morning commute and the forecast at 7:25 and every half hour after that. good morning. it's over. a special ceremony in baghdad this morning officially brings the u.s. war in iraq to an end. was the nearly nine-year, $800 billion campaign worth it? what is next for the war-torn country? we will ask senator john mccain. not fit to ad. mitt romney fires rather sharp criticism at gop presidential frontrunner newt gingrich. zany is not what we need in a president. . >> the form us house speaker was quick to respond. facelift, a big change is coming to facebook and it will radically change the way you view your profile. we're unveiling it here,

exclusive, thursday, december we're unveiling it here, exclusive, thursday, december 15th, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to "today" on this thursday morning. december 15th, i'm ann curry. >> i'm matt lauer. it was an emotional ceremony, a symbolic gesture, a lowering of the u.s. forces the flag in baghdad. the nation's long and difficult military campaign in iraq formally comes to a close with that ceremony. >> that's right. it's important to note that as of today, 4,476 u.s. servicemen and women have died in iraq since march of 2003. and it is estimated that there have been at least 100 iraqi deaths also. >> 100,000. >> that's right. iraqi deaths in this war. during this morning's ceremony defense secretary leon panetta

says that sacrifice was necessary because it helped the iraqi people to cast tyranny aside. we're going to go live to baghdad in a moment. on a different note, michael jackson's daughter paris sits down for her first one-on-one interview and has a lot to say about the way she was raised, the lessons she learned for her father and what she has planned for her future. also, hollywood is up early this morning because we've got the nomination for the 69th annual golden globes being announced this morning and so many great movies and tv shows this year. i think a lot of us here in the studio excited to hear who they picked as their nominee. we'll have coverage coming up. oscar winner sandra bullock will join us as well. >> we love her here. we begin with our lead story the ceremony held overnight to mark the end of the nearly nine-year military campaign in iraq. nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in baghdad for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. with this small ceremony attended by just a few hundred

people, the u.s. military command in iraq closed its operation, making this country a sovereign nation. in a brief ceremony on a base on the edge of baghdad, the united states took down the flag of its command here, to mark the end of the military mission. with the casing of the colors, the american military command in iraq is officially closed. the iraq war, as a war led by the u.s. military, is no more. all that's left to do now is withdraw the 4,000 remaining troops in the coming days. defense secretary leon panetta. >> no words, no ceremony can provide full tribute to the sacrifices that have brought this day to pass. >> reporter: but as the mission ends, most troops have already made it south to kuwait where they repack. >> thinking about my wife again and going back, spend some time with the family. >> reporter: and go through

preflight inspection. after years of fighting they're not used to carrying just tiny bottles of liquids when they travel. >> no projectile weapons such as pellet guns. no pornography. >> reporter: mostly the troops wait. >> the family, they're tired of me being gone all the time. it's going to be nice to be home for a little while. >> reporter: you hear a lot of that excitement for the simplest of things. family, friends, maybe a few beers. >> not being in the desert all the time, being able to spend the weekends at home. i haven't really had a day off since i took leave. >> reporter: but out processing takes days, sometimes longer. after a war and with family waiting, kuwait can feel like the worst layover ever. staff sergeant michael stevens served four tours in iraq in some of the toughest war zones. >> praying that, you know, not me today. >> reporter: he lost a finger in

combat, some of his friends didn't make it. >> what pushed me to keep going was knowing that i wasn't going to give up. my friends, obviously, took the ultimate sacrifice and i wasn't going to turn around and say i'm done because they wouldn't have done that. >> reporter: steven plans to surprise his four children by being home for christmas, after missing so many. and now, there's just a 16-hour flight to go on a charter plane from delta. the flight crew try to lift the troops' spirits. as america's biggest military mission since vietnam is ending for the holidays. but now, many iraqis worry what will happen next? they fear a return to sectarian violence. matt? >> richard engel in baghdad for us this morning, richard, thank you very much. republican senator john mccain is the ranking member of the senate armed services committee, senator it's nice to see you, good morning. >> thank you, matt. >> you watched this ceremony,

i'm sure, parts of it this morning in baghdad. what are your reflections? >> well, my reflections are that it was a noble cause and, obviously, i believe that saddam hussein was going to attempt, at least, to get weapons of mass destruction. i believe the iraqi people are better off. i believe serious mistakes were made, which prolonged this war, which i think people -- history will hold responsible. i think the surge, obviously, turned the whole situation around. it's too bad that we didn't employ that strategy earlier. but i'm also very concerned because in the words of general keene, one of the architects of the surge, we won the war and now we risk losing the peace because we do not have a residual force to leave behind and there are serious challenges and difficulties that the iraqi government will face in the form of their air space and in the form of the kurdish, iraqi areas

and including counterintelligence capabilities. i really think we risk losing -- great risk at losing everything that we gained and that is the opinion of every military leader that i've talked to. >> so was this purely, in your opinion, an idea of meeting a campaign promise? is this simply not the right time to conduct this pullout? >> well, i think the pullout was correct, but in the -- condoleezza rice, former secretary of state, as you know, stated that we had always envisioned a residual force being left behind. the president made a promise, a campaign promise, that he would bring all the troops out. it's very obvious, i know for a fact because i was involved, that there was very little real discussion with the iraqis about a residual force being left behind and it is what it is. so we risk losing everything that we gained at enormous

sacrifice. >> "the new york times" talked to some iraqis about this pullout and a government employee said, quote, i am so concerned about the u.s. withdraw, many things will gradually deteriorate in iraq, especially security, which will be affected by iran's influence once the americans have gone. do you fear we're leaving behind a void that the iranians will gladly fill? >> i think they already are filling it. there's no doubt that sadr is a client of the iranians. he's part of the iraqi government. there is tensions on the kurdish/iraqi border over a lot of things and there is, of course, not the kind of counter intelligence that is necessary with u.s. assistance. as i say, we risk losing everything that we gain. i think it's at great risk and i think it was unnecessary. we always envisioned some residual force and this administration -- they were never really serious at all. we risk -- >> let me ask you -- >> could i say, we risk seeing

iraq break up into three countries which is what the vice president envisioned. remember that the president and the vice president all opposed the surge, said we couldn't win, and they wanted to withdraw and they have succeeded. >> let me ask you about our image around the world following this war. former vice president dick cheney was here on the show not long ago. he said he doesn't believe there's been damage to the u.s. reputation as a result of this war. do you think there has been damage? do you disagree with vice president cheney? >> i travel extensively in that part of the world. every leader i meet with believes that the united states is withdrawing, that our influence in the region is clearly on the wane and i think this has an affect on the taliban in afghanistan. recently a former administration official was meeting with the president of pakistan, he said do you think that they'll make peace, the taliban? he said, why should they? they know you're leaving. >> senator john mccain, coming to us from washington this

you very much for your time. >> thank you. it is nine minutes after the hour. here's ann. thank you. now to politics and fresh fireworks in the republican presidential race. mitt romney is showing no signs of letting up his attack on front-runner newt gingrich insisting the former house speaker is too, quote, zany to be president. chuck todd is nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent and joins us now. chuck, good morning. >> good morning, ann. the republicans meet tonight in what is their final scheduled debate before the iowa caucuses. judging by how aggressively mitt romney has gone after newt gingrich this week, it's going to be lively. >> what's wrong? >> mr. gingrich we are here to protest your speech today! >> reporter: one way to gauge which republican is the front-runner? the number of protesters who show up at your event. >> we are outraged! >> reporter: in iowa city a loud group of protesters delayed the start of newt gingrich's speech at the university of iowa. >> okay! >> reporter: at the same time, a much smaller group protesting mitt romney's new york city

fundraiser was more sedate. >> thank you for the destruction of our economy. thank you. >> thank you all. >> reporter: it is another bit of evidence gingrich is the front-runner and may be why romney used an unusual word to pick out what he believes is gingrich's key vulnerability -- temperament. >> zany is not what we need in a president. zany is great in a campaign. it's great on a talk radio. it's great in the print. but in terms of a president we need a leader. a leader needs to be someone of sobriety and stability and patience and temperance. >> reporter: gingrich was attending a brain science seminar and jabbed back. >> my response is i think a brain science initiative is a way of helping human beings. i'll let him decide iffin zany. they should run their campaign the way they want to. i'm going to run my campaign the way i want to. >> reporter: gingrich also responded to the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" that showed him with a large lead in the primary but struggling against president obama. >> i'm about where reagan was

against carter at this stage. >> reporter: gingrich's rise appears to be troubling some of the biggest republican players in congress. speaker john boehner who was in the house leadership with gingrich in the '90s tried to stay neutral. >> like all big figures they got some great ideas and then they have some other ideas. it would be hard to describe newt as not conservative. i'm not sure he is as conservative as some people think he is, but newt is a conservative. >> reporter: romney disagreed with that. >> this is a person who has a very questionable record when it comes to leading conservative principles. >> reporter: romney, who has struggled to appeal to tea party republicans nabbed the endorsement of one of the more prominent tea partiers from the 2010 campaign, failed delaware e delegate christine o'donnell who said the perception of romney as flip-flopper isn't an issue for her. >> that's one of the things i like about him because he has been consistent since he changed his mind. >> a little more evidence that the establishment is rallying against gingrich. the conservative national review penned an unusual editorial

today. they wrote, we think it is important to urge republicans to have the good sense to reject a hasty marriage to gingrich which would risk resulting in acrimony. the magazine, ann, they didn't endorse any of the actual remaining candidates, just against gingrich. >> to think, chuck, we're just getting started. >> oh, yes. >> thank you so much. let's check the other top stories of the morning. natalie is over at the news desk with a look at those. hi, natalie. >> good morning wi, matt and an. good morning, everyone. tragedy was averted overnight at the lucky friday silver mine in idaho after a rock burst trapped and injured seven workers, all of them rescued safely. nbc's miguel almaguer is in mullan, idaho with more. >> reporter: as you mentioned, those seven miners were injured during what is known as a rock burst. a sudden rupture or explosion of rocks beneath the surface. the miners were more than a mile deep installing a safety net set to design to present an incident just like this one. nearby crews heard the call for help and brought them to safety. the injuries are said to be

fairly minor. lacerations and a broken leg. the lucky friday mine in mullan, idaho, is owned by the heckla mining company. after two deaths earlier this year the company was cited four times for safety concerns and then fined $1 million. the mine has temporarily been shut down by the company. natalie, back to you. >> for those miners, lucky mine. living up to its name. thank you very much miguel almaguer in mullan, idaho. lawmakers are racing against the clock to avoid a government shutdown this friday. early this morning house republicans revealed a $1 trillion spending bill in a bid to muscle democrats into finalizing legislation before friday's deadline. and as partisan bickering over a payroll tax cut extension drags on, a new poll from the associated press this morning finds that some 60% of respondents want those cuts renewed. the obama administration says one portion of its new health care law has reduced the number of young americans without coverage by 2.5 million. that provision lets children

stay on their parents' insurance plans until the age of 26. yet another company has pulled its commercials from tlc's "all american muslim." the travel website kayak has now joined home improvement retailer lowe's and pulled its ads during the reality show. kayak is defending its decision, saying tlc was not up front about the nature of the show. the docu-series follows the daily lives of five muslim american families in michigan. let's head to wall street. cnbc's mandy drury is at the new york stock exchange for us this morning. mandy, good morning. >> good morning, natalie. it's been a tough three days on wall street for stocks as they have hit their lowest level in two weeks. we've even been watching gold prices, traditionally a safe haven, they've also been falling sharply. we've also been hearing from retailers including h & m about how the holiday season has been and they posted the third straight monthly falling sales. overnight we've got economic reports from japan and china that were also weak and that concerns global investors. why do we care? it does have a big impact on how our stocks trade as well.

so we'll be watching how things pan out today. back to you. >> we'll be watching you. mandy drury at the new york stock exchange. thank you. and the first family has released a new official portrait this morning. it was taken in the oval office by white house photographer pete sosa. it shows the obamas in their holiday best. just gorgeous. the most recent photo was taken back in 2009 in the green room by famed photographer annie leibovitz. it's amazing as you can see there how much the first daughters have grown since then. malia is now 13 and sasha is 10. they said they took the new picture precisely for that reason. the girls have grown up so much. >> pete sosa is one of the hardest working guys in photography. that guy is always on the job. >> so talented. obviously got them to smile in just a really nice way. i love that photograph. >> mr. roker is smiling in the same way. >> and oh, how i've grown since 2009. >> the other way. let's check it out, show you what we've got going for you.

for today, wet weaer stretching from new england all the way back down into texas. some snow up in northern new england. but that is going to quickly change over to rain. we're looking at heavier stuff e to get itself together down in centr treexas where rainfall amounts will total anywhere from 1 to 2 inches of rain in northern texas on into the oklahoma border. the rest of the country, we are expecting the air stagnation alerts to continue in the pacific northwest. we've got rain along the northwest coast. that snow changing over to rain in new england. some evening showers move into the northeast. we've got plenty of sunshine along the southea and our weather this morning, watching rain around the south boy. right around san jose to evergreen. look at that. sierra snow. that's a pleasant sight. near 4,000 feet this morning. main event happening now through

9:00. lunchtime should see partial clearing. highs in the mid-50s. then things turn breezy and dry as we kick off the start of the weekend. t r. n? al, thanks. now to hollywood nominations for the 69th annual golden globes were announced early this morning. it was a big morning for the silent movie "the artist." nbc's george lewis is live in los angeles with more. >> "the artist," a silent movie about the end of the silent movie era in hollywood made a big noise this morning picking up six golden globe nominations. >> reporter: "the artist," a film shot in l.a. but directed by a frenchman with two french actors in the leading roles picked up nominations for best comedy or muse wall, best actor and actress, best director, best screen play and best score. tied for second place in nominations were "the help," the

story about african-american servants in the jim crow south of the early '60s with viola davis nominated for best actr s actress. "the descendants," george clooney's story about a family coping with death, infidelity and a huge inheritance. clooney got a nomination for best actor. he also got best director and best screen play nominations for his political thriller "the ides of march." the film nominated for best drama. also in the running for best drama "hugo," martin scorsese's 3-d fantasy about a boy living in a paris train station. "moneyball" starring brad pitt and "war horse," steven spielberg's world war i story set for christmas release. actor gerard butler announced the nominees for best comedy and musical. in addition to the artist -- >> "50/50," "bridesmaids,"

"midnight in paris" and "my week with marilyn." >> if you're going to do it, do it. >> reporter: two actors got dual nomination. ryan gosling for ides of march in drama. best comedy or musical performance for "crazy stupid love." >> on my purchase of your business. >> glenn close was nominated for best dramatic actress in "albert knobs" and for writing the lyrics for the film's tune "lay your head down," best song nominee. globes will be handed out sunday, january 15th. ricky gervais will be the host for the third time running. it'll all be right here on nbc. ann? >> george lewis, thank you so much. just ahead, michael jackson's daughter talks about her unusual upbringing and having to wear masks in public. we're going to have her first solo interview. first, this is "today" on nbc.

coming up we'll see the radical change coming to facebook today. >> plus this morning's golden globe nominations after your local news. morning's golden globe nominations after your local news. ouncer ] who fills their holidays with sawdust?

