buenos días. astronauts in the middle of the high profile christmas eve space walk. we're following it live and have the latest. mission accomplished, a rare interview with leaker edward snowdan and his battle with the nsa and the way he's describing his life in russia. in the midwest, all they want for christmas is power. hundreds of thousands still in the dark following one of the worst ice storms in years. will service be restored in time for the holiday? and still shopping? the deals waiting for you as retailers go all out for your last minute business. today, tuesday, december 24th, 2013.

>> announcer: from nbc news, this is today, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1-a in rockefeller plaza. and good morning, everyone. welcome to today at 7:00 a.m. on the west coast. i'm savannah guthrie. >> and i'm willie geist along with natalie morales and dylan dreyer. as you begin your shopping today, it's the last minute thought that counts. >> pretheapd you put a lot of thought into it. >> others doing some walking, space walking. >> the urgent mission underway to wrap up much needed repairs to the international space station. tom costello is in washington to take us through what's happening right now. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. just minutes ago, mission accomplished. we'll take a live look at mission control and i'll show you videotape from a few minutes ago when they took the spare pump module and slid it into

position on the international space station. that's it. it looks about the size of a double door refrigerator. it is huge. and this, of course, replacement pump that went bad two weeks ago. >> beautiful view. >> yeah, you're right over the heart of south america. >> reporter: the mission at 260 miles above the earth got underway just before 4:00 a.m. pacific time this morning. >> okay, guys, as you can tell, we are coming into orbital sunlight now. >> reporter: they are working to replace a critical cooling pump that failed nearly two weeks ago forcing the space station to conserve power and rely on just one cooling system. >> i don't know if you believe in miracles, but i got the pitch pin on the first try. >> reporter: saturday's space walk went so well. >> we're about an hour and a half ahead. >> reporter: nasa was able to scrub the second of three planned space walks. >> take it easy for just a few

minutes for us. >> reporter: instead, they're planning to finish the job today. mike hopkins on his second space out on the canada arm to move the large replacement cooling unit into the spot they cleared on saturday. >> you can't move them around with your fingertip. you have to wrestle them and hold them and actually move them a very substantial distance from their storage slots down the side of the space station to where they need to be installed. >> reporter: all told it should take about six hours. today's walk delayed a day so the more senior could switch suits. after an exhausting walk on saturday -- >> do you want to take it inside or what? >> reporter: he accidentally let a small amount of water leak into a part of his suit designed to disa papate heat. >> it was an accident. they reset the switch.

>> reporter: nothing like the water problems that caused an italian astronaut to nearly drowned in his helmet last july. they just checked and both astronauts look dry. they hope to run a test on the cooling system tonight to make sure it is back up and running. and also mission control made it clear this morning it expects no conflicts between the space station and santa's flight tonight. just a short time ago they reported the skies are clear for santa. back to you. >> santa flies at lower altitude, 230 miles, so we'll be okay. tom costello, thank you. for more on this, we have stephen robinson who performed spacewalks himself. good to see you. good morning. >> good morning. good to be back. >> give us the sense of degree of difficulty with this task? >> it's a sensitive, delicate task. it's hard to do things delicately when your piece of equipment weighs 800 pounds.

up there it's weightless but not mastless. so it's still hard to get going, and it's very carefully and important that you're very careful with it. but rick and mike have just successfully installed the pump module into its space and now they are just starting the process of hooking up 13 different hookups for it to get it running. >> and this is essentially swapping out a part to put it in simplest terms but the day has to deal with the ammonia they are dealing with because that can be incredibly dangerous in space. can you explain? won't freeze like water will, but ammonia is toxic. you're wearing a space suit so you're okay with ammonia on you, but you don't want it to spray on you because it would be in the form of snowflakes. >> you have a colorful way of explaining to people what it is like to work under those conditions and how strenuous it is to do this work in a space suit.

can you give us a sense of that? >> it's a very tight environment. the guys are in the suits for a long time. on one of my space walks, i was in the space suit for about 11 hours. and the space suit becomes kind of your own personal spacecraft and a second skin at the same time, but you're very, very immobilized. it's inflated. it takes a tremendous amount of effort just to do this. so every time you see those guys do that, they are kind of grunting mentally because it's a lot of effort. and after many hours of doing it, there will be exhaustion by the end of today. >> i hope a big christmas eve dinner is awaiting them. stephen robinson, great to get your perspective. we'll have more coverage of the space walk unfolding throughout the morning. nsa leaker edward snowden is speaking out in an interview. peter alexander is traveling with the president in hawaii and has more. good morning.

