustments to safety harnesses on the set.

a stunt double plunged about 30 feet despite a harness that should have prevented a fall. he underwent back surgery yesterday and is expected to be released from the hospital on friday or saturday. a man drove his 70-year-old neighbor to the bank, but didn't know he was driving the get away car. the woman said she needed to get rent money out of the bank. she didn't say it wasn't hers. the woman said she had a gun and knew how to use it and demanded money. the bank called police and found the woman and her unsuspecting driver a fuel blocks away. >> you know it's serious. >> sirens were blairing and the lights were going and she was spread out on the snow. >> police released the man a few hours later. the woman is still in jail. so don't give holiday guests food poisoning for christmas. great tip. we have others on how to keep the holiday buffet healthy, next.

here's a live look at the golden gate bridge as drivers make their way into san francisco on this thursday morning. it is 6:21. stay with us. today in the bay.

>> 6:24 and we are off to a dry start. the rain moved off and we have a lot of clouds. they will mean business come christmas day. dry weather from today and tomorrow, but futurecast shows you as we go through hour by hour around midday saturday. off and on as we head through the weekend. not looking bad around the bay area. we will get a couple of dry days before that second storm moves in. today temperature-wise towards the mid 50s. 55 degrees in vacaville. as you can see, not a lot of change in terms of numbers.

rain and wind on the way. that's right. just in time for christmas. i hope you are dreaming of a wet christmas. that's what we expect. showers lingering through sunday and we get a nice break monday into tuesday. over to you. >> thanks, christina. developing news out of roam this morning. two separate parcel bombs blowing up at two embassies. the first at the swiss embassy, seriously injuring one person. this is video shot outside. we are now learning that a package has exploded at chile's embassy as well. one person is believed to be hurt in that blast. we will update the story as more information comes into the newsroom. time is now 6:25. the buffet is a great way to handle food at a holiday party. leave certain dishes out too long and you may serve up a side of food poisoning.

skip heavy mayor and egg-based dishes and crack down on double dippers. scientists say double dipping three to six times can transfer as many as 10,000 bacteria from the mouth to the bowl. it picks up the most because it tends to be runny. if you keep hot things hot and cold things on ice, you should have the makings for a great and bacteria-free party. >> weather could keep the metrodome out of commission for longer than expected. heavy snow collapsed the roof more than a week ago. concrete dividers were brought this to anchor the roof down to keep it from flying off. drainage holes have been popped so melting snow can go down. they think it will be at least a month before events can be held at the stadium. time is now 6:26 and a man

crashes his car and gets questioned by the secret police. you will see whose neighborhood he crashed in. there is a reward to help catch a killer. you will hear from the man who found the victim's body. >> the government is getting involved after a known chemical in water causes cancer. >> a live look at the beautiful bay area as it wakes up on this thursday morning. today in the bay continues.

a cancer-causing chemical is found in water. what the government is doing about it. >> some stores are staying open around the clock to get christmas shopping done. >> coming up on 6:30 and a live peek outside this morning. it promises to be a dry day two

days before christmas, december 23rd. this is today in the bay. good morning, everyone. i'm garvin thomas. >> brent and laura are off this week, but rob is not. he is here with an hour by hour forecast. good morning. patchy fog that may slow you down around the north bay, but the rain is also taking the day off which is nice around the bay area. high temperatures for the south bay, upper 50s and notice the north bay numbers running cooler. for one thing, high clouds are going by from time to time. the weekend we are talking a powerful storm lining up on christmas day. we will talk about the wind, rain, and heavy snow on the way in the forecast in a few mondays. >> per mall elves need more than a little christmas spirit to get them through the holidays.