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bigger? bigger. chase slate with blueprint helps you save money on life's little surprises. trip...lets... start your path to saving today, call 855-get-slate. good morning to you. 7:26 right now. i'm laura garcia-cannon. authorities on the lookout for a man suspected of raping and beating a woman. officers spotted this man at a rest stop late last night. clark ran away, but officers were able to catch a woman who was with him. they tell our sister station the woman was clark's ex-girlfriend. he is wanted in contracosta county for attacking and raping a woman over the weekend. that woman is still in krit cool condition at a hospital. i want to check the forecast with rob mayeda in for christina this morning.

>> good morning. we're watching the rain showers south of san jose. light rain in downtown and evergreen. right around 101, good downpour showing up right now. snow is flying in the sierra. most of the action is taking place between now and lunchtime. 40s outside through 8:00 and 9:00. by lunchtime, showers south of san jose. by 4:00 the evening commute should be fine in terms of rain drops. highs in the mid 50s. tomorrow turning breezy. we'll clear out and dry out as we move into the weekend. >> we'll look at a live shot for sunol. 680 around the golf course. those trucks backed up. they're still trying to remove a big rig. we may have lanes blocked for over an hour. and all these folks off of 500

coming down through the area as well, laura. this could be a nightmare for the morning commute out of the tri-valley. >> we know you'll watch it for us. thank you, mike. we'll check back with him in the next local news update. in the meantime, you can always get the news and traffic updated on our face book page. nbc bay area. i'll have another local news update for you in a half hour. stay dry out there. ♪ [ female announcer ] this time of year you have a lot of festive meals.

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7:30 on a thursday morning, december 15th, 2011. it's a little warmer than usual here in the new york city area. going to be about 10 degrees warmer than average for this time of year. al says that's the good news. the bad news is rain is on its way. we'll get his forecast in a little while. meanwhile, inside studio 1-a i'm matt lauer alongside ann curry. coming up, something that is going to interest anyone who uses facebook. that's a lot of people. >> in just a moment, for the first time anywhere, we'll debut the new look for the facebook profile called "timeline." it's going to completely change the way we interact with our friends on the site.

i actually haven't even looked at what they've done to my site. without my knowledge. well, actually i knew they were going to do it but i didn't sort of, you know, okay what they've done. we'll see what they've done and whether you're okay with what they do. >> all right. also ahead michael jackson's daughter speaks out. it's her first solo interview and the 13-year-old paris talked quite candidly about her childhood, acting career, and the most memorable thing her dad ever told her. we'll be hearing some of that. >> very beautiful and poised young woman. also, oscar winner sandra bullock. we're always glad when she's here. she'll be here this morning to talk about her new movie and also what she has planned for the holidays. maybe a little bit about her family and also we've got complete coverage this morning of something that is pretty exciting especially this year. we've got so many great movies, the golden globe nominations. we begin on a more serious note with a search for the killer after a body of a tennessee mother missing since halloween was discovered. natalie has details. good morning to you, matt. in the death of karen swift, a beautiful mother of four, the

death is officially ruled a homicide. her disappearance was the most recent of several cases of missing women in four neighboring states. some people want to know if there is a possible connection. from a desperate search -- >> oh, it's devastating. we just feel for her children and wish we had answers. >> reporter: to a murder investigation, the body of karen swift, a 44-year-old mother of four who vanished over a month and a half ago, was found saturday in a patch of undergrowth near a cemetery just two miles from her home. >> we have to move forward with this case as a homicide investigation and we have to go after this person that's responsible. >> reporter: swift was last seen outside her home at 1:30 a.m. on october 30th after spending the evening with friends at a halloween party. >> she got her car from her house and went home, went to pick up her daughter, ashley, from an overnight sleepover. picked her up from out there and then came home.

>> reporter: investigators say the last known person to see swift was her husband, david, who spoke to her before he went to bed. less than a mile away from their home, swift's abandoned suv was discovered on the side of the road. her tire slashed. court records reveal that just 20 days before swift went missing, she had filed for divorce from her husband citing irreconcilable differences. >> she kept it pretty quiet and private and probably out of respect to her family, kids, her husband. >> reporter: though the couple was still living together she had been awarded primary custody of the children. authorities say swift's husband has cooperated with the investigation. >> currently we're not naming any suspects and we are not naming any until we feel it would benefit this case. >> reporter: meanwhile, the case has created quite a buzz on the internet as bloggers speculate about a possible link between swift's murder and the disappearance of other women who have gone missing in four neighboring states, some just 20 miles apart in the past 13

months. swift's body was found at dyer county, tennessee. just 90 miles away in parsons, tennessee 20-year-old holly bobo vanished last april. in september, 2010, 22-year-old page johnson disappeared in covington, kentucky. further north in fairfield, ohio 21-year-old kaitlyn markham vanished in august, 2011. in bloomington, indiana 22-year-old lauren speier went missing in june. >> a lot of times in these cases they are crimes of opportunity. >> reporter: this crime reporter says investigators don't think the cases are connected but adds -- >> investigators at this point have to take a look at all these cases and say, could there be a connection? yes, all these women do look alike. if there is a connection, what could that be? is it a crime of opportunity? or is it in fact someone who is justar tting specifically these younger blonde white women? >> reporter: back in tennessee, neighbors try to make sense of the tragedy. >> we all know each other and

pretty much know each other's comings and goings. so it's hard to think that something like that could happen just right down the road. >> again, we spoke to several investigative agencies and while authorities don't believe the cases are linked they are looking into any and all possibilities. as for swift's husband we reached out to him several times for comment and he never returned our calls, matt and ann. >> all right. thank you. now to the first ever solo interview for michael jackson's daughter paris. she opened up about her late father, childhood, and her dreams for the future. nbc's kristen dahlgren is in los angeles with details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. the daughter of the late pop star has just signed on to star in her first movie. she tells ellen that acting has always been her dream. >> and how early on did you know you wanted to act? >> when i was really little, because my dad was in, like the movie "moon walker" and i knew he could sing like really well but i didn't know he could act. i saw that and i'm like, wow.

i want to be just like him. >> paris jackson, poised and mature sitting down with talk show host ellen degeneres. it was just two and a half years ago that the public first met the pop star's daughter. >> ever since i was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. >> reporter: a very public introduction for a girl who had lived most of her life under a mask. >> but do you remember wearing a mask going, this is kind of weird? >> yeah. i'm like, this is stupid. why am i wearing a mask? >> right. >> but, yeah. i kind of realized the older i got he only tried to protect us and he explained that to us, too. >> reporter: now 13, paris no longer lives in disguise and has been trying to enjoy a normal childhood. she, along with her siblings prince and blanket have embrace ad more public persona, appearing at the grammy awards and, more recently, the cirque du soleil michael jackson show in las vegas. there admitting her showbiz ambitions. >> do you guys think you would

ever follow your dad's foot steps as an entertainer possibly? >> definitely. >> in what way? singing? acting? >> acting. >> and telling ellen acting was something her father encouraged. >> we did improvs together and he'd give us little scenarios. so in this scene you're going to cry and i'd cry on the spot. >> reporter: paris's big screen dreams are coming true. she has been cast as the only human character in a mostly animated film "lundon's bridge" and coming out as an actress is no surprise. >> paris has been taking acting lessons, has a private coach, and has the blessing of her grandmother who is very excited for her. >> reporter: the underwater children's drama will also feature the voices of larry king, his wife shawn, and former n-sync member joey fetone. name alone does not guarantee success but paris has her famous father's words to keep her motivated. >> the most memorable thing that your dad said to you was?

>> he said, if i die tomorrow, always remember what i told you. and i took his advice and i remembered everything he told me. >> now, paris also says she is enjoying school and was excited to go to a school where not all the kids knew who she was so she could be more like the other kids. >> thank you so much. by the way, ellen's full interview with paris jackson airs on her show today. meantime, let's get a check of the weather from al. today's weather is brought to you by daisy brand sour cream. a dollop of daisy is the natural way to make good food taste better. good morning everyone. we have a couple towns. somebody from hurt, virginia and then this town in georgia. i hope you like it. we do. we like it allot. let's go to hawaii where they're not liking this weather. the big island, they got a ton of rain plus an unusual high tide and a number of businesses, roads flooded out.

big problems. the good news is the rain is coming to an end but they picked up a few inches of rain in a fairly short period of time. let's show you what's happening temperaturewise and you'll see we've got some warm air here in the east. montpelier, vermont above normal. cincinnati 59. roanoke, virginia looking at 19 degrees above normal at 67. atlanta will be flirting with 70 degrees and houston, texas almost 15 degrees above normal at 79 we're watching some areas of light rain that have moved on from san francisco, mostly cloudy right now. the radar shows you most of the rain now has moved south of san jose near morgan hill. highway 101 still seeing rain. snow continues to fly in the sierra. we'll see some rain mainly through the south bay through lunchtime. by 4:00, slow clearing today. more clearing tomorrow as winds turn offshore for friday and ard. but a dry finish to the workweek

and a dry start to the weekend. you're engaged? >> yes. >> where is your fiance? >> back home working. >> uh-oh. don't forget you can get your weather for engagement or anything. go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. coming up next, do you know what vocal-fy is? we'll explain right after this. care and dedication. our family-owned company has focused on making... the best-tasting sour cream for over four generations. it's made with farm-fresh cream... that's 100% natural without any additives or preservatives. and no added hormones. so you can feel good knowing every creamy dollop... will bring all your favorite dishes to life. ♪ do a dollop, do-do a dollop of daisy ♪

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we're back with something called vocal fry that is creeping into the speech patterns of young women. nbc's chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman is here to explain. i've never heard of this. >> it's a new term and a lot of people probably haven't heard about it. but you have probably heard about it many times. that is where there is this low-pitched vibrato sound. where does it come from and what does it mean? it is no surprise what we see in the movies and on tv can influence our style in fashion, but it doesn't end there. for years, what we hear has influenced the way we talk. >> oh, as if! >> whatever. >> reporter: these familiar vocal patterns quickly made

their way into speech. >> shut up. >> reporter: and now experts say they're noticing a new speech pattern creeping into the conversations of college-age women. they call it vocal fry. ♪ wake up in the morning feeling -- ♪ >> reporter: common in pop culture. >> before i leave brush my teeth. >> reporter: it's a low, stacatto vibration produced by a low fluttering of the vocal cords. >> it sounds something like this. ah-ah. >> he designed it on photo shop himself. >> it perplexed me for a long time because vocal fry has traditionally been a symptom of a voice disorder. and yet i was hearing this naturally in normal conversation. >> reporter: after studying dozens of female college students, researchers at cw post campus of long island university found that approximately two-thirds of this population used vocal fry. >> most of the time it was at the end of sentences.

>> when a man looks for something beyond his reach his friends say he is looking for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. >> she starts a little bit here and then you can see how it dips really low. >> reporter: why has this low-pitched animal-like sound become so popular? >> it' a's possible that our yo folk who want to sound cool and mimic the famous are perhaps using this as a social quality to add to their voice. >> frustrating he is so content with living separately. >> reporter: janet humberg at northwestern university says she has noticed vocal fry for decades and thinks pop culture may be poplarizing the pattern. >> people on tv are epitomizing a trend which was really there and they're not really causing the trend. >> this seems to be more prevalent in females and not as prevalent in males. >> in the "twilight" book? >> reporter: this study was published in the "journal of voice" and experts say more research needs to be done to

find out just how prevalent vocal fry is and what the long-term effects on the vocal cords may be. >> donuts and cookies. >> okay. >> reporter: in the meantime, keep your eye out for that cricky low voice known as vocal fry. >> it is just so embarrassing to like catch someone. >> i think that's it. it's that deep -- kim kardashian sort of has it. you sort of drop your voice like this. i can also do valley girl. >> is there anything equivalent in men? >> no, there isn't. what's interesting, it's almost a women's affectation of sort of wanting to be in so we've seen these trends and this like, you know, it's like you hear someone say, ah, it's so fabulous and then suddenly you hear "fabulous" everywhere. that sort of cool thing like this. girls will pick it up because it makes them feel part of a macro culture. you are just not hip enough to be there. >> thank you very much. up next a face-lift for

facebook. an exclusive first look at the way your profile isrting today. right after chan.getarting toda. right afteththisr so humpty dumpty had a...

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we make christmas affordable. you make it yours. jcpenney. it burns! it's singeing me. it's the sun. get out of the office more often, with chili's $6 lunch break combos, featuring texas toast half sandwiches. chili's lunch break combos. well, today facebook releases its most radical transformation yet to the way you view your profile. they're calling it timeline and kate is the global director of design for facebook and is here to show us an exclusive first look. hey, kate, good morning. >> good morning. >> more than 800 million users. this is the first anywhere in the world that people publicly

will be able to see what you're doing. show us how it looks. >> okay. i'm here to talk about timeline, the new facebook profile. it's a place for you to tell your story from beginning until now with all the special moments in between, your photos, your check-ins, shared experience. it is like an online digital scrapbook. every online scrapbook should have a great cover. let's jump in and look at mine. the first thing you'll notice, big, beautiful photograph. this is my son. it's a recent photograph from a great vacation we had. >> beautiful photograph but is it a layout? is that the difference? is that what is changing? >> yeah. the layout is changing but it also gives you the opportunity. you'll see my recent check-in here but you can go back in time now. facebook started in 2004. but i just uploaded these fun photographs from my childhood from the '70s. >> let's look to the right of your screen at home. basically you have the months, the years, so you can quickly get to all that information. >> absolutely. >> which is different from before. >> yes. >> before now you had to sort of search. >> you did. >> you guys have colluded to do

something similar, to do timeline on my page. i have purposely not looked at it. i wanted you and the producer to have at it. show me what you've done. >> here we go. >> okay. >> there you are. gorgeous photo. >> that's me way up. thanks. all the years that are on the right then. >> so if you actually can go back in time to 1959. >> oh, dear. >> yes. it's adorable. look at that childhood photograph. >> great. >> and it notes you were in san diego. you can actually scroll up like if you look at 2009 you actually had some amazing career highlights and it shows all of your travels down to these amazing photos. >> these are my photographs. >> with the dalai lama. really beautiful. >> so really then it is a way of sort of seeing your life kind of in sort of a more i guess an easier-to-access way. >> absolutely. >> there is even a map involved here. >> there is. >> which is an interesting feature. >> your map looks really good. >> so you can use this map to say where -- in my case where

you've been in your work but you can use it for whatever you want it to be. >> yes. >> maybe your ancestral history or something like that. >> absolutely. you can check in as you're going or retroactively go back. you have check-ins from antarctica and then all the way up to special moments like if we look at new york here. >> forget it. >> thank you. now i'm mad at you. we need to ask you quickly, what do you say to people who don't want their profile to change? because, you know, the last time you made a big change there was a big pushback. i probably expect one again this time. >> facebook is super personal to people. it has your photographs, friends, communication. so we know change can be hard. this time we're giving people a seven-day period from the time you click on timeline you get seven days to get it exactly the way you want it before you share it with anyone. >> that's right. >> so nice adjustment. >> very quickly, about privacy concerns, there is a privacy click on this one, right? because that is a big issue still on facebook. >> yes. >> yes there is.