>> reporter: good morning. edward snowden is taking credit for the interview that took place in private behind closed doors. the focus is on surveillance, democracy and the documents he exposed. his leaks dramatically changed the way the americans view their government and the way foreign governments view the u.s. today in a conversation with the washington post edward snowden is declaring victory. for me in terms of personal satisfaction the mission's already accomplished. i already won. remember i didn't want to change society. i wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself. the nsa leaker dismissed charges that he violated his agreement not to disclose classified information. the oath of allegiance is not an oath of secrecy. that is an oath to the constitution. he added those who accuse him of disloyalty don't understand his motivation. i'm not trying to bring down the nsa. i'm trying to improve the nsa.

he said that during 14 hours of interviews. i'm still working for the nsa right now. they're the only ones that don't realize it. while snowden remains holed up in russia living like an indoor cat, he says, president obama is vacationing here in hawaii expected to announce reforms of how the u.s. gathers intelligence, gathering phone records from all americans when he returns to washington in january. for months snowden has been a thorn in the obama administration's side. >> no, i'm not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker. >> reporter: as for life in russia, snowden now 30 told the post he lives off ramen noodles and chips with visitors bringing him books he rarely cracks. the internet serving as his window to see the impact of his revelations on the world. if i defected at all, i defected from the government to the public. the white house wouldn't comment on edward snowden's declaration

of victory, but said snowden faces charges here in the u.s. and should be returned to the u.s. as soon as possible where he'll be afforded due process and all the protections of the criminal justice system. >> meanwhile, domestic matters, the president hielf with a little help from his staff signing up in the d.c. health care exchange. that deadline extended until the end of the day midnight today. >> that's right. the deadline extended today, this one is for real. they had nearly 2 million visitors to the site yesterday. as for the president, it was ultimately his staff that signed him up and the white house says he picked the bronze plan. he's going to pay for it. it will cost him less than $400 a month. show support for the marketplaces, the president couldn't be there to do it, he was in hawaii when it took place, but he gets his coverage through the military and doesn't need it anyway. >> going bronze. peter alexander in hawaii. thank you so much. >> the weather is another big story we're following this morning and it could be a dark christmas in parts of michigan

and the northeast. more than 370,000 homes remain without power this morning following that big weekend ice storm. let's go to john yang in the hardest hit town of bath, michigan. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. power crews are trying to restore power from michigan to maine before christmas day, they hope, but in some places officials say they may not happen until at least saturday. plenty of creatures stirring on this day before christmas. utility crews from as far as georgia called in to help restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses from new england to michigan. >> we have about 600 linemen working on the property and a lot of their families are without power right now. >> reporter: brutal and dangerous work among the crystallized trees. on the ground, holiday plans suddenly changed and the hottest new item on christmas lists, a

generator. >> we're up on day number two and we still don't have power. >> reporter: a frozen taxi way maybe to blame for a jet skidding on to the grass in detroit. no serious injuries. nationwide, nearly a thousand flights cancelled since sunday leading to a backlog of holiday travelers. all the result of a storm system that left at least 11 dead. at least five fatalities cam from heavy flooding in places like kentucky, indiana and ohio. one of the things hampering crews here, the frigid cold. the high today only expected to be about 16. a little bit of a warm up at the end of the week. it will get up to freezing. savannah? >> we are cold just looking at you, john. merry christmas to you. appreciate it. do you still have last-minute shopping to do? retailers hope stores will be packed today to make up for what's been a disappointing end to the holiday season.