they need an $8 an hour paycheck. elves did not get their money when payday came around. a payroll error is to blame and santa's helpers should be paid this morning. >> with about 48 hours until christmas morning, the rush is on to find last minute gifts. one major retailer said it will not close doors until christmas morning. toys 'r us is in the middle of theateth hour in the shopping spree. they are keeping open for customers 24 hours a day through 10:00 on christmas eve. toys 'r us is not the only staying open. several wal-mart and walgreens stores will be open 24 hours. >> as tens of thousands of teachers stand to lose their jobs next year, a new study questions layoffs base solely on teacher seniority. they show laying off teachers

with the least seniority has an impact. next year thousands of teacher may get pink slips. they recommend laying off teachers batesed on student performance, but teachers unions say that would be inconsistent and inconclusive. investors start the holiday with a long weekend starring tomorrow, but they won't get out of town without getting a helping of huge data. nicole is live at cnbc global headquarters. good morning. >> a good morning to you. futures are flat before christmas. marks closed tomorrow. stocks cristed high or wednesday. the s&p hitting prelehman highs despite a report on the southside. a lot ofidate out today. jobless claims dropped and durable goods that fell. personal income and speping that

rose. at the top of the hour, we have a final read on sentiments. new home sales are up about 6%. looking forward to today, skype making headlines. the internet phone service suffered i major outage on wednesday. as of last night, skype said it will be several hours before it's fully operational. no word on the cause. the last time something like this happened to skype was 2007 after a routine software upgrade. online retailers are celebrating huge sales and many are pulling out all the stops to make sure gift arrive to where they are supposed to be on time. today say line in the sand for guaranteed delivery by christmas. about 60% of chains say they are trying to do everything they can to get shoppers in their online stores at the last minute like amazon trying to deliver items ordered on christmas eve for

3.99 an item. niemann mark you us has free shipping for everything ordered by 12:59 eastern time. express shippinging for tomorrow and tiffany has free shipping for everything ordered by noon today. time is 6:34. we talked to the man who stumbled across the body of a murdered woman. the woman was half naked and her throat slit and she was shot several times. he was found on rocks in the oakland estuary on tuesday. the man who found her wants to remain anonymous, but it is a discovery he will never forget. >> i thought is this a homeless person? who didn't make it through the night? i thought there was a possibility she might be hypothermic and might be alive. the body was found near do little and harbor bay parkway. they don't know the woman's name and have no idea who left her

there. they are offering a $10,000 reward for help finding the killer. pa. >> a repeat drunk driver will serve years to in prison for the crash that killed a major league baseball pitcher and two friends. 24-year-old andrew thomas gallow sat sobbing in the santa ana courtroom as relatives shared their pain. gallow was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder for the alcohol-related high speed crash in alcohol of 2009 that killed angels pitcher nick a dren hart. gallow apologized to families and asked them to forgive him. gallow will not be eligible for parole until the 2050s. the epa is addressing the potential health risks of chromium 6 in drinking water. they are named as one of 31 cities across the country where the chemicals have been found. they released a report after

analyzing drinking water across the country. san jose is one of the cities with the highest levels of the chemical. >> the round robin of quarterbacks continues. the niners can't settle on which mr. smith will be starting. troy smith gets the nod for the game at st. louis. the niners must win to still qualify for the playoffs. the head coach of stanford's women basketball team she is just the sixth women's coach to reach that mark. the head coach is one of her former players. they will face a tough challenge and try to beat u-conn. the huskies have won 89 games in a row. >> congratulations. 6:36 and we'll head to the north poll to see how santa skittles the elves. >> and showing off never pays.

how one man's new car got him in trouble with the secret service. >> getting you ready for wherever you are headed this holiday season. we will have a travel update coming up. >> speebing of holiday travel. keeping an eye on how the weather could impact your plans. your complete forecast is on the way today in the bay.

starting offwith the satellite view. the same heading out to mammoth. this system over my shoulder will pack more rain and wind for the bay area, but not until saturday. midday saturday, rain spreing over the bay area and gusty winds. this will be for saturday. the rain totals up to two to three inches across the north bay heading down to yosemite, we will add a couple more feet of snow at least by the time we roll into the weekend. temperatures in the upper 50s around san jose. low 50s across the north bay. as you check out the seven-day forecast, this is good news if you want to take advantage of the flights. we have the clearing skies and saturday we will plan on rain and wind. skies have cleared and it is

gorgeous outside. as we take a look at the mountains, we head out live to mammoth with our friend who joins us once again. epic skiing out there now and folks can enjoy that snow. >> absolutely. good morning. on the first day that mammoth will see sun in about a week. that's a long time for us. since last friday, mammoth picked up between 10 and 13 feet of fresh snow. a record breaking storm for us. we shattered the snowfall totals for the month of december all the way back in history. what makes mammoth different the way the storm moved in and the high elevations. at 11,000 feet, just buried. that's if for us in mammoth. >> glad theeather is calming down for folk who is want to head t. dry roadways so be watching that weekend storm for you.

there you see it. more snow. two to three feet of snow for mammoth as we head into saturday and early sunday. thank you very much. bob is up north, way north. about as north as you want to go. we will check back in. >> that's in a live report. here's a live look at the golden gate bridge toll plaza. dry reads roads and more traic and weather coming up.