>> so with privacy in mind we're also launching activity log. it's a place for you to see everything you've done and click on privacy to decide how to share it all in one place. >> all right. kate, thank you so much. and of course we'll be letting people know that as soon as we're off television, you can go to today.com for more information about this after your local news. [ br

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good morning. i'm laura garcia-cannon. one of the suspects involved in a brutal attack of an offduty firefighter are be in court today. she is asking the judge to reduce bail. she was in her boyfriend's car when he was accused of running down cal firefighter albert bartall on thanksgiving day. he suffered a severe head injury during the attack. it was suffered after he got into a fight with her boyfriend at a restaurant in the richmond district. i want to get a look at the forecast with rob mayeda in for christina. >> good morning. we're watching areas of light rain in san jose and sunol. san jose with light rain towards 101 and morgan hill.

down towards areas in the south bay. probably between now and lunchtime. showers starting to move out around lunchtime, pushing away from san jose been noon. then by 4:00, sun clearing today. but pretty cool temperatures. highs in the mid-50s in the bay area. winds turning offshore tomorrow. we should crank up temperatures a few more degrees friday and saturday with a dry weekend ahead. mike? >> rob, you're looking at rain in the south bay. i'm looking at the traffic now trying to travel through the area. northbound routes 101. look at this 280 and 680. look at it all very, very slow. where it's red, speeds are below 20. the signal is flashing red. so hamilton is backed up as far as the eye can see approaching highway 17. a live look at 680 sunol. still trying to remove the truck past highway 84.

back to you. >> thank you for joining us for the lastest traffic and news updates.

morning. ♪ rocking ar ♪ rocking around the christmas tree ♪ 8:00 now on a thursday morning. it's the 15th of december, 2011. and we're happy to be outside. hi, guys. here at rockefeller plaza with the great group that decided to spend their holiday, part of their holiday season anyway, with us. waving at their family and friends back home. you know, it's a pretty nice morning, what, 49 degrees, not as cold as it has been of late, which is terrific news. meantime, i'm ann curry with matt lauer and al roker. coming up, we'll be talking about an oscar winner's return to the big screen. >> she is in the studio right now. we're talking about sandra bullock. she took a short break from acting and is back with a new

movie called "extremely loud and incredibly close." i saw it the other day. you could also call it extremely well done and incredibly powerful. we're going to be talking to sandra about that and other stuff in just a couple minutes. always good to have her here. and as we bring this year to an end oftentimes it gives us great perspective to look back on some of the trends. one of the questions we'd be addressing this morning is what do we use the internet to search for? what were our google searches? and you can see some of the people who were searched on google. we talked about major stories. we'll find out what were the top trends of 2011? >> and then another question. what were the top movies and tv shows of 2011? we'll have complete coverage. the golden globe nominations are coming up. and we'll have all of that for you. complete coverage. >> i'm so excited. "the descendents" was a great movie. "money ball" and "the artist." i could go on. >> "hugo." >> instead we'll let natalie go on. she is standing by at the news desk with the headlines.

>> good morning, matt, ann and al, and good morning, everyone. in a ceremony rich with tradition and full of emotion the u.s. military this morning officially ended its mission in iraq. defense secretary leon panetta told u.s. troops in baghdad that nearly nine years of sacrifice set iraq on a path to democracy. the war left at least 4,476 americans dead and 32,000 wounded and cost taxpayers $800 billion. a massive defense spending bill is expected to win senate approval today. the house passed the $662 billion measure last night but first it had to make last-minute changes to ensure president obama's ability to prosecute terror suspects in civilian courts. a record 48% of public schools failed to meet the standards for yearly progress set by the federal no child left behind act. that is according to the center on education policy, a nonpartisan thinktank. states used standardized reading and math tests to measure progress against federal benchmarks which are set higher each year.

now an update on the e! news juliana rancic, the host has successfully undergone a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery for her breast cancer. her husband says she is in great spirits and already cracking jokes. glad to hear that. last night's auction of elizabeth taylor's jewelry fetched a record $137 million. "the new york post" reports that taylor's favorite jeweler bought up $20 million worth of its own creations including a $6 million diamond and emerald necklace. other sales of taylor's art, clothing and memorabilia continue this week. and now for a look at what's trending, our roundup of what has you talking on-line. facebook is buzzing about a new study that finds women make better bosses. researchers say female bosses are more likely to appreciate the need for balancing work and life. men are more likely to scold workers for being on personal calls or social media. demi moore and her twitter handle mrs. kutcher are top searches on yahoo. she tweeted that changing her twitter name is not a top

priority right now, adding sorry it bothers so many of you. demi is divorcing ashton kutcher. and this seal pup is getting lots of love on facebook and twitter. it wiggled out of the waters off new zealand, snuck into a home and made itself comfy on the sofa. the home owner thought she was hallucinating. when she called the spca they thought she was drunk. when being driven back to the harbor the seal broke out of its box, flopped into the seat and accidently turned on the car radio. sounds like quite the party animal. it is now 8:04. very cute. let's go back outside to al with a check of your weather right now. today's weather is brought to you by massage envy. massage envy gift cards makes the perfect holiday gift. >> good morning, everybody. we have brand new 16-year-old. what's your name young lady? >> alexandria. >> where are you from? >> spring hill, florida. >> all right. it says it right there if i just read the sign. there you go.

well, happy birthday. >> thank you very much. >> thanks. all right. and let's check your weather. shall we? see if i can read what's on the screen. the whag nbc 25 showers mild, 53 degrees, and you can see that cold front pushing its way to the east bringing rain from new england all the way down into texas. starting off with a little snow in new england. that will change over to rain later. got some snow showers out in the mountains of idaho and western montana. we're also looking at wet weather stretching along the coastal pacific northwest into northern california. heavier showers and thunderstorms down through texas. look for rain moving into the northeast later today. sunny skies and nice and mild down through florida. 79 in miami. that's what's going on around the country. here's what' live view of san jose. still widely catered showers. moving off to the south, radar showing you the showers moving down towards morgan hill and seeing a few more actually up around.

looking at the rain as you cross into fremont. heading into the santa clara valley. we have snow in the sierra. less of the showers, probably lingering until about lunch time and by 4:00 the showers moving into central california. drying things out for your friday. breezy, though to wrap up the workweek. got these nice ladies. >> woo hoo! >> all right. ann? >> hey, al. we've got a bone to pick with you because it was 49 degrees a few minutes ago but take a look at that. wait a minute. it was actually 39. no i'm not seeing things. it went down to 39. >> i can see why you're upset. oh, my gosh. it's the same it was ten minutes ago. >> we have sandra bullock in our studio after this. and melt with you ♪

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[ woman announcing ] just like snowy, your dog's one of a kind. overactive imagination and all. [ barking ] long live your buddy. long live your dog. [ tintin ] snowy! purina dog chow. see the adventures of tintin, only in theaters. we're now back at 8:10 with one of our favorite guests around here, sandra bullock. two years after winning the oscar she is finally returning to the big screen and the new movie is called "extremely loud and incredibly close." sandra plays a 9/11 widow and mom to a 9-year-old boy trying to cope after their tragic loss. take a look. >> what do you miss about him? >> oh, i miss so many things about him. >> i miss how he could tell the weather just by touching the window. >> when woe cohe would come in house and yell "what's everybody

doing?" >> he told me. he said, i really love your mother. she's such a good girl. >> welcome back, sandra. it's nice to see you. >> thank you. >> i feel the need to start this interview by telling our viewers two things. one, bring tissues. >> yes. >> it's a very emotional and powerful movie. the second is if they're going to this movie because they want to see you, up on screen for the whole film, this is not that movie. >> true. >> you're in there about 15 minutes. >> it's actually 24 minutes. >> sorry. i miscalculated. >> throughout the whole film. strategically placed moments. >> yes. >> but, no. it's truly this amazing story of this child's point of view of what happened in his life that was this horribly tragic event and to see it through his eyes is far more i think poignant and impactful than to see it through an adult's eyes. >> i bring it up only -- first of all, you are great in those 22 minutes. >> 24. >> sorry.

because -- 15 the way i calculate. >> 24. >> i like it because i like the fact that did you this. i think there are a lot of a-list actors who would have said this isn't a big enough star term for me and i admire your choice on that. >> i've already had those moments i think. i'm -- there might be more. i don't know. but i don't know how many moments and opportunities like this there will be with stories like this, with directors and casts like this. you know, it's where, like, the rare moments in life where all the elements are there and they all come together for some strange or bigger reason and i, you know, you can't say no to that. >> it's haunting stuff. i mean, it takes place, 9/11, or as it's called in the movie sometimes the worst day. here in new york city as those planes hit the world trade center, you were actually in the city, so this is close and personal for you as it is for a lot of people. as part of the research for this movie you went and listened to the voice mails left behind by people trapped in that tower for

their families. talk to me about that. >> the fact we were given access to them by the families or that they allowed people to have access to them is pretty -- >> why do you think they shared? were you surprised? >> i was at first until you see the tremendous gift it was to them, left by those who are no longer here. you know, so many of them were a progression of e-mails from i'm going to be fine. everything is great. don't worry. to, we're trying to find a way out. and then of course the final outcome. but i was absolutely and still am -- it's haunting and it's inspiring that the last message inevitably was one of hope for the families left behind and i -- as a human being you don't know how to comprehend that. but i -- i am so glad that those handful of people had that gift. they didn't have the contact that they would have loved, but they are able to have this gift and the strength of the loved one just what they gave is just mind blowing. >> let's talk about the young man who plays your son in this, thomas horn. i mean, he is in just about every scene.

you're in eight minutes. but he is in about every scene here and he is extraordinary. >> yeah, yeah. >> when you look at him and you know this movie is going to change his career. >> yeah. >> what advice do you have for a young man like that? >> you don't give someone like thomas horn advice. >> why not? >> because he doesn't need it. this isn't going to be his sole career. he is destined to do so many things of great worth. not that acting isn't something of great worth. but he has his -- he knows what he is here to do and he has so many interests and he might only be 13, 14. i don't know if he's 13 or 14. but he is far more educated, wiser, kind, empathetic than most adults in this room and i don't say that as a negative thing. i just say that he is an extraordinary human being and he was given this opportunity. it was something he wanted to take. and he did not shy away from it from day one. it's frightening to watch his level of professionalism. it was frightening.

>> tom hanks as well. max -- he never says a word without giving anything away about who his character is. he is a guy who either has lost the ability to speak or chooses not to speak. we don't know. and the power he brings is -- i was blown away by him. >> yeah. the beauty of this story is it shows so many points of view of grief and how vastly different they are. and, you know, we like to see pretty grief on film but in the end you have such a cathartic response to this movie. it lets you feel what you're feeling whatever it is. you know? and it's a rare thing. >> let's leave them laughing. let's end on a lighter note. christmas around the corner. i was reading you're going to spoil the pants off louie. >> yes. >> we have him in a sound proof booth down at nbc. >> yes. >> so he can't hear. what is the most extravagant thing you'll buy him? >> i don't know if i've stopped. >> what did you buy? >> i am not going to tell you. >> he can't hear. >> no. i'm not going to tell you because he understands everything. >> you bought him a plane didn't you? >> i kind of did. i got him a g-5.

maybe he'll let mommy use it. i don't know. >> he'll grow into it. what is your favorite christmas song? since you're musically trained. >> yeah, because that gene did not pass on to me like sometimes two doctors don't have a surgeon child. they have, well, we've seen what happens. it's usually my favorite christmas songs are ones that are like by some beautiful choir with a great orchestration and sounds like in some holy place. >> do you have a name? >> no, again, because there are many. i know you want me to pick one thing but life isn't about just one thing, matt. >> it's true. >> i'm sorry, you guys. you have to do this every day. i have to deal with this once every two years. >> the movie is incredible. extremely loud and incredibly close. sandra's two minutes in this movie are just incredible. >> why am i here? why did i show up today? >> merry christmas. >> you too. >> good to see you. it opens in theaters on january 20th. and nationwide on that day. up next, what were you looking for? the top google searches of the year right after this.