dave gutierrez is in alpharetta, georgia, for us. >> reporter: good morning. many stores like toys r us are offering extended hours today as the industry tries to make up for a dismal week so far. the holiday hustle is in full swing. procrastinators searching for that perfect gift, or at least one that's good enough. >> it's christmas shopping. i'm a guy. come on now. >> reporter: but this christmas eve, the news is disappointing for retailers. shopper track reports holiday sales at stores are running 3% lower than last year and foot traffic plunged 21%. nasty weather could have been a factor. meanwhile, in the aftermath of one of the largest retail security breaches in u.s. history, target is in full damage control after up to 40 million customer cards were compromised. but even 10% discounts and free credit monitoring are proving to

be a tough sell. >> a 10% discount as opposed to identity theft and all the problems involved with that, isn't worth it to me. >> reporter: jp morgan chase is easing restrictions on shoppers who used their chase card from target from $100 daily withdrawal and $300 purse chas limit to $250 withdrawals and $1,000 purchases. the retail giant is now the target of more than a dozen class action lawsuits. target says it's cooperating fully with the u.s. department of justice and several state attorneys general who are investigating the breach. the company is adding more staff to work the phone lines and says executives are working around the clock. >> target obviously has this horrible problem. it's kind of like changing the wheels on the landing gear of an airplane while the plane is flying. >> reporter: back here at this toys r us, they will be open

until 9:00 tonight, equally 87 consecutive hours. macy's and kohl's have been open more than 100 straight hours. guys, even though i'm working, it looks like i have no excuses here not to finish my christmas shopping. >> dave, you're dismissed. turn around and go buy your christmas gifts. >> thank you. now to a developing story in san diego this morning. >> this is a sad one. there's been another shooting there. police on the scene of a deadly shooting outside of a shopping mall in san diego. it happened overnight outside of a mall in mission valley. police say one woman is dead and a man was critically wounded. the victims were found in a parked car. right now there are no suspects in custody, but police are searching for a suspect. two members of a russian punk band who were freed from prison on monday were reunited today. they were released early after nearly two years behind bars. jim aceda is in russia with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, natalie. earlier today i got to sit down with the two band members on

their first full day of freedom. they say they're well, they are excited about the future and undeterred in their protests against vladimir putin. an early christmas present. two friends and now ex-convicts reunited. she travelled across russia to meet up with her fellow pussy band member. both now spending the new years and christmas holidays in freedom for the first time since being jailed on charges of hooliganism two years ago. pardoned by the same president vladimir putin that they mocked in this punk prayer at moscow's biggest cathedral. today they enjoyed catching up and looking to the future. in an exclusive breakfast chat they told nbc news that their every movement is watched by russian security. still their activism is boundless. both now keen to launch an organization that helps convicted women within russia's notorious prisons.

something they now know from the inside. we want to focus on the violations of their rights including the use of force. physical and moral. we want to try to change the system, said maria. nadia is still amazed that a single act of protest by a small group of unarmed women triggered so much controversy, and a claim. but she regrets none of the actions which turned the taboo pussy riot into a household name. >> i will not refute what was done at the beginning of putin's third term when i wanted to scream in order for someone to hear the shout. >> reporter: nadia told me the hardest part about prison life was seeing how other inmates were punished just because they mixed with her. but she said she is inspired by them as well because they took that punishment freely and often. back to you, natalie. >> jim, thank you so much. we have newly released surveillance video at a walmart when the car crashed through the

front of the store nearly taking out dozens of shoppers. this happened earlier this year in san jose, california, but police are now releasing the video in an effort to identify the people who were almost hit. police say the driver, 33-year-old hamid sayid, got out of the car, picked up a metal bar and swung it at people before being tackled. he's charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. and on a lighter note, this is just absolutely amazing, a story about a hockey goaltend we are a trick up his sleeve, or in this case, you have to see the video. we'll pick up here the action in overtime, the game tied at one, and watch carefully as the puck pops into the air in slow-mo here and then it disappears. but where does it go? turns out it landed in the back of the pants of the phoenix coy owe coyote goaltender, and he skated backwards into the goal

and that ended up being the winning goal. it's legal. >> there should be a road in case that happens. >> well -- >> shall we just go down the line. >> no ifs, ands or butts in that case. >> that was an assisted goal. >> oh! you have to get the christmas forecast out west, dylan. >> not so much of a white christmas. just a foggy, rainy christmas in parts of seattle. just some fog, though, but we're not seeing all the rain that we had to deal with yesterday. it is cold in boise, 28 degrees right now. once you get to the eastern slopes of the rockies, that's where we have most of the snowfall right now. and that will continue to move up through montana into the dakotas, too. that's where we're going to see about three to six inches. a white christmas for sure there. but anything but in san