>> just about 6:45. the peninsula gets love and the dumbarton bridge here as well. it's a beautiful start to your thursday morning.

new this morning, the defendants cleave said the count vee ready to launch a sacred war against south corea. they made the comments in a national meeting this morning. north korea said the south's intention through a series of military drills. south korea is staging the largest firing drills in a show of force after the showing of a border island. they show the fighter jets dropping bombs and tanks in a 40-minute drill near mountains about 20 miles from the border. north korea called it provocative and defensive. one of the producers, joe is a bit of a christmasaholic and shopping procrastinator yesterday around noon and said it was nuts. he went to the mall because he didn't believe you could buy gifts on line and get them delivered in time for christmas. our brian moore is live in washington and told us you can.

good morning, brian. >> jingle bls more like the ringing of virtual cash registers across the land. the national retail federation said basically sales are going like gangbusters at retailers all over the country. some are holding huge sales to get them up higher. we are talking about 23 to 50% higher sales year to year based on yesterday. there big retailers in on this. jcpenney has half off the shipping. so does niemann marcus and tiffany's. amazon has the deal to end all deals. you can order something christmas eve and have it delivered to you that same day for just $3.99. if you live in the right area. there is always a catch. the national retail federation

said this is something that it has never seen before. these retailers are extending themselves. it turns out to than in five of us has not started yesterday. >> that seems absurd. thank you very much. if you lose control of your car and wind up on someone's lawn, you expect to get questions from angry homeowners. when it happens in the preston hollow neighborhood near dallas, you could be in store for questioning from the secret service. this is what happened last night when a driver showing off his muscle cars crashed on to the lawn of former president george w. bush. the driver said the gas pedal got stuck and he lost control. they questioned the man, but it appears to be an accident. mr. and mrs. bush were home at the time, but never in danger. >> they there plenty of grown in

the bank. the crown publishing said decision point has sold more than two million copies. bill clinton's my life has sold two million subpoenas since 2004. the decision point bush writes about the inner workings of the white house following the september 11 attacks and decisions that led to the car in afghanistan and iraq. >> a gorgeous start to thursday. >> we are seeing the beautiful camera views off to the east. clear skies in a few spots and things are chilly in the north bay. 32 in novato with patchy fog. 41 degrees right now in oakland. some weather headlines from now to friday. things should stay dry. this out ahead of a saturday system that will pack rain and gusty winds. satellite showing clear skies aside from the patchy fog we see in a few spots.

all the clouds are part of a saturday storm system as we go hour by hour. rain is heavy at times and this is in the middle of christmas day. hit and miss showers and heavy raindrops right there around the coastal hills. that's right. it will be chilly, but the good news is you can leave the umbrella at home and that will hold up for tomorrow as well. another powerful winder storm on the way for late tomorrow. starting to see the gusty winds pick up. the rain arrives by saturday and clearing late sunday into monday. overall get ready for another und of showers. this time might be more powerful. that's what it locks like. if you have to go to work, we are in the boat with you this morning. how do the roads look? >> let's show you what's going on around the freeway. travel times not looking so bad. you know everyone has the day off because the travel times are not bad. highway 24 and caldecott tunnel

with a little slowing with the westbound straight around the bridge. time is looking good up and down the east bay. travel times in the 50s to low 60s right now. highway 4 is very atypical to seat easy commute. the pass if you are heading out to tracy or mountain house, patchy fog in the central valley. notice the travel times and as you approach downtown san jose, everything is looking good. that's the commute heading northbound and across the lower half of the peninsula and travel times with the san mateo bridge up to the bay bridge looking good so far this morning. >> stay away from the malls. you saw some of the temperatures in the 40s. where bob redell is, it's in the 40s. >> negative 40s in north pole alaska a. good morning, bob. . >> i think he is looking for stuff.