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[ knock on door ] cool. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage online and arranged a free pickup. and i'm gonna track them online, too. nice. between those boxes and this place, i'm totally staying sane this year. do i smell snickerdoodles? maybe. [ timer dings ] got to go. priority mail flat rate shipping at usps.com. a simpler way to ship. back now at 8:20 and this morning on "today" celebrate 2011 the top google searches of the year. americans with plenty of online hunting for information for anything from big news event to celebrity gossip and recipes. we'll break it all down starting with the news. >> all right. i think some of these searches will not surprise people. you know, this is not really in

a particular order, but these are the top five of the year. actually i have six in here. and the first one we want to talk about is hurricane irene. i mean, this was a storm that affected some 55 million people. >> and people -- a lot of critics were saying oh, it was over hyped and the fact is it was not. it lived up to and more than what it -- >> a lot of damage. >> we remember here in new york thinking we might take a direct hit. it didn't seem that bad until we started to realize the power outages that resulted all up and down the east coast and inland up into northern vermont. >> absolutely. >> people suffering from this. another major news event searched for this year, occupy wall street which started here in wall street in new york and then spread quickly across the country. people were obviously curious about that. number three, you were there, the earthquake in japan. >> the earthquake in japan. that obviously became also concerns about radiation after the nuclear power plants were affected. so that one i think a lot of people are concerned about which

way the winds were going and what was going to happen. how many people were affected. also the images, the videos that were taken at that time were so dramatic as we're looking now. >> and the billions of dollars in cost and also lost lives. >> another one on the list of the news searches, iphone 5. >> though it turned out to be -- >> exactly. >> people were disappointed. they were searching and hoping it was going to be an iphone 5 and a lot of people were disappointed but the iphone 4s was in fact what resulted. went on to become a huge hit. >> a story that dominated headlines for a long time was libya and obviously the eventual death of moammar gadhafi, and the raid that killed osama bin laden was one of the most searched news items of the year. >> right. exactly. and on the list of the most searched people. by the way, this is in order. you know, you would think that maybe president obama, maybe even today newt gingrich would be in the top five. no, in fact. they are not in the top five

because the top -- number five -- the most googled person was casey anthony which is a really -- a trial. that story caused a lot of emotions. >> the hip hop artist, nikki -- >> she is so fun. lady gaga we would expect to be on that list. >> right. >> she was number three. then at number two? >> kim kardashian. >> and who do you think the number one most searched person was on google in 2011? >> hit it. >> justin bieber. there you go. >> bieber fever. >> okay. and weddings. >> if you were a royal watcher obviously you had something going. but interestingly enough, not the most popular search here in the states when it came to weddings. we had the kim kardashian wedding, i should say the nikola shea wedding. >> that's four. >> then the khloe and lamar wedding. >> lamar odom. >> very interesting. >> yes. >> and of course we got to witness the royal wedding kiss.

>> that's right. >> on the dale connie. how great was that? >> how short was that? >> but then they did number two. >> which was also great. >> they double dipped. >> and number one was the kim kardashian wedding, now in divorce. so the most googled recipes, turns out what americans wanted to eat this year is all about comfort food. bringing it on out right here. and your guesses for what number five was? pancakes, breakfast. okay. well because we don't have time. >> wow. >> okay. >> chili, number four. >> number three? >> so these are all recipes. >> banana bread. >> number one. >> chicken breast. >> what? >> could have a thousand different ways to make chicken breast. >> that is basically saying the internet has become now our cookbook. we're starting to go to the internet to figure out how to make basic things. >> the biggest head scratcher i think was the top rising search video and that was rebecca black that friday video went viral. >> all right. >> her mom paid over $4,000 for

it. there are lots of parodies online. you have to google them to see. >> i got dibs on the meat loaf. >> that's what i want. >> the chicken. >> i have chosen the chili. >> could be a rough third hour. >> i know. golden globe nominations. come on. bring it. bring it. mm-hmm. first your local news.

good morning. a san francisco community is keeping a lower watch over its neighborhood after several women were attacked. there have been two rape overseas a three-week period along 24th street in the mission district. police believe that the rapist is still in the area. there is a sketch of the man investigators say attack wood women. police also released a video of a person they believe is a suspect. you can't really make out his face but investigators hope someone will recognize him before he strikes again. let's take a look at the morning commute. >> still a horribly slow drive northbound 680 as you are

leaving the curve off of washington out of fremont. heading up towards highway 84. westbound. that transition is also closed. still trying on remove the big rig from the shoulder and down the embankment. looks like maybe at least another hour. progress hopefully being made there. looking at another slow drive as well through oakland. 880 and 580 on the maps. just really red three area. that's why. look at all the cars. no accidents. 580 and 880 through oakland jammed up because of the volume of the commute and also slick roads just lower the speeds. back to you. >> lot of folks tout the door. for the latest traffic news updates, check us out facebook. another local update in a half an hour. [ male announcer ] it's a rule of nature.

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thank you. >> it is 8:30 on a thursday morning and also the 15th day of december, 2011. got a nice crowd in the giving mood this morning taking part in our 18th annual holiday toy drive. right now our elves this morning, the cast of the emmy winning series collecting our donations and big news to share about them. we'll do that in a moment when

we talk to them. out on the plaza i'm matt lauer with ann curry, natalie morales, and al roker. >> we'll break down the golden globe nominations out in beverly hills this morning. >> that's always fun. >> yep. >> also coming up couples are always busy but have we got to the point where we actually have to schedule those intimate moments with our partners? the professionals will talk about that as one of our topics. get them going. >> check your iphone. and tomorrow -- there is an app for that. tomorrow on "today" it's our annual look at all the big moments from the past year here on "today." we had plenty including meredith leaving and ann taking over the anchor desk. the royal wedding. matt's "where in the world" adventure. hey now. so much more. >> yes. >> hey now. these are not the droids you're looking for. >> exactly. let us say hello to cast of the

popular series "dounton abbey" following the lives of servants and aristrocrats during world war ii. good morning to all of you. >> good morning. congratulations. you guys were nominated for a golden globe award this morning. how does it feel? >> we're happy. >> amazing. >> wonderful. >> you're okay with it? for people who don't know about this series describe it if you will. >> it takes place in a grand house just after the world war i which would be the series and it's the intertwining lives of the servants downstairs and the family upstairs and as the great war unfolds. >> and how your relationship is affected. you play a lord and lady right? >> we do. >> and how is your relationship affected by world war i as

people start to -- you start to lose people to this war? >> well the great war obviously wiped out a whole generation and the house that has been populated by, you know, male and female staff in the first season. in the second season in the middle of the war we see those men go off after the war and the house changes forever really. >> because of that, that includes some of the loss of life and perhaps your characters so who is going to stick around for season three? >> raise your hand if you'll be here for the christmas party. all right? >> not so fast. >> congratulations once again. >> thank you very much. >> good for you. >> all right. >> mr. roker? >> all right. let's show you what's happening as we head toward your weekend. tomorrow we've got rain in the southeast and the gulf coast. santa ana winds may be kicking up again tomorrow in southern california. showers in the pacific northwest. as we move into saturday we're looking at morning showers along the mid-atlantic coast. showers down in florida.

and some wet weather along the pacific northwest coast. sunday we've got some snow showers. i forgot to do it. sunday sunday we're looking at showers down in the southwest. also coastal oregon we've got more wet weather possible down in souther there's a live look at the golden gate bridge. roadway starting to dry out. radar shows how most of the widespread rain is changing to isolated showers. seeing some of that around san jose towards san leandro. sonoma seeing light rain, too. most of the action will fall now through about lunch time. showers shutting down. heading off to the south and east. san jose. some clearing today. it will be cool. highs in the low to mid 50s today. tomorrow winds pick up offshore. we will see more shine and warming friday into the weekend. don't forget, get your weather any time of the day or night. go to the weather channel on cable or weather.com online. >> you turned that into one long word. >> i did. just no pause. when we come back the golden globe nominations for this year. first, this is "today" on nbc.

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hollywood is getting an early wakeup this morning for the 69th annual golden globe nominations. >> we'll get to the announcement in just a moment. there were so many wonderful, wonderful movies this year. what really gets you is just the huge names that are up for these awards. if you look for, example, in the actress comedy, you've got people like charlize theron, kristin wigg, michelle williams for "my week with marilynn." rooney measura, meryl streep

nominated in the actress in a drama category. >> there's so much. also for the men you have brad pitt for "money ball" and george clooney for "descendants." a lot of buzz about that. also, there is steve bouchemi and gabriel burns. those are for tv, right? >> those are best actor in a drama. >> leonardo decaprio, right? >> exactly right. for the first time in how long has it been that we can say this? there is a silent movie nominate for the best musical or comedy. that, of course, is the movie "the artist" about a 1920s actor during the silent era who falls in love with an up and coming actor and then watches as his career fades during talkies and hers rises. those are some of the highlights. let's take a look at how the no, ma'am nags went down live a little bit earlier this morning out in hollywood. with us this morning are

rashida jones, gerrard butler, and woody haralson. please get us started. >> best performian by a actor in a miniseries or motion picture made for television. hugh boniville, masterpiece, edris elba "luther" william hurt, "too big to fail," bill nye, page eight masterpiece, dominik west, "the hour." best performance by an actor in a television series drama. steve bushemi "boardwalk empire" and brian cranston "breaking bad." kelsey grammer, "boss." jeremy irons, damian lewis "homeland." best television series drama. "american horror story fx."

"boardwalk empire" hbo. "boss" stars. "game of thrones" hbo. "homeland" showtime. best performance by an actor in motion picture, comedy, or musical. jeanne gudardine. "the artist." gleason "the guard." joseph gordon livt "60/50." ryan gosling "crazy, stupid love." owen wilson "midnight in paris." [ applause ] >> best performance by an actress in a supporting role and motion picture bernice bejo "the artist," jessica kestine. "the help." octavia spencer "the help" and shealene woodly "the descendants."

best performance by an actor in a motion picture drama. george clooney "the descendants." leonardo dicaprio "j edgar." michael fasbender "shame" and ryan gosling "the ides of march" and brad pitt "money ball." >> did you leave one name off of there? >> it's so weird. it was here but they typexed it out. i don't know what that means. best motion picture in a comedy or musical, "50/50" "the artist" "bridesmaids" "midnight in paris" and "my week with marilyn."

[ applause ] >> best performance by an actress in a mini series or motion picture made for television. roman igidi" the hour" and diane lane, elizabeth mcgovern, emily watson "appropriate adult" kate winslet "mildred pierce." best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture, kenneth briana "my week with marilyn." albert brooks "drive." jonah hill "money ball." mortinson, "a dangerous method." christopher plummer "beginners." best director motion picture woody allen "midnight in paris." george clooney "the ides of march." michael hasinovichich "the artist." alexander payne "the descendant." martin corsez "hugo."

>> best performance by an actress in a motion picture drama, glenn close "albert nobs" viola davis "the help" rooney tatoo," meryl streep "the iron lady." tilda swenton. "we need to talk about kevin." best performance by an actress in an motion picture, comedy, or musical. jodi foster "carnage." charlize theron "young adult." kristin wigg "bridesmaids." michelle williams "my week with marilyn." kate winslet "carnage."

"rampart" opens january 27th. but i don't see it on the list here. just a lot of things left off today. i just want to say. okay. "the descendants," "the help," "hugo," "the ides of march," "money ball," "war horse." [ applause ] >> congratulations to all the nominees. don't forget to join us on sunday, january 15th, for the golden globe awards hosted by ricky gervais live on nbc. >> got through it. >> thank you, everybody.

>> all right. that was pretty exciting about all of these nominations. we want to immediately go to the person who -- some of the people who have been nominated. we've got the silent film "artist," now golden globe nominated. we also have jean dujardine and belmisa. first of all, congratulations. how -- what is your reaction? what is your reaction to being nominated? there you go. >> jean, we'll get to bernice in a second. can you even describe what it was like to prepare for this role? i mean, it's not every day that an actor gets asked to act in a silent movie. >> like a good student, i watched a lot of movies. i watched silent movies like

"sun rise," "the crowd" and i watched a lot of douglas fairbanks movies because he always plays the same role like george valentine, my character. i watched movies for his smile, for his movement. victorio for his italian physicality. clark gable for his mustache. and he was a movie star in 1920. >> and your role in this movie really -- >> of course i watched lassie and rin tin-tin. >> all of those characters really showed up on the screen in your role. let's get to bernice. what is your reaction to this news? you've been nominated for a golden globe. >> i did like that.

i'm so proud of everybody and so proud of michelle, jean, i'm very excited. i'm very moved. so, yeah. i'm very happy. as you can see. >> and emotional as well. >> yes. >> this was a movie that is a silent picture. it certainly is a come from behind in many ways because people weren't sure what to expect. so congratulations. >> to both of you. and thank you for joining us this morning on what is a very big day for both of you. >> enjoy this. >> thank you very much. >> let's bring in jess one more second. obviously that is a kind of a movie a lot of people are going to have to learn more about. any other surprises as you went through the list and listened to the nominations? >> i'm thrilled for george clooney because i really expected him to get nominated for "the descendants" in the lead actor role which he did but also he was nominated for directing the "ides of march" and that movie was very close to his heart and got a lot of attention today. that was nice. i was thrilled to see rooney mara from "the girl with a dragon tatoo." sdmru didn't have a doubt about that. she's extraordinary in that. >> she is an unknown.

this is her first big break-out role. >> yes, but also it didn't get some of the guild and critics awards that you expected it to, so i was thrilled to see. it didn't get nominated, though, for best drama, which i wish it had. but she is amazing. amazing. >> amazing. you got that from all of us here. >> thank you for your cheat sheet. thanks for your time this morning, jess. we appreciate it. a reminder you can catch the golden globes january 15th here on nbc. we're back in a moment. this is "today" on nbc. th here on nbc. this is "today" on nbc.

this morning on leonard's look looking at something different. a new series called "catholicism" explores the history of the catholic church. and it looks to find the true meaning of a religion that's been questioned and criticized for having too many rules. let's take a look. >> i know you might be thinking,

laws, rules, regulations. weren't ten enough? now we have eight more. it seems at times the catholic church is obsessed with rules and regulations. what is jesus telling us here on the mount of beatitudes? he is telling us the laws, the rules if you want that will place within our bodies and our minds and our spirit the capacity for joy. >> father robert barren is the host and writer as you just saw of "the catholicism" series and "today's" mike leonard is the produc producer. goodness. you even put on a jacket. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> father, i'll quote you now. you say the church is going through a dark period. the church is under fire, under attack. we need to tell our own story. to some degree is this about moving, trying to move the church so that it's not only to de find by this child sexual abuse scandal of recent decades? >> i think that's part of it.

obviously we're going through this crisis tan has to be addressed at every level with great honesty, definitive action. the sexual abuse scandal has harmed the church in almost every way and produced thousands of innocent victims. we have to address it as mightily as we can. at the same time, i don't want the church to be simply reduced to it. 2,000 years of art and architecture, theology, spirituality, the saints, liturgy, all this richness, i don't want to reduce to the present scandal as serious as that is. that was part of the motivation for doing this. >> which led you then to the very talented mike leonard, who is like me, i think, fair to say, a fallen catholic. how did you get involved? >> i was born and raised that. went to catholic schools. i was, you know, not really there. when they said they wanted to do this and because i'm a story teller, you don't want me. father barren and nancy said, no, we do want you because you come with the same questions, the skepticism, the simple questions that produce profound answers. i found some.

i mean t.'s about mercy and compassion and forgiveness and nonviolence. i forgot all of that stuff. you get hung up in things are going wrong but it's interesting. i didn't pay attention as young man. >> exactly. as many of us don't. >> right. >> we remember the swinging incense but some of the major issues actually become a part of us more than we realize. 2,000 years has taken you to what, 15 countries, over four years, so what is the most important lesson you want for people to get? >> i want them to get what we mentioned in the outset. that it's about joy. what god wants to share with us is his own life and his life is joy. joy is a sign the holy spirit is in you. everything else in the church contributes to that. all the rules and regulations. it's like the rules that govern a golf swing. if you get the rules inside of you you can have the joy of hitting a golf ball well. in the same way when you internalize the rules of the church you find the joy of the holy spirit. that's finding what it's about. when we forget that the church can evolve into less than something it should be.