francisco. 63 degrees for a high on this christmas eve. l.a., about 73 degrees later on this afternoon. but we will start to see some of that warmer air try to trickle a little further to the east, but again, we do have some winter weather advisories across parts of the upper midwest and into the northern plains where not so much the three to six inches, but more because of the blowing snow, especially tonight into tomorrow morning with very windy conditions. it is going to make visibility very challenging if you're out on the roads today. so keep that in mind. head a little further east, lake-effect snow showers, especially across parts of western new york state and northwestern parts of pennsylvania, right through erie, pennsylvania, where you could see three to six inches. down to the southeast, we see a good amount of sunshine. temperatures will finally cool down and be a little more seasonable for this time of year. much more what you would expect that's a look at the weather much more what you would expect that's a look at the weather across the country, your why wouldn't everyone get a straight talk wireless plan? with savings like that yeah, there's unlimited talk, text and data and you can save up to $950 a year... with savings like that you could buy a lot of things. like an industrial size blender. we could have smoothies for days. tuesday smoothies. wednesday smoothies. this phone plan sounds delicious.

own the season with the latest straight talk smartphones. get nationwide coverage on america's largest and most dependable networks. and pay only $45 a month for unlimited talk, text and data with no contract. walmart. good morning. anthony slaughter here for christina loren. we're talking about beautiful sunshine expected today. starting off in the 40s with clear conditions, you can see in the east bay traffic moving along and light here on this tuesday. if you have last minute shopping to do, it doesn't look too bad right now. temperatures are going to be comfortable, ranging from the mid-60s to the upper 60s with our warmest locations in the south bay, east bay and north bay. that's your latest forecast. >> dylan, thank you so much. let's see what mario armstrong is doing over in the orange room besides looking fabulous. >> christmas blazer.

>> christmas sweater, christmas blazer. >> santa pocket square. >> the big guy travels with me. i have a digital connection to him. i'm known as the digital santa. good morning to you guys and all the awesome viewers at home. if you have last minute shopping to do, i have the store hours for everything open and when they're closing. kohl's at 6:00, target at 9:00. toys "r" us at 9:00. jcpenneys varies by location and k-mart at 10:00. we're also doing a survey. did you hold off your holiday shopping until the last minute? let us know on our website at today.com. >> mario, thank you. people wait until christmas eve to do all of their shopping. >> yeah. >> they have a high tolerance for stress. >> there's deals. sometimes it pays off. >> i did my christmas shopping last week and everything is on sale now. >> all right. coming up, the pope and his predecessor. we'll be live at the vatican with pope francis's special holiday meeting with benedict

xvi. >> and the fate of duck dynasty. is the wildly successful show about to come to a sudden end? we'll talk about it.

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♪ the party in the bowl don't stop! ♪ ♪ must be the honey! good tuesday morning to you. i'm peggy bunker. details in the battle over an oakland teen declared brain dead. doctors will release findings on jahi mcmath's brain function at a hearing. a judge appointed the chief of pediatric neurology to get an outside opinion on the condition. the family attorney also asked the judge for a third evaluation by a professor at the university of toledo and past president of the catholic medical association. the judge has yet to make a decision on that. the girl has been brain dead almost two weeks. there is a court order until monday. a busy night for police. the san francisco police

department say 30 people were arrested last night for various things including public drunkenness and for trying to steal stadium seats. 81 people were ejected, seven cited for various offenses. usually it fills up only on new year's eve. a bit of a night but everyone happy over the win. it was quite a night. the final regular season game at the stick. >> nice, yeah. the weather was beautiful. in fact, we had temperatures in the 60s yesterday. they were expecting the same now, in the 30s and 40s across most of the bay area. we have high thin clouds and even the particulates in the lower atmosphere is making for a beautiful sunrise. you can see as we take a closer look in san francisco the high thin clouds kind of passing on by. this is what we're going to look at all day, a few thin clouds this morning, then this afternoon we're going to turn out to mostly sunny sky. that's what we're looking at. this afternoon temperatures will warm, similar to where we were