>> negative 40. my thing sihave been saying as long as it's not negative 41. when it's negative 41, that's when it gets really, really cold. i'm good with this. >> i was going to ask you, did you come face-to-face with santa himself? >> we did. we actually did. we caught up with him yesterday. the nice thing about seeing santa here in his home and workshop in north pole, you get a sense of the magic that's about to happen. that will involve the jolly old elf himself. rudolph and eight tiny reindeer that are not that tiny after all. sometimes even the fastest animals in the world have to take it slow. dasher, dancer, prancer e vixen, comet, coupeit, donner, blitzen rhett are if r for the maddest

did she around the world. helping the jolliest guy in the world deliver on the request pouring into the remote town of north pole, alaska. >> you have no clue. >> the postal service has been receiving 30 to 40,000 letters each week. >> you get people looking for a home computer down to a little thing as a toy for their puppy. >> what's your name? >> all 5 your old cassidy wants is proof. >> feel it. pull it. pull it! is that real? >> yes, but -- >> all santa wants is another slay to replace the other one. wish granted. >> i got a new one with gps, hot chocolate and the whole nine yards. marla and garvin, we have been trying to get santa out

here to talk to us, but he is too busy. i got his helper if you want to talk to him again. >> i want to hear from skittles. >> hey, skittles. >> yo. >> let's go over your boss's schedule. toys? >> check. >> seat cushion? >> check. >> radar clearance? >> check. >> maps. >> check. we got it. everything is under control. >> you know this guy is nuts for tempting me, but i don't mess with anyone who is 3 foot 2. you can get hurt and you end up in a hospital and you are not around for christmas. >> i am curious. most of the other elves are inside making toys where it's warm. what did skilths do so wrong to get stuck out with you in the cold? >> i think the question is what did i do so wrong that he had to be sent out here. the answer is i just showed up. i think santa looked at it more

as the media is out there and we don't want the press dugging us. we need security. >> what time is it there right now? >> 6:00 in the morning? 6:00 in the morning. your mind goes to a blur. your brain turns into a gel at minus 40. it begins at minus 20. at minus 40 the sin apses don't even fire anymore. that is unusual when you come up here to the north pole alaska region. we are in the center of the state. right now they are only getting around three hours and 40 minutes of sun light a day. a sunrise at 10:30 or 11:00 and at 3:00 the sunsets. very bizarre and different from the bay area. >> i have one question. can you ask him his method of

payment for his mortgage each month. ask him. >> how do you pay your mortgage? you have a mortgage? how do you pay? >> check? >> check! awe! >> we should have worked that out in advance. >> we can't do it now? >> try again. >> i can't. >> okay. >> bob redell live in the north pole. give santa a hug for me. >> maybe not going to the north pole, but holiday travelers can expect a lot of company. >> more californians will flying or driving this christmas and new year's. christie smith is live at oakland international with a look at how the bay area is taking off. good morning. >> good morning to you. i can tell you it's busy here at oakland international, but not as hectic as it was about 45

minutes ago when the security line behind me was right out the door. you literally saw travelers's jaws drop when they taking an early one. everyone was in line this morning like a concert. it moved pretty well. security doing a good job getting people through. this ties into what oakland international predict. travel would be up about 1% to 2% this december over last december. this year more californians deciding to get out of the house. by car, plane, and train. also wanted to give you a different look of the on site parking from the mass camera. these are right in front of the airport. we are seeing cars moving and not circling and looking for a spot. that is certainly a good sign. i ran inside and checked the

terminal 2 southwest to see if there were delays. i only saw two. that's the latest reporting live in oakland, christie smith today in the bay. >> we're top the check in for a look at the forecast. >> no storms today. you can see there on the satellite view, a lot of clouds, but let's take a check of the forecast. you will notice it's not too bad. >> another chilly day and temperatures in the mid- to upper 50s. a little bit of patchy fog until about 10:00 a.m. the forecast shows another storm on the way in time for christmas. over to you. >> thank you very much. thank you for watching. the "today" show is up next. >> local news in a half hour.