>> i love a father who can make a sports analogy about religion. thank you so much. such a pleasure. >> nice seeing you, ann. >> thanks for dressing up for us mr. executive producer. >> doesn't happen often. >> the new series is called "catholicism." just ahead, today's professionals tackle the hot topics. first th

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congratulations to elizabeth mcgovern who was just nominated for a golden globe, lead actress in a television movie or mini series. congratulations. >> thank you very much. and my partner hugh bonneville as well and meg smith and the rest of that incredible cast. we are just ecstatic. >> were you jumping up and down? >> yes. i tried to stay cool but i'm actually ecstatic. >> you're going to stick around and talk to hoda and kathie lee? >> i am. >> fantastic. congratulations again. >> thank you so much. >> that's a good feeling around here. we'll have much more on a good morning. californians are rallying againstingi trigger cuts in the state budget. they are upset about governor brown's announcement trigger cuts to education, busses and services for disabled and elderly would begin in january. several rallies are planned

statewide including san jose, los angeles, riverside, sacramento. get a look at the forecast. >> we are watching the rain starting to push away from the bay area. one more wave here that's dropping in from free sxhont into near san jose. will be see thing around the south and east. most of the rain moved on and tomorrow breezy and dry conditions coming back to the bay area. highs in the 60s. another local news update in a half hour. howdy folks! jack box here, with my new outlaw burger.

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back now with more of "today" on a thursday morning, the 15th of december, 2011. ten days, i guess nine shopping days until christmas. you wouldn't know that the weather is going to be in the upper 50s today. it's a little unseasonable here in new yorcity. could get some rain a little later on. al is going to talk more about that in a couple minutes. inside the studio i'm matt lauer with ann curry, savannah guthrie, and al roker. who is going to be leading our today's panel of professionals? you. >> i will be. we have a lot to tackle including the golden globe nominations just announced this morning. a lot of great films and actors

were nominated but there were a few surprises. we'll talk about that. then a young woman who claims to have used match.com to date for food. basically she acknowledged using these guys for free meals. is this par for the course when it comes to online dating? >> i think more par for the course in the economy these days. >> a sign of the times. a provocative question. is it okay to schedule sex? >> you mean among men? >> well, star jones, donny deutsch and dr. nancy will weigh in on that. >> and it's probably happened to a lot of you. your outspoken uncle maybe has a little bit too much to drink at the family get together. co-worker gives you a gift. you don't have anything in return. coming up, we'll help you navigate some awkward holiday situations. >> good. that sounds timely. and also coming up this time of the year if you're bouncing from one party to the next or planning a trip for christmas bobbie thomas is here with must have items she calls them to keep you glam on the go. >> all right. before we get to all that let's go over to the news desk.

natalie is standing by with a look at the headlines. good morning to you all. good morning, everyone. the war in iraq officially ends today as defense secretary leon panetta announced this morning in a ceremony that ends the nearly nine-year u.s. mission there. on wednesday president obama held a welcome home celebration at fort bragg in north carolina as servicemen and women returned to their families in time for the holidays. all u.s. troops are set to leave iraq by the december 31st deadline. but the obama administration has vowed to provide continued civilian assistance on the ground. the u.s. economy is getting a bigger than expected boost from holiday shoppers. the nation's largest retail trade group now says it expects holiday sales to rise 3.8%, up a full percentage point from its earlier forecast. tragedy was averted overnight at the lucky friday silver mine in idaho after a rock burst trapped and injured seven workers. all of them were rescued. some 25 miners were in the area at the time. again, all of them escaped

safely. the lucky friday mine is one of the nation's deepest and two other miners died there earlier this year in separate incidents. yet another company has pulled its commercials from tlc's "all american muslim." the travel website kayak has now joined home improvement retailer lowe's and pulled its ads during the reality show. "kayak" is defending its decision saying tlc was not up front about the nature of the show. the docu-series follows the daily lives of five muslim american families in michigan. and a little holiday cheer in north texas might have you quaking in your boots at first before you then jump for joy. police officers in prosper, texas are pulling over drivers and giving them not tickets but holiday gift cards as a reward for obeying traffic safety rules. now, that we like. it is three minutes past the hour. let's go back to al for a check of your weather. today's weather is brought to you by keurig. choose, brew, enjoy.

word gets out they're doing that where will all the high speed chases go to? owt'shs y i wshthas going on. again, we have a lot of wet weather. snow in northern new england will eventually change over to rain but the wtet werth extends down into texas where we expect northern texas into oklahoma anywhere from 1 to 3 inches of rain but generally about an inch around most of that area as we look around the rest of the country and we've got this rain making its way into the pacific northwest and northern california, some showers moving to the northeast later on. and some hit or miss showers and thunderstorms down t good thursday morning. we are watching scattered showers dropping into the south bay away from fremont. moving down to san jose, showers to the east. you can see the showers now. right over here. by lunch time most of the showers are going to be moving out of the bay area by 4:00. highs in the mid 50s. some clearing today.

lot more clearing tomorrow. winds start to pick up, we will start to see the as many as climb and a dry start to the weekend. and that's your latest weather. savannah? ♪ taking care of business every day ♪ >> thanks, al. to today's professionals our team of power players taking on the hottest stories and trends making news. star jones is an attorney and author. donny deutsch is chairman of deutsch incorporated and dr. nancy snyderman is nbc's chief medical editor. good morning to all of you. donny, you're in trouble. do you know there is a blogger on huffington post who was watching this segment a couple of weeks ago. you made a remark. we were talking about women's fertility, the fertility math. you said to women, trust me, you should have a baby on your own if you want to have a baby and, in fact, men will find you more attractive. let me tell you, melanie was watching, a blogger for the huffington post, and has something to say about it and

joins us on the phone. good morning. donny is his lening. >> good morning, melanie. >> donny deutsch, what is the big idea telling women they should have a baby on their own voluntarily? do you understand the amount of financial backup you need with that, the type of family you need behind that to help you do it? and then really, honestly, so many of us just dream of falling in love and have a baby with that man. >> that's it. >> okay. >> therein lies the problem. >> that's what donny -- let donny respond. >> first of all, ideally obviously with a man doing it with a partner is the way to go. there is just no question about that. what i'm saying though is that for women in their late 30s, early 40s who so desperately want a family and want a child, i know it's not easy whether it's daycare, you have a relative that can help you out, all i am saying is it is such a shame. i meet so many women who so want to have a child and i'm saying it's not the first choice but if it is not happening with a plan just go for it. >> let me get the ladies in on it. as i understood melanie's column

she is basically saying donny in a way you made us single women feel worse about not doing it on our own. already people feel bad. >> no, no. that is the last thing. i want to empower women, if some of them are thinking about it go for it of course. >> as you said your biggest regret was not having children. >> my biggest regret was not doing it at a time when my eggs were not powder. but in all honesty i've never wanted to be that girl. there are a lot of african-american women who do this every day. my mom was a single mom initially. i got to tell you it's just not the easiest thing. i don't think -- >> nobody says it's easy. >> i don't think i could ever advocate to a young woman just go out there and do it on your own. >> i'm saying to a woman if you really want a child -- >> adopt. >> that isn't going to make it easier. >> it is not about feminism. it's about individual choice. i mean, i consider myself a card carrying feminist and mother of three. it's not about maligning those who decide not to have children

versus those who do. it is about personal choice. if you are going to decide to be a single mother you have to look at the economics up front. it's a big step. >> i just don't think people who don't have money make that decision. like i'm just going to go out, get pregnant, and do it on my own. >> it's -- it sounds like a decision that could be a luxury for some. you have to have the means and the support. melanie, i'll let you get the last word on this. >> donny, you also said women will be more attractive to men. i kind of understand what you're saying that the bravery and motherhood looks good on most women but we do enough to be attractive to men. >> of course you do. >> most of us who don't have children by the time we reach 40 have a lot going on for us. we just haven't met the right match. so to add that extra pressure that we're still not doing enough. >> melanie, nobody is saying -- by the way if you choose not to that's wonderful. all i'm saying is if air afraid to do it because you don't have a man don't let that stand in the way. >> melanie, for being brave enough to write you win the date with donny deutsch. no surprise.

>> a booby prize. >> thanks for watching and writing about it. a good discussion and you helped it along. appreciate it. let's move on to the next topic. are women better bosses? there is a study in england of a thousand bosses male and female and it found among other things that women in charge are more tolerant of people doing personal things on the computer, checking facebook or maybe making a personal appointment and so some people have the perception that women are actually better bosses. >> on the grounds that it may incriminate me i refuse to answer any questions. >> why is that? >> yes, i've had women bosses, absolutely. >> okay. she doesn't -- >> i think women are better bosses. they're superior in business. they bring less to the game of who's bigger and what not. men so often -- >> that's not true. >> look, i've managed thousands of people. i think women -- >> i've been managed by. >> i'm just telling you i think women bring less emotional baggage about who is bigger. give me a woman every time. >> i've never had a female boss. as a surgeon every -- everyone

who ever taught me, every one of my seniors was always a man. i've never had a female mentor canema. my whole world has been men. >> i think the study caught the eyes of our producers because there had been this perception that women are difficult to work for. >> you're saying women and women. >> i think women -- >> women are collaborative. >> i think women like men depending on who they are can be intense, can be strong, can be supportive but i got to tell you i've not found that there is a difference just because of gender. >> let's move on to our next topic. dating for dinner. this is a doozie. a young woman here in the new york area acknowledged using match.com to basically serially date so she could go out to nice restaurants in manhattan. she only made about $45,000 a year. this would cause some controversy because think oh, here is a gold digger or is she resourceful? >> what is the most valuable commodity in your life? it's your time. so if your whole idea is to go out and get a good meal you have to sit across the table from a lot of bozos to get a decent

meal. i'm not sure it is worth the conversation. at some point it's dangerous. >> she is not transparent and saying i'm dating you for the free meal -- >> i will say something that will generate even more bloggers. every conversation is a contract whether nightly, yearly, or a lifetime. if she chooses to go out with a man to get a meal let her do that. who is to say -- >> but the contract, she is not telling him. >> that's okay. >> a contract is not valid unless two parties meet and there is an agreement. there is not an agreement to do this. >> maybe the guy is coming in and just wants a physical relationship. he doesn't tell her. she can do what she wants. >> i would get that contract thrown out. >> by the way i don't mean a literal contract. but who is to sit in judgment? >> i think there is a danger element here. if a woman goes out with a guy for five years there is sooner or later an expectation of sex. >> a different guy every night. >> yeah. >> we now know who you are. we're just haggling over the price. that is what it is. >> if a woman, we all live in a

very comfortable environment financially. if a woman, one of the reasons she is with a man is for financial reasons that's her choice. that doesn't make her a bad person. >> i want to wrap it and get to our last topic. scheduling sex. we did a poll that showed 50% of people actually put sex on their calendar and 35% schedule it a few hours in advance. >> i had lunch with donny yesterday and during lunch he was scheduling what he was going to do in the evening so i know he does this. >> do you think it's a good idea? >> by the way. say you know when you eat a lot or drink a lot you're less up for the game so to speak why not say hey honey maybe later on tonight -- >> doesn't sound too romantic. >> date nights have become very popular. >> maybe romance has nothing to do with it. >> all female bloggers are saying, donny, you have no idea what you're talking about. what is the address? >> your e-mail address? >> all right. star jones, donny deutsch, dr. nancy. happy holidays, guys. thanks so much. coming up next dealing with

awkward situations. i'll be watching this one. when you get together with your family, friends, and co-workers at the holiday parties. and later with all the holiday hustle we'll show you how toer ouoklor be y on the go. coming up right after this. keurig has a wide variety of gourmet coffee and tea to choose from. keurig is the way to brew fresh, delicious coffee in under a minute. way to brew. so with keurig, every cup tastes like it's brewed just for you. because it is. yi mean you've got like five chundred dollars worth of nuts here, you do the math. be five percent more merry with the target red card, by getting an extra 5% off, our already low prices. . . . . . . amins your body needs.

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ensure that you're always in the loop. it'snow you do it... ♪ the christmas season is all about being with family, gathering together and giving and receiving gifts but that holiday cheer can lead to uncomfortable situations. here with advice on how to get through it here is the author of "a happy you" and psychiatrist and contributing editor, good to see you guys. >> good to be here. >> everybody loves the holidays but some of us look forward with a little dread because of what may come up with your family. >> yes, yes. a lot of times we're not with our family except for over the holidays. it can drudge up those experiences that they had in the past. that can be a little stressful. >> you say you can measure the discomfort by the gap between what you wish for and what is really going on. >> i think everybody goes into the holidays with those magical thoughts from before and think

this is going to be wonderful and i love to be together. while that's partially true, that high expectation means there is going to be this gap between that and what actually happens. that's what ends up being disappointing and making it uncomfortable and awkward. let me say i think this is the rule. this is not the exception. >> yeah. >> when you go and you are with family and it's exciting and it's tense and you're all packed together, something is going to happen. >> just expect it. >> expect it. if you are ready for it, then you're want going to be as disturbed by it. >> elizabeth, get to somebody's house and you've got certain diet restrictions or for whatever reason, and you're being offered food that you know you don't want to eat. >> right. i think it is important to do two things. respect the host and respect yourself. so respect the host because the host wants to know that the time and the energy and the effort that they put into this was worth it. so taste what it is. tell her how great it. you know, say how wonderful everything is. but also respect yourself in terms of what you can eat. >> food is love. it's -- they're trying to love you when they stuff you and you

just have to say, thank you. i do feel loved but i also love my body and my health. >> but do you also -- when you get, talk about family members, there is always -- everybody's got one family member that pushes that button. >>nly one? >> i am being generous. >> at least one! i was going to say. >> how do you handle that? >> yeah. >> you know you'll butt heads. >> you know it's going to happen. have a few lines ready to frankly shut them down. the truth is if they feel they can say, you know, oh, you're not married yet? oh, you gained a little weight? oh, your son isn't working? it's okay to say, you know what? this isn't the place. i don't want to talk about that now. that's quite enough. >> you don't want to make a scene. zoo don't want to make a scene because you're not going to solve anything there. you can completely devolve the holiday, which would be a shame. then take it up with them later. just close it down. >> elizabeth, you get into the big room and you see across the way that person that you don't get along with. do you avoid them? what do you do? >> yes. avoid them.

you don't have to talk to everyone. you don't have to. that's okay. i think, too, if you're stuck with someone you have to spend time with who you don't really like try to figure out certain topics or even activities that you can do together. so that you don't have to go kind of -- >> you can ask the host if you know in advance. you can say, please don't seat me next to so and so. >> absolutely. >> that is okay. >> what about the relative that you know is inevitably going to hit the egg nog really hard? >> that will definitely be inevitable because celebrating for many people equals alcohol. and tension, which is what we're talking about, equals more alcohol. it is your responsibility as the host to not let people get completely sloshed in your home. it's not good for the relationships. how do you cut the person off? >> first of all, have food out first. if they have food in their stomach they are less likely to get sloshed. if you're serving at a certain point it is okay to say i'm cutting you off. we just have to stop here. >> really quickly somebody gives you a gift and you don't have one to give back. >> you know what? this is a situation where words can be your gift. you can, if you, instead of

getting embarrassed and closing down say, "thank you i really appreciate it" and you mean so much to me. give them those lovely words and you will feel you've created an equal gift. >> thank you so much. elizabeth and gale, thank you. you mean so much to me. getting the whole family in the holiday spirit, you know how you do that? christmas cookies. aye! but first these messages. now that's a gift. yeah, baby. [ female announcer ] find yourself sometimes cleaning up after your dishcloth? bounty extra soft can help. it's super durable, and in this lab test bounty extra soft leaves this surface three times cleaner than a dishcloth. even with just one sheet. super clean. super soft. bounty extra soft. in the pink pack. and try bounty napkins.