yesterday. talking mid-60s, upper 60s in the inland valleys, off to the east bay and the north bay mid to upper 60s there in fact let's take you in further and you'll see the hour by hour forecast. in the south bay again climbing into the lower 60s by noon in the peninsula, low 60s there as well, san francisco near 60. north bay, east bay and tri-valley in the 60s as we head toward noon. >> pretty nice. thank you so much. we'll have another local update for you coming up in about a half hour. [ female announcer ] here's to a whole world

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♪ and when those blue snow flakes start falling ♪ that's just uncanny. we are back at 7:30 on this christmas eve morning. we have this teen that has the voice of elvis. he has become an internet sensation with the cover of blue christmas. well, the 16-year-old david thibault is here. we'll put him to test and find out if he really does sound like that live. he'll give us his rendition of blue christmas. good to have you this morning. >> we said that can't be real. that voice is not coming out of that body. we have been listening to him rehearse. it's real. >> can he gyrate like elvis? >> good thought. "blue christmas"?

>> natalie is getting personal. >> take it in a different direction. in the meantime, here is what is making headlines this morning. the first christmas eve space walk since 1999 is under way this morning. two u.s. astronauts working to install a new pump module for station's cooling system. >> here on earth, crews are working to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes impacted by the massive ice storm. in some neighborhoods in michigan, this project could take several days. pope francis will celebrate his first christmas mass at st. peters later tonight after spending about 30 minutes with pope emeritus benedict on monday. more on that and a live report from the vatican coming up. also ahead, a real life charlie brown christmas. how one kid and a tree are bringing out the true spirit in a town. love that story. we'll begin with the latest on state of the hit reality show "duck dynasty" following the suspension of its star. can and should the show stay on the air?

here is nbc's mike taibbi. >> reporter: "duck dynasty" family patriarch robinson told his church book he was just reading from the scriptures when he lumped homosexuality with prostitution and more in an interview published last week. whether i said it or people read it, what's the difference? the sins are the same. robertson made no reference to his controversial remarks about african-americans that when he was growing up he never saw blacks mistreated. they were happy, he said. no one was singing the blues. robertson did say last week, i would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. i love all of humanity. but the standoff continues. this hugely popular reality show about a likeable down home family of louisiana hunter and bible thumpers. >> i instruct them on ducks and biblical matters. >> reporter: versus the cable network has that has suspended the show as star with his remarks.

the rest of the troop is vowing they won't go on without him. can there be a middle ground? >> the show can still go on if they can come up with a way that those views don't come into the show and advertisers can still feel comfortable with what the show is. >> reporter: one hint of what advertisers might face, cracker barrel which had stopped selling "duck dynasty" merchandise, relented under pressure from the show's fans and there's been outspoken support from conservative figures ranging from ann coulter. >> there is nothing offensive about what robertson said. >> reporter: to the louisiana governor bobby jindal. >> i think it's important to stand up for his right to be heard. >> reporter: but groups representing blacks and gays are preparing for an extended fight. glaad saying it will increase the pressure on cracker barrel now and advertisers later. a middle ground, hard to see. nbc news los angeles. all right.

we'll turn to dylan now. this is the all important christmas eve forecast we're looking for. >> it is. a lot of people want snow on christmas. i'll show you where we're going to get it. right through the northern plains where we have winter weather advisories not just because of the snow but the blowing snow. if you're out and out, especially later on tonight, whereever you are headed it could be hard to see on the roads. we also have bitter cold wind chill with the chance of wind chills feeling like it's 30 to 40 below at moments this morning. keep that in mind. i don't even know how many layers you need to bundle up for cold like that. it feels like 30 below in sioux falls. 11 degrees below zero now is the reading in minneapolis. it feels like 23 degrees below zero. this is bitter cold air not going anywhere any time soon. on top of that. we're going to see the chance of lighter snow showers. about 3 to 6 inches around minneapolis and a little to the west and the east too. that's a look at the weather across the country. now here's a peek out your good morning. 7:34 this morning. waking up to a few high, thin

clouds across the bay area. beautiful sun rise on this christmas eve. take you into san francisco. thin clouds, no fog to report of this morning but the thin clouds actually overhead are a cold front that washed out overnight. that's going to continue to wash out, it's not going to help us clear the air so we're under a spare the air alert for today, temperatures this afternoon top out in the mid to upper 60s across the entire bay area. and that's your latest, very cold forecast. >> 23 below in the twin cities. >> i don't know what that feels like. >> i don't want to know. >> i'm sure one day i'll find out. >> yeah. >> dylan, thanks. it is christmas eve and you probably have a to do list a mile long but one young boy in mississippi reminds us to slow down and remember what christmas is all about. nbc's kerry sanders with the story. >> reporter: in the mad dash to christmas people in brandon, mississippi speed down the busy road. but if they slow down, there on

the side of the road, a christmas tree decked with ornaments, bows and garland. >> they drive by to go to school. >> reporter: like every child they grew up watching a charlie brown christmas. >> i don't know charlie brown, remember what lucy said, this doesn't fit the modern spirit. >> reporter: he was riding in the backseat of his family's car when he noticed a bush that looked a lot like the tree from the cartoon. >> we came up here and saw this dead bush. it looked like an old tree. >> it came to mind several times maybe i should discard the bush and get rid of it. >> reporter: the family decided to hang one red ornament on the bush to brighten it up like charlie brown did. the paint on this one worn off. >> i thought it would be a cute thing that people would see and think of christmas. >> reporter: one ornament turned to two and two ornaments turned to a tree full of decorations placed there by total strangers. >> every day we get out and we

come by and we see what somebody had brought new. >> used to be a dead bush tha t and now it's a beautiful christmas tree with ornaments. >> a whole pile of gifts, a bible wrapped in plastic and opened to the story of christmas. >> everybody has the spirit deep down inside of them. it brings a small act of kindness to bring it out. >> spread the holiday cheer. >> it's the best christmas i've ever had. >> merry christmas, charlie brown. >> reporter: merry christmas, brandon, mississippi. kerry sanders, nbc news >> well, nick just had three ladies swooning. >> we are od'ing on christmas. >> that story is amazing. coming up next, the changing face of the catholic church on this christmas eve as pope francis meets with his predecessor. and later on trending, get ready for celebrity singing.

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telling her life's story with just a turn of the wrist. you're good. i know. [ female announcer ] that's why he went to jared. pope francis is preparing to celebrate his first christmas as head of the catholic church. he took time-out from his busy schedule to visit with his predecessor. martin is at the vatican with us. good morning to you and merry christmas eve. merry christmas to you, too. the two popes, pope francis and pope benedict prayed together and wished each other merry christmas and what a beautiful day it is here in st. peters square. they're expecting rain but instead record crowds are expected here from the first address from the man here known as the humble pope whose

official title. he has already indeared himself to catholics and beyond. bringing the church to the people. especially the poor and the abandoned. he celebrated his birthday with four homeless people. he embraced the disfigured and washed the face of prisoners including two muslims and two women. his modesty and compassionate virtues won him a modern form of affection. 10 million followers on twitters. he's the most searched name on the internet. all popes choose their own names and pope francis broke with tradition. there have been 16 benedicts, 21 johns and only one pope francis. he is the first to choose the patron saint of the poor. born himself in modest circumstances, it's a long way to the vatican. he doesn't like everything he

sees. especially the vast vatican bureaucracy and waste and corruption in the church. he suspended a german bishop that spent $40 million renovating this residence including a bathtub for $20,000. and he shocked traditionalists by bringing in outside analysts like young and mckenzie. >> that's common sense. if you're going to teach as a church you want to be able to give an example of honesty. >> reporter: he comes off like everyone's favorite grandad. some of his comment as pier ppe challenge accepted faith. on gay priest he said who am i to judge. on women in the church he said, they are essential. do his comments signal a change in style? >> there's a style change which is simplicity. but he's not somebody going to be throwing out core doctrine.