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[ horse neighs ] you're leaving. it is my destiny. ♪ take this. it is a piece of me. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's movie time. with a wii twist. netflix now delivers unlimited tv episodes and movies instantly through wii and nintendo 3ds. all for only 8 bucks a month. seriously, wt is it? laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? ♪ [ male announcer ] the new united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in.

♪ hark how the bells, sweet silver bells ♪ ♪ all seem to say throw care away ♪ ♪ from everywhere, filling the air ♪ [ female announcer ] chex party mix. easy 15-minute homemade recipes you just pop in a microwave. like caramel chocolate drizzles. happier holidays. chex party mix. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. removes 99% of dirt and toxins without dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. so skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] from neutrogena® naturals. we want to express our sincere gratitude to all the fine folks helping us in our 18th annual toy drive. the stars of the new series

"downton abbey" here to help us collect. >> we want to say thank you to a long-time partner for joining us for the toy drive and lending a hand. good friend to all of us. what is sara lee donating? >> we are so excited to be part of this. we are donating $200,000, natalie, of breakfast, lunch, and dinner treats to kids all over the country. jimmy dean, ballpark franks. hillshire farm, sara lee, you name it. we'll make sure their bellies are full for the holidays. >> sara lee very big on giving back to the community. >> yes. we have a long history of doing that for the last 31 years and helping out those in need, work wg great organizations, share our strength, feeding america, some terrific organizations. >> and you're going to sing for us. >> absolutely. >> after we take a break. people don't know ♪ i'm dreaming of a white christmas ♪ >> right about now -- ♪ just like the ones i used to

know ♪ >> john, from sara lee. >> thank you. coming up we have more. cards are not for sending.emaly ♪ [ laughs ] [ laughs ] [ woman ] i want to see that. careful. careful. careful. good. ♪ [ female announcer ] they're for bringing us together. ♪ this holiday, select hallmark cards come postage-paid. ♪ [ laughs ] ♪ ♪ it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d.

and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. good morning. authorities in southern california are on the lookout for man who is suspected of raping and beat agbai area woman. chp officers say stephen paul clark at a rest stop late last night. clark ran away you about officers were able to catch a woman who was with him. officers tell our sister station in san diego the woman was clark's ex-girlfriend. he's wanted in contra costa county for raping a woman over the week. that woman is still in critical condition at a hospital. men time, san francisco police are searching for another rape suspect wanted for taking

two women on 24th street over a three-week period. it happened in the mission district. police have released a sketch of the suspect and are offering a $25,000 reward for information. police also released new video from surveillance cameras hoping someone will recognize the man. last night hundreds of concerned neighbors showed up for a meeting with the police to learn more about what happened. they have been talking about installing more lighting on the streets. we are g foreckca thastt forest and the roads after the break.

we are still watching the showers winding down around the bay area. seeing one more wave coming into san jose dropping through milpitas now. we are going to be approaching the noon area. we should see most of the showers heading out of the bay area. cool temperatures. you can see highs eventually climbing into the mid 50s. showers out of the bay area by 4:00 and 5:00. tomorrow breezy and dry. looks like we will see those temperatures climbing closer to 60 this weekend.

>> rain is not the big deal now. the big deal is this big rig still trying to get removed from northbound. 680, highway 84. just reopened the highway 84 west exit off of 680 but have two lanes blocked. another- hour until they can get the rig completely moved. from time to time just like right now we see the northbound traffic almost completely stopped heading north. look the the map. slow out of milpitas from mission boulevard to fremont and in the opposite direction slows hayward to fremont. >> those poor commuters. thank you. we will be back with our next news and weather update in 30 minutes. that means we will see you again at 9:56.

♪ >> boy. synchronized. >> we have got the moves. some of the fun we have >> that's some of the fun we have had this year. tomorrow on today, we're going to take you on a journey to 2011 from studio 1 a in our year ender. >> that's right. >> a lot of dancing. and a lot of laughing. >> coming up in this half hour, it's a busy time of year between parties, shopping for gifts and family time. how do you stay glamorous?

bobby thomas has tips on keeping you glam on the glow. >> you and your kids are making co cookies this year for santa. we're going to show you three great recipes in today's kitchen. easy ways to decorate them too. >> and our book club is in session. that's right our book club for kids. this morning, a book that's about to come to life on the big scre screen. "war house." we're going to find out what our panel of kids think about it. >> first a check of the weather. >> going to do some shopping tomorrow. we have sunny and mild conditions down in florida. it's going to be windy in california. for saturday, we're expecting sunny but cold conditions in new england. showers move into the pacific northwest. sunday, we have some showers on

the oregon coast. you can see how a lot of moisture now moving out of the bay area. but still dropping showers around morgan hill, highway 10 10 1. still light rain here. milpitas dropping into downtown san jose next five minutes or so. yes, see air a snow flying. this system will be the last, i think for a while. we will call for showers, lingering into the afternoon for the far south bay. but should see temperatures in the mid 50s. tomorrow winds pick out of the north. we dry out and warm up. and that's your latest weather. >> all right. thank you. next, glamour on the go. bobby thomas is here with your must have items right after this. they can outsmart their humans.

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4 nutritious grains come together for more taste, more healthy satisfaction. get more with honey bunches of oats. this morning on bobbie's style buzz, glam on the go. 'tis the season for travel so whether you're planning an exotic escape or short car ride to grandma's house you always want to look your best. today's style editor and bobbie.com's bobbie thomas has tips and always looks good on the go. good morning. >> with a lot of help. >> we have a lot of great things to get to. really innovative things as well. our first group of items speaking of innovation, what you call small wonders when it comes to traveling. >> who wants to leave home without their tooth brush? >> tell us about this tooth brush. >> i love this. it's only $25 and is an electronic, sonic tooth brush, a fantastic way to get something you might use at home which you can take on the go. it's pretty powerful. >> how long will it last?

>> you can change the battery. a regular double-a battery. >> okay. >> this is a great idea. >> if you have your regular tooth brush this, whether you're traveling or not i think in the bathroom it's great. three months it will sanitize your tooth brush. keep that clipped on the head. >> now, makeup brushes. we hate to carry them around. it's just a lot of extras. this is really cool. >> this is the wonder wand. it's magnetic and every brush you need to do your apologize or your makeup is all magnetically clipped into one stick. >> that's brilliant. >> one wand for $10. >> you can't beat that. >> such a great guy. >> who hates getting a chipped nail? you get your care on your special trip this time the year. >> these are by mr. and mrs. the empty bottles allow you to pour your color in and they come with the great nail polish remover pads. really inexpensive smart buy. you'll use it all year long. put it in your purse. >> bobbie brown has something great for travelers swelg. you don't like to lug your makeup everywhere you go.

>> she came up with a set of empties. whether you use her products or some others what i love so much about her empties for $10 you get all the bottles you see but this little miniature funnel and labels so you won't spill the product and you can know what's in those bottles after. >> perfect. per fum. you don't want to drag your bottle around. >> something bigger. this is called the travelello. the bottom of this little bottle will allow you to pump it right inside. you can take five to seven days' worth of perfume with you. >> if you're going somewhere cold, vaseline makes a traveler size. >> it's a new size for traveling. >> frequent traveler tips. you have something good to share. >> a lot of people when they get to the airport, i see all these bags. you can only take one on.

get a shopper. invest. you can put your purse inside. then your magazines and the kids' stuff. so you still have the one bag. i have a packing checklist i always print out to make sure i don't forget anything. i also like to use plastic bags to take my jewelry and small things. these bags are great. there's two compartments in one bag. you can split up makeup and toiletries. these are comforts from home. i love these. these are lux travel slippers. the city slips. this is going to funny. from a medical support online store, these are socks with sol soles. they are the most comfortable thing es. you can roll them up in your pur purse. >> and then if you're one of those people you're done with the curling iron and it's still hot. >> you have to slip it inside a

bag. they are essential. if you want a sash and extra bag, such a good idea. with gifts and everything else, it's just this big but it expands to check that. >> i want to save time for this. we have no time left. if you need your fix of exercise in a hotel room. >> don't dragmat. yoga paws for feet and hands turn anything into a yoga mat surface. >> this is a life saver. >> luggage locater. put the tag on your bag and when it comes through the care sel. >> it beeps and will find you. >> you have this key chain and it starts beeping or flashing. so no more losing your luggage. >> you don't have to stare at every black bag. >> or trading with somebody else. bobbie thomas thanks so much. happy holidays. >> you too. >> coming up next a real page turner. al's book club for kids. the popular book "war horse." later christmas cookies that are easy and fun to make aor tse. [ female announcer ] why shop at walgreens for your stocking stuffers?

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honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. best foods and holiday leftovers become irresistibly creamy turkey casserole. real delicious best foods. make it real. make it different. this morning on al's book club for kids, "war horse." it was a tony award winning play

and as of this morning war horse was a moving book for kids. it is the story of joey a horse sold away from his beloved owner albert to join the british army on the harsh front lines of world war i. joey fights for survival and wonders whether he will ever reunite with albert. we want to welcome back our book club for kids group. this is their last segment together. bridget, michael, andshamoya and live over skype aubry from north carolina. good morning everybody. this has been an amazing journey. when you wrote the book in 1982, it becomes a play in 2007, about to be released as a major motion picture just nominated for golden globe this morning. this has been a heck of a ride. >> it's been quite good really hasn't it? you don't expect it these days. it's lovely. >> and the kids got a special treat yesterday. they were invited to the broadway show at lincoln center. and i understand michael there was a special guest up on stage. >> yes.

very, very starry actor and dressed up looking like kind of an old country squire. and i had a walk on part and sang a song. >> you sang a song? >> yeah. they gave me a standing ovation. >> wow. how was he in the play, kids? >> he was good. >> all right. you get a big thumbs up. >> they have to say that. >> exactly. let's talk about the book. we want our first, bridget, what is your question? >> i know you have a love of horses but what made you decide to write this book in joey the horse's point of view? >> i wanted to write a story about that terrible war in which 10 million men died and 10 million horses. not from any side. i just wanted it to be from a neutral side and i thought if i had it through the eyes of a horse that meets british soldiers, german soldiers, lives among french people, then you get that vision of how war is terrible for everyone. >> and, michael, what is your question? >> was it hard writing the book

from one view of the war to another like writing from the german side to the french side? >> it was hard. i had to do a fair bit of research. i'm all right from the british side because i'm british. and i went to france and i speak french and so that was all right. the german side i did find more difficult. i had to do it through research. it's always hard but wonderful to do. >> all right. shamoya, what is your question? >> this book was a very detailed account of world war i so what kind of research aside from the research you just talked about was required? >> the best research you can do is to be there yourself. i may look old but i was never there. i did the next best thing which is to go meet some soldiers who had been there and talked to them and they told me of their experiences. sadly now they've passed on but it was a wonderful witness, the last people to pass the story on. >> which is really great because in a way this book is part of an oral history. >> it is. absolutely. >> which is story telling at its best. >> absolutely. now let's head over to audrey.

she is live via skype coming from north carolina. good morning. thanks for joining us. >> good morning. >> what is your question? >> i would just like to know what albert was doing while joey was at war. why did he decide to have this -- excuse me -- why did you decide not to include this part of the story? >> because i wanted to follow the horse's journey and in a way almost forget about albert because i -- the point of the story was to see that war and follow the horse's journey through that war. and in the reader's mind i hoped there would always be this longing for them to meet up again. so that it would come almost as a bit of surprise when they do but it would be a longing fulfilled. >> wow. let's find out what the kids thought of war horse. guys? would you recommend it to your friends to read? >> yes. >> definitely. >> wow. that is high praise indeed. you as well, audrey? >> yes.

absolutely. >> all right. let's see how the kids rated the book on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. "war horse" gets four and a half stars. wow. that is terrific. michael? >> i want to meet the person who didn't like it. wouldn't that be more fun? >> have a nice little conversation. >> absolutely i'd have a conversation. >> michael turning all of a sudden. thank you, sir. congratulations. >> you too. >> you guys have done a terrific job. we really appreciate all of your help. folks, we're putting together our next group. if you have a child who wants to join al's book club if they're between the ages of 9 and 12 and live in the tri-state area go to today.com for more information. we want to reveal our next book. it is, "bird in a box" by andrea davis pinkney. coming up next we've got the kids. you can get your kids in the kitchen actually. we're going to be decorating christmas cookies. get them away from the book and into the kitchen.

first this is "today" on nbc.

this morning in "today's holiday kitchen" christmas cookies. susan westmoreland executive editor for good housekeeping has three great cookie recipes from the test kitchen cookbook. this is going to put us in the mood. >> absolutely. >> tell us about the sugar cookie recipe. is it traditional? >> this is like everybody's christmas cookie. you decorate them, hang them on the tree. you just have platters that are so pretty and make you feel good. such a simple recipe. flour, sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder and vanilla. staples. >> roll it out. >> basically you want to roll in one direction and then keep the pastry moving so it won't stick. don't keep rolling it. >> did you put flour on the dough or the roller? >> both. you want to do that. then the other trick is when you're cutting you want to cut like really close together.

>> i made this mistake last week. >> you don't want lots of scraps because every time you reroll they get tougher. >> do you put flour on your cookie cutters? >> these are so beautiful you don't really need to. these are some i've already cut out. i like to hang them on the tree. as you can see there. you just take a straw and you go in here and it just comes right out like this. >> cute. >> we'll do another one here. >> great. >> and then you take the straw again and make the hole look neat. >> these are obviously perfectly prepared. i tend to burn mine. let's be honest. how do you make sure you don't do that? >> you want to watch basically if they're really thin it's harder but just watch the oven. i usually do one or two minutes before the time range. just take a look. turn the oven light on. take a look. >> kind of go on the low end rather than over cook. okay. >> everybody is different. >> got you. >> here we have the frosting. and this is the professional's icing. confectioner's sugar, merangue

powder and water and just those three ingredients. >> that's why it looks so fluffy. >> yes. in the old days before all the egg safety things it used to just be plain old egg whites but now we're safe and we do this. >> put it in a little dish. >> i'll ask you to color one and i'll color one. >> okay. >> then we'll do some decorating. >> great. so how much food coloring do we do? >> this is potent stuff. just try a few drops to start and then a little spatula there? yes. that's probably good. >> sorry. i might have a heavy touch. i can't do anything. this is green. >> this is pretty. >> if you don't have a fancy mixer like that is that okay? >> even a hand mixer -- you do want a hand mixer because you want to beat it for about five minutes. >> what consistency do you want? >> it gets really fluffy. see how this is? this is perfect for spreading. if we're going to pipe and i'll teach awe new word called flooding. you want to thin it out for flooding. >> what is flooding all about?

>> take these over here. >> decorating. look who is here. okay. i'm a mess. >> beautiful. >> we have about a minute left. let's show some of your tricks. >> this is the beautiful snowflakes. >> gorgeous. >> i will flood this. >> okay. show us flooding. >> this is a thinner -- we'll go in here. if you want, you can take, here, let's just go -- >> nice. it requires a little muscle. >> this does. this is beautiful. glad everybody is here. just take a toothpick and go in like see this beautiful stuff here? go in there like that and you get the really professional look. >> you want to let the outline dry first. >> yes. >> it becomes the reservoir. yes. >> these spice cookies smell fantastic. >> my gosh. >> i grew up with these. i love these cookies but also just yum cookies that don't have so much frosting. these are hermits and these are great to do with kids because little fingerprints are just right. >> i'm going online. >> thank you so much. >>

it is 9:56 now. good morning. this morning the two men accused of brutality beating giants fan brian snow will be back in court.

a los angeles judge will decide today if there is enough evidence to bring sanchez and norwood to trial. the men are accused of sucker punching snow and kicking him when he was down outside of dodger stadium outside the season opener in march. snow spent months in a coma after the beating but has shown improvement in recent weeks. talking with loved ones and writing his own name. the attorney for a medical marijuana dispensary in newark says drug agents are retaliating against his client. police raided the happy wellness center in newark wednesday. at the same time agents served a certain much warrant at a danville home where they say four people connected to the pot club lived. police arrested one woman believed to be the manager. the attorney for the dispensary says his client's company is following the law. he calls the raid, quote, harass many. we are going to get to the foreca foreca forecast. >> good morning. right now the trend we are

seeing on the radar clearly is at most of the rain has moved on and exception to the rule morgan hill is still seeing rain there. heading down towards gilroy. a few sprinkles still possible around san jose until lunchtime. highs today in the mid 50s. weather improving and drying out. as we head into friday. one thing that's not improving is that 680 commute. >> that's right. let's get a live look out will. traffic still tied up and looks like it is at a 10:00, 11:00 for the lanes, two out of three are closed now. northbound. highway 84. cut off there heading west and off ramp reopened. map shows you the backup from 84 all the way down until just before you get to mission coming through fremont northbound 680. southbound side slow through pressa a pleasanton. >> thank you, make. we will be back with our next news and weather update in 30 minutes.

we will see you again at 9:26. [ male announcer ] dandruff, meet micro-beads. any last wishes? new selsun blue deep cleansing micro-bead scrub goes to the source wiping out flakes before they flake. new selsun blue deep cleansing. you'd do that for me? really? yeah, i'd like that. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm?

[ jake ] uh... khakis. she sounds hideous. well she's a guy, so... [ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪ captions paid for byte. nbc-universal television happy thirsty thursday, everybody it's december 15th. it's beautiful here in new york. >> it's like a balmy 47 degrees. it's bizarre here. i'm excited for a number of reasons. >> i know the number one reason. >> what? >> hanna's in the house, her little niece she is crazy about.

>> she is actually modeling something. we'll explain a little later. by the way, our moms. >> hi, sandy, hi joni. my mom already lost her jacket. >> and they need their own cookbook. >> they are amazing cooks. your mom brought her baklavah. mommy, what did you make? >> nothing. >> that's my mom. she is retired from being joy to anybody. it's my turn now. >> yesterday i showed you a picture of my christmas bush because it's short and squat. not everyone picks the right one. mine is fine. it's fluffy and needs heels. >> it needs to be put on a table. >> we were asking everybody at home to show us your christmas trees. look what people sent in. it's got a top hat on it. it's a man tree. she doesn't need a man. >> ashley landry, hers is 16

feet tall. gorgeous. >> this is from michelle. oh, no, that is carrie la marka. we have the upside down tree coming up. lee turner, by the way, she says here's her deal. she doesn't care. she is the one going through some tough times, divorce and whatnot. she is like look at my tree. >> she made an attempt. >> there is the upside down one. >> okay. >> you can do whatever you like. we love that you're sending pictures of your trees. keep them coming. >> the first artificial tree came from a u.s.-based toilet bowl brush manufacturer, the addis brush company that made it in the 1930s. >> that's excellent information. >> the golden globes came in. so did the s.a.g. awards. there are a few surprises. >> golden globes came out. these are supposed to be

indicators for the oscars. six nominations including best comedy or musical, best actor. this is that silent movie. >> "the artist." you should always watch the one that harvey feinstein picks up. he has such a knack to understand what could be the pick of the season. >> second in line for the most awards is "the help" and "the descendents." >> we've both seen "the help." you saw "the descendents." >> george clooney. i'm so glad he's nominated. >> brad pitt's "moneyball" but not "the tree of life." >> it's hard to remember what movies are this year. i thought the owen wilson movie "midnight in paris" was from last year. >> i enjoyed that. i was very excited that my friend armey hammer got nominated for best supporting

actor for "j. edgar" but wasn't nominated for the golden globes. leaves the oscars wide open. >> here is news. demi moore is tired of everyone bothering her. >> i don't blame her. >> her twitter handle is mrs. kutcher. people say you're divorcing him, why do you keep that twitter handle? >> changing my twitter name is not a top priority right now should i not tweet until i do? does it really matter? >> you and i have a different feeling about this. first of all, she still is mrs. kutcher. they are still married. second of all, i know she has all these millions of followers and you love the attention until you're not getting the kind of attention you want. at the same time, you know i have a problem with all of this. too many people know too much business about everybody else. if you're the one giving them

the business, then i guess you're putting your business out there. >> i think if she really wanted to change her twitter name from mrs. kutcher, she could do it in 30 seconds. >> she doesn't want to, right? >> if she doesn't want to do it, leave it alone. >> it's personal choice. >> people do get all -- >> in your face about it. i heard a rumor, speaking of twittering and tweeting and all that stuff. i heard you actually -- i guess this vitamin b-12 is changing your life. i hear that you actually were either attempting to clean your purse or something spilled in your purse or something, what happened >> i put my hand in my purse to get keys and i felt a big pile of what felt like sand or whatever. i carry coffee around because i need it. the whole thing dumped upside down. it's everywhere. >> jerry the elf brought you a brand-new coffee-mate for your

purse. hopefully you vacuumed the whole thing. >> no. it's starting to smell a little weird. okay. it's very weird a convergence happens like what is happening on our program, but it did. >> it's a miracle. >> it's a miracle. every thursday i get to pick a song i like. i picked my favorite christmas song. i told the producers this is the song i would like to do. they said, hold on a second. we are having hot hunky firefighters on the show and they picked a christmas song they wanted to sing and it was the same song. >> what are the chances of that? >> hi, guys. >> cozy up. >> they are from all over the country. >> you're leading the team, aren't you? >> i am leading the team. >> are you the singer in the group? >> absolutely not. we have true talent here. that is not what i do. >> you decided to take it, not all off, but leave a little for the imagination. >> let's show a little bit. >> was this difficult for any of you to do?

>> where is mr. louisiana? >> new orleans. >> of course indeed you are, sir. i'm holding up your picture for the folks at home. our favorite song collectively is one called "this christmas." it is a great song. shall we give it a go? >> you guys sing it for us. we are excited. >> ready? >> first we need to snap together. >> we will. ♪ hang on mistletoe ♪ i'm going to get to know you better ♪ ♪ this christmas ♪ and as we trim the tree ♪ how fun it's going to be together ♪ ♪ this christmas ♪ fireside is blazing bright ♪ we carolling all through the night ♪ ♪ this christmas we'll be ♪ a very special christmas

♪ for me >> that's it? we could have you all day long. thanks, guys. the money that's raised from this all goes to your favorite charities? >> 12 firefighters, 12 different cities across the country, charitable deal. tonight we are teaming up with rusk. we've been tagged. we'll be at the chelsea room west 23rd street and we'll receive a huge donation from rusk. come on out. >> that's awesome. god bless you all year round. nice dulcet tones, baby. have fun in new york. don't start any fires, if you know what i mean. >> exactly. >> we are about to -- not that that wasn't a peak in the show because it was. we have a cool thing for little kids. you know how sometimes it's hard for them to pull the suitcase because they're so little and in the airport.

uh-oh. anyway. >> like niece like aunt. >> give it a go, hanna. show us how you ride it. yay! you can ride your suitcase for ages 3 to 6. >> is it cool, sweetheart? >> do you like it? come here. it holds up to 100 pounds. yes, come here. >> she's getting up there, this child. >> who cares about the product really. it's really about hanna. anyway, it's a nice suitcase. >> how much do you love your auntie hodi? how much? >> a lot. >> a lot. >> why? >> because. >> because you're staying at my apartment and we're having fun? we are going to decorate our tree on sunday, right? >> your bush. >> hey, careful. let's do that okay/not okay. >> it says, is it okay to put your picture on your holiday card? to which i said? >> whose picture are you going

to use if it's not yours. hoda says, sure it's okay, but why not just send picture of your kids. that's the money shot. >> don't put yourself on is what i'm saying. >> why? >> i don't know. it's enough. >> all right. we have a big show, don't we. what's coming up, do you know? we don't either. we have a lot coming up. how you can find those nasty spots and germs and clean them up. if you have migraines, you know pain.

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>> germs on the bus, you carry them home and bring them to us. >> nursery germs. you may think your baby has the cleanest nursery around because you spend so much time sanitizing it. >> but what's lurking in your child's room, could it make you sick to your stomach? we looked at karen's daughter's jays bedaughter's nursery. >> to find. hidden germs and bacteria, we enlisted the help of dr.

benjamin tanner a microbiologist and germ expert. >> i'm careful about the products, i'm trying to swap all those germs off in hopes we catch them before she gets sick from them. >> isabel is 16 months, a typical toddler busy running around playing in your nursery. >> she opens these drawers continuesly. >> dr. tanner swabs the frequently-touched surface necessary her room. >> i'll be interested trying to find the germs that hang out with bad germs, those would be germs you find in the diaper. >> changing table, diaper pail, inside and outside the crib, plush toys and plastic ones, dresser knob, door knob. the swabs are put into individual petri dishes. >> we'll pick up the germs with the swab and put them in the transport and take them to the lab later. >> after a few days, the results

are in. >> changing table had the highest amount of germs. the strolling table isabel was playing with so much, that had the highest level. we didn't find evidence of bad germs. the inside of the crib didn't find any germs, but the outside did the dresser handler was the germiest spot. door knob is at the top of everyone's concern list which came up clean. i think because that door isn't opens and closed frequently. none of the spots had bad germs. she is disinfecting well. i don't think there are any concerns. >> here is the editor and chief of "parents" magazine. >> starting with the basics, keep your hands clean. >> you saw in the tape we watched the things you touch with your hands are the riskiest. in the bathroom closest to wherever you change your baby, try a no-hands, a no-touch soap dispenser so you don't have to push the button.

you slide your hand under like this and it will dispense a little bit of soap and wash your hands. when you can't get to a sink, if you're changing on the go, you want a hand sanitizer. what's important is that it's 60% alcohol or more. that's your goal. >> just to wipe things down, these are great. >> try wipes. you can use those on that door handle or on the dresser knob. the important thing when using a wipe is to change it frequently. >> you wouldn't reuse a wipe. >> you would be surprised. >> oh, no, no. dispose of the wipe. >> you want to not use the wipe on the room. change it out a little bit here and there for something your child puts in her mouth, you can use a pacifier wipe. these are made with food grade ingredients so they are safe. >> i don't know how my kids got through childhood. >> and the changing table. >> this is the crib.

there have been tremendous advances. there are anti-microbial stuff around. this has anti-microbe technology. it's now in crib sheets and oncies. they borrowed from the athletic manufacturers and they have moisture-wicking properties. >> for toys that kids, they never let go of them, they hang on forever and they are filled with germs. >> if you're a family prone to allergies, a cause of a lot of sneezing and stuff, look for stuffed animals that are serd g serd certified aafa. when the kids get older and they don't want their lovie put in the washer, you can get a teddy needs a bath bag. >> that's cute. >> it's all part of the process.

if you're allergy prone and in an area that is damp, this is a valspar paint that has anti-moisture properties. it can retard the growth of mold and mildew. if you live in a basement area or an area that is humid. you're standing on floor tiles which are, they come modular so you can put in an area rug. whatever rug you need, you want to vacuum frequently. this is great because an area rug is less carpet for dust mites and such to build up in. >> this is a trouble spot for a lot of people. >> the diaper area. exactly. first of all, look for a vinyl cover that can be wiped clean. then try a cover that you can wash a couple of times a week at least or whenever it gets dirty. this diaper genie has anti-microbial properties. if there are germs, it will try to ward them off. you don't need all the stuff at once. >> i somehow had two children

who survived. none of this was available then. a sweet surprise that will make you smile. sally, you don't need toys when you have... ♪ imagination ♪ imagination ♪ imagination ♪ helps you see the world in different ways ♪ yay! yay! ♪ this is a pony ♪ and this is a choo-choo ♪ [ male announcer ] it's movie time. and this is a... [ male announcer ] with a wii twist. what is this? [ male announcer ] netflix now delivers unlimited tv episodes and movies instantly through wii and nintendo 3ds. all for only 8 bucks a month. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] we touch a lot of things throughout the day. so it's nice that clorox disinfecting products help kill the germs that can live on surfaces for up to 48 hours. ♪ feels sweet when i can touch you ♪

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we are back with sara's special series called webtastic, the video that will have everybody hitting "send." >> this features 82-year-old velma trying pop rocks the first time. >> velma, better known as grammy, had quite the reaction. >> dump some in there. did you get some? there you go. have them sit there for a second. >> are they popping? >> oh, my gosh! >> they have been talking about pop rocks and grandma velma was like, i don't know what you're talking about. >> do you like them? >> try some more. put some more in there. >> i can hear them cracking.

>> i can't believe this. >> 82 years old, ever heard of such a thing? and the popping in my mouth. >> she was so intrigued by them they ran out and get them and she is having the time of her life trying them. >> i can keep watching her eat them. >> it was shot by her grandson-in-law. she loves her fame. >> she is downing the whole thing now. velma, don't! >> too late. she did it. sara, thanks. >> thank you. >> okay. it's that time of the show again. what do men want? >> who knows but donny deutsch? plus from your kids' teachers to co-workers, holiday gifts for

groups. >> celebrating golden globe nominations for "downtown abbey." congratulations to elizabeth mcgovern. she stops by to talk with us. hey babe... oh, hi honey! so i went to the doctor today, then picked up a few extra things for the baby. oh boy... i used our slate card with blueprint. we can design our own plan to avoid interest by paying off diapers and things each month. and for the bigger stuff, we can pay downalance faster to save money on interest. bigger? bigger. chase slate with blueprint helps you save money on life's little surprises. trip...lets... start your path to saving today, call 855-get-slate. it's bring your happiness to work day. campbell's microwavable soups. in three minutes -- the deliciousness that brings a smile to any monday. campbell's -- it's amazing what soup can do.

it's a great hd tv... shhh. don't speak. i'll just leave you two alone. [ male announcer ] the big christmas event is here. 8 a.m. saturday. with our lowest prices of the season on select toys, electronics and more... the only stop for last minute gifts is walmart. pillsbury holiday star cookies start with pillsbury cookie dough easy. then add my own favorite frosting and sprinkles. just three ingredients to sweet memories. holiday ideas made easy. good morning. 10:26. one of the suspects involved in the brutal attack of an off-duty fire fighter in san francisco will be in court today.

asking the judge the reduce bail. prosecutors say sheaf in her boyfriend's car when she was accused of running down cal fire fighter barta love thanksgiving day. he suffered a severe head injury during the take. it all started after he got into a fight with her boyfriend at a restaurant in the richmond district. we are going to look ate wid ca tstndel me will tell you how 680 looks after this. l

we are watching the showers drop off through the bay area. seeing a few right around morgan hill. the trend for the rest of the day showers moving away from the south. some cooling temperatures. mid 50s today. lot more sunshine and dry as we head into the start of the weekend. mike? >> 680, live look shows thank you same situation. not the same cars. probably a few feet to the north. but it is a slow drive from out of milpitas lou fremont and up into pleasanton. two lanes are still blocked, two out of the three, by the big rig accident. we are looking for them to close the lanes by 11 cloak -- 11:00 a.m. >> thanks, mike. coming up, a massive effort to bring christmas to bay area kids. how a marine stepped up to help toys for to the. new home foreclosures went down last month. experts aren't jumping for joy

just yet. we are looking at what is behind the numbers. the search for rape suspect in southern california. his connection to the bay area. that's coming up at 11:00. ♪ merry christmas >> we are back with more of "today" and our favorite resident man of many opinions, deutchman, deutchman, donny, donny deutschman. >> i had the weirdest dream last night. you were my teacher. i forgot my homework. >> i was? >> you were my teacher, i forgot my homework and i woke up. >> did i give you a spanking? >> true story. i had that dream last night. >> we would love to know what you think at home. >> sara. >> first question from kathie.

i'm a 56-year-old widow who wouldn't mind having a nice fellow to hang out. with the men my age want women half their age. how come a man in his 50s can't appreciate a woman in her 50s. i'd have to find a man in his 80s to appreciate me. >> worked for me, honey. >> it's tough. there are a lot of men that like women close to their age. i would try maybe early 60s. the other thing, try younger. flip it. there are a lot of guys -- >> that's pushing it now. >> women in their 40s and 50s say the young guys come up to them. >> the chance of those lasting. >> she just said she is looking for a friend. try early to mid 60s. there are guys close to your age. go for it. >> she just wants a fellow to hang out with. from jessica, why do men like video games so much? it's like an addiction. my husband says it's release time where he shuts his brain

off the world. i know everybody needs a break sometimes, but every day? >> if that's the way he's escaping and not getting in trouble? god bless. maybe you talk to your friends or shopping or getting manicures. if that's what he does, that's what he does. it's childlike, but if that is the worst thing, god bless. >> i have a good man or used to. due to the economy, he's been unemployed almost three years. how long can he use the "i'm depressed" reasoning for getting off his butt and helping around the house. >> if you're not working, he should be helping around the house. number two, if he is depressed, get on him. get in his face. you've got to be his coach, his best friend. it's difficult. say, look, i love you, whether you work or not working, you've got to get out there. >> she probably is working. >> if it's three years of depression, he might need help. >> or get him to a doctor for

help. >> my husband and i are newlyweds, seven months married. is it childish for me to be upset with him wanting to hang out with his ex-girlfriend. they were in a long relationship. does he still have feelings for her? >> yes, he does. you are not childish. that is wrong. he's probably up to sochlgt you should look at your marriage early on if in seven months into it he's talking to his ex-girlfriend a lot. it's a red flag. seven months into it, you've got to have a sitdown with him. >> what about exes in general? >> if you're friends as a couple and it's an ex from a long time ago. you're recently married? sorry, not good. >> why are men so lenient with their children? my fiance lets their older sons run wild. our child is a baby and cannot imagine letting her act crazy. will he be different with our child because she is a girl? >> i'm a strict parent. usually in a relationship in a

marriage there is one more lenient. you might have to be the heavy. as long as one parent is giving the disciplines. both parents have to give love. i hear that about a lot of dads. they are great dads. feeling is i'm not around my kids all the time if i'm working. somebody, one person has to do it. >> somebody has to love their children enough to discipline them. it's a huge component of love. >> as a dad, you don't go wrong with it. kids want structure. they feel safer. i do it because i love my kids. >> on our facebook page during thanksgiving a girl wrote, i want to thank my parents for telling me no. >> when my kids are crying because i'm not letting them do something i don't feel bad because i know it's the right thing. they get it. i don't know -- i was going to make a -- no. >> is it possible for men and women to be just friends or is there always something more on one side or the other? >> people always ask this question. >> we are great friends.

>> because i'm the teacher. >> i always had great girlfriends. you and i are dear friends. it doesn't go there it's not part of it. it's brother and sister. if i want advice about a woman, i'm not going to go to an idiot guy friend, i'm going to go to my friend cindy, laurie or the teacher at school. i'll have my homework on time next time. >> okay. time for the shrink session. thank you, everybody. she was nominated for a golden globe fob her role in "downton abbey." >> i love her.

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series "downton abbey" set in england during world war i. >> elizabeth mcgovern received her nomination today for the woman trying to keep her family together during very difficult times. >> it seems she made a cake for your ladyship as a surprise. i'm not easy with surprises at the best of times and i wonder if the whole exercise is entirely appropriate. >> ta-da. >> i'm not comfortable with this, my lady, not comfortable at all. >> i was worried about lady sem semple, but i'm not worried any more. >> so you're not worried, my lady? >> no. >> congratulations. tell us how you heard the news? >> i'm here with a lot of the cast members. we are having a great time in new york. we happened to be in the studio

this morning because we are promoting series two for masterpiece. obviously, the golden ngobe nominations started to come rolling in and we were thrilled we got a nomination as an entire cast and we're being led up to be interviewed. then i was pulled away by heidi our publicist. >> god bless heidi. >> she pulled me into another corner and the news broke. >> it must have felt so good. >> you have another exciting thing that happened in your family, as well, right? >> yes. we are having quite a year because my husband, i'm very proud, directed a movie called "my week with marilyn." >> that got nominated as best picture. it was a weird category. hoda loves it. >> love, love. >> what are you going to do to celebrate? >> we are putting on the glad rags and paint the town. >> i love that. this series again airs on masterpiece on pbs.

tell us about the framework and your character cora. >> well, the premise of the series is that we are all in a big house run by a massive group of servants who live downstairs. and there's upstairs the posh family. >> to the manor born. >> the second series opens right in the middle of world war i. you can see how that impacts all the characters and the running of the household. every character reacts in a different way. some thrive on the war, some go under. it's a very, we try to be as accurate historically as we can and true emotionally as we can. it's interesting to see these characters lives as they intertwine in a close, confined setting. yet they are separated by these boundaries of class and title. >> it looks so lushly shot. it must be a dream as an actress to be involved in something of such excellence. you live in england.

you moved there 19 years ago to be with your husband. >> yeah. >> how fabulous. and happy anniversary, too. >> really. it's ridiculous. >> i would buy a lottery ticket today. >> today's my day. it can only go down from here. >> there is a beautiful pictorial book out about "downton abbey." >> we hope it continues for you. all the best. >> thank you. coming up next, don't know what to get your co-workers or kids' teacher? >> affordable holiday gifts for groups. [ female announcer ] today...is the day

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just as merry as can be. get a boneless beef loin ny strip roast for just $4.99 a pound. pair it with a nicely priced malbec. we have thousands of wines. and we'll help you find the right one. safeway. ingredients for life. today we are counting down to the holidays with gifts for groups. stumped on ideas for your child

daycare workers, teachers, co-workers or salon stylists? it's endless. >> danielle is here to share affordable gift ideas. >> we haven't seen her since aspen and she has a bun in the oven. >> a holiday surprise. thank you, ladies. gill city is about fantastic experiences. at this time of year isn't it a great experience to give someone just the right idea? get them something but it can't be anything. this gift is a triple threat like you, kathie lee. it smells good, looks good and tastes good. >> not me, thanks. that does smell good. >> it's a rosemary windowsill planter. just under $25. that is something that can brighten up any office, go in the kitchen and they'll think of your sweet, hard-working face. i'm here to help. what about employees? a big raise is always good, but

barring that, making someone feel fancy is thoughtful. some letter press stationary. you heard it here first in 2012. handwriting notes is coming back. this is from the garden and gun store for $30. everybody likes food. we were just talking about that. these holiday sweet boxes are hand crafted in brooklyn. this lady anna gordon has this company called the sweet batch or the good batch, sorry. these are $24 each. those are pecan bourbon bars. >> look how great those look. >> secret santas, holiday gift exchange. i turn to lush. you can smell those. it's a lot of them. they are hand made, fresh, delicious. >> what are they? >> lush usa.com. there are soaps, very few preservatives and beautifully packages. they range from $13 to $23. even guys like these.

>> what is this up here? >> teachers are the hardest working people in the world. i hope they get a lot of holiday cards. give them a fun and festive way to display it. these are from fire home decor about $40. you might not think to buy for yourself. >> but a teacher could put them on from all the kids. >> it's a beautiful display. you bring it out year after year. >> great idea. especially if you have a scout troop or lots of kids. >> just smell those scented shoe laces, $5 a pair. >> delicious. >> these have trend written all over them. they take me back to my childhood where scented things or stickers were in. this is a retro fun thing. wear them as bracelets, necklaces. what about the babysitter? cash is good. if you want to make a subtle hint like i know you like all teenagers are obsessed with texting. let them do it in style.

it's a phone case that snaps on. that's a fun one. they are $35. if you want to dress up cash, these are adorable. it's a little change purse. it looks like a cookie. $6 from the museum of contemporary art in chicago. you could put a little cash in there. what about your pet care giver? >> they are always on the go. they need comfort. i thought don't think socks, we were talking downstairs, socks are the gift that doesn't go back. everybody needs them. everyone wears them. these are the classic l.l. bean rag shops. they come in this nice gift box. >> what about your stylist or manicurist? >> something stylish, of course. bracelets fit everyone. you can't go wrong. these are really glam. they look more expensive than they are. all are less than $28 from bobble bar.

>> a little gift. this is a sea urchin votive. or slate coasters. >> those are very cool. >> they are hand made from brooklyn. >> they are very cool. >> let's toast the holidays. >> you can't. >> i'm just toasting. >> we love you thinking of us. all the best. have the most blessed holiday. >> thank you so much. happy holidays. >> we'll be back with more of "today" on nbc.

encouraging literacy in kids is really important. so many needy families cannot afford the luxury of a new book. that's why one of our toy drive goals is to give many children as possible the gift of a new book. >> publishers have really stepped up to the plate this year. one of our most generous long-time partners is meghan tinley, publisher of little

brown books for young readers. look at you. you come bearing gifts. >> this is only one of many. we are giving over 190,000 books to you guys this year, the biggest donation. >> that's amazing. that is a gift that can last forever you know? >> hard cover, beautiful books. >> and can change lives. >> is this your favorite? >> i don't have favorites. it's like picking my favorite child. peter brown is children's choice favorites. kids voted him their favorite illustrator last year. he's a new york/brooklyn guy. >> terrific. >> his book, "you will be my friend" is ring, very funny. lucy bear is trying to find a friend and she mets a skunk and giraffe. >> you will be my friend. >> you will be my friend >> i will wait. >> that is adorable. it's very, very funny. >> that is adorable. >> what age is that for? >> you know, 4 to 8. picture books are great because you can read them to babies and older kids. kids love peter brown and lucy bear. we are giving away a ton of these books. a lot of other books.

>> thank you. awesome. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> happy holidays to you and your two little children. >> you can help underprivileged children brighten their holidays. come down to the plaza and donate. >> oak ookke.eyd k tomorrow, ambush makeovers. >> have a great day, everybody. >> bye. have a great day everybody.