>> reporter: this christmas week pope francis is stressing his core message, hope the poor, help the homeless. but he ended his last public prayer before christmas with another seasonal message, have a good lunch and see you soon. >> man of the people. martin fletcher, thank you so much. amazing to see the impact he had in a short nine months. >> only march he became pope. incredible. we'll shift gears and there's a touching reunion to tell you about. what carlos santana is doing to help a now homeless former band member of his. and from the orange room we're tracking santa's progress. mario armstrong keeping it active the big guy. >> yes, we are. >> right after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] even well-planned holidays can wind up at the corner of "stockings are stuffed" and "quick -- duck!" luckily, walgreens is always nearby, so it's easy to get in and out for extra stocking stuffers...

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well, santa, boy he has a busy 24 hour as head. mario is over in the orange room with the progress report. how is the big guy doing mario? >> he is amazing. merry christmas eve to all of you. we are tracking santa. you can do this at home too. nor norad. we had the best in social and digital. at 2:00 a.m. santa got up and prepared and after he had his sleigh safety inspections and a meeting with the elves at 4:00 he took off and 6:00 a.m. he was in russia and delivered 41 million gifts. at 7:00 a.m., papua, new guinea

and then moments ago in japan. we do it best right here. we can also do it on today.com. we're tracking him there for you as well. >> mario, thank you. i thought we got a lot done before 7:00 a.m. >> wow. >> high pressure. high stress job. >> he is just getting started. he has a lot of work ahead of him still. >> he does. >> thanks a lot. coming up next on trending, is the beloved classic it's a wonderful life a piece of communist propaganda. some people said that. >> got to hear that one. and the teen sensation that gives elvis a run for his money, he will perform the holiday hit blue christmas live in our studio. >> and easy to find last minute holiday gifts all coming up after your local news and weather. in brookside chocolate,

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tell me i bring out the best in you. ♪ that you're thankful. ♪ that it won't be the same without me. tell me you love me. even if you say it every day. just tell me. [ female announcer ] everyone you love has something they need to hear this holiday. tell them with a hallmark card. so i should probably get the last roll... yeah but i practiced my bassoon. [ mom ] and i listened. [ brother ] i can do this. [ imitates robot ] everyone deserves ooey, gooey, pillsbury cinnamon rolls. make the weekend pop.

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good morning to you. merry christmas eve. i'm peggy bunker. police are investigating a violent mall robbery steps away from santa and a slew of kids waiting for a picture. this happened at a jewelry store in the east ridge mall off capital expressway. a man smashed a jewelry case and made off with several pieces of jewelry. the robbery happened next to a line of parents and children waiting to greet santa. >> when this other man turned around he had a light gray sweater. he had a black nylon over his face so as soon as i seen that we just started running. >> san jose police say the suspect ran off, has not been identified or arrested. >> checking in with anthony and getting a look at the forecast. looking like a beautiful california ris mass. >> it's going to be awesome. temperatures are going to warm until we get to christmas and

fall off toward the weekend. today expected near 70 degrees and some of our warms valleys starting with a live look outside you can see clear visibility but we have haze hanging out in the atmosphere. you can see that in san francisco, across the bridge. butók otherwise we're not loo at fog, a few high thin clouds. temperatures warm back in the mid to upper 60s for our day time highs. it will be a spare the air day. so again it's illegal to do burning especially in the fireplaces. i know it's tempting. the microclimate forecast shows temperatures from about 60 degrees in san francisco, mid-60s in the peninsula, upper 60s the south bay and again close to setting records today. north bay east bay and tri-valley expecting a mix of mid to upper 60s and again, keep in mindck8 we are in a spare th air alert effect for today. back to you. >> thank you so much. another update for you in half an hour.

♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ it's 8:00 on "today." coming up -- >> it's a communist plot. we'll tell you why the u.s. government once had a big problem with this christmas classic. >> plus, they call it a gift from heaven. an act of kindness by a member of the greatest generation. to spread some holiday cheer. elvis is in the building. ♪ ♪ i'll have a blue christmas >> or at least the voice unbelievably close to the real thing. the teen you have to hear to believe. ♪

>> "today," tuesday, december 24, 2013. ♪ >> merry christmas! >> merry christmas from south florida. >> merry christmas! >> merry christmas eve. >> merry christmas from texas, y'all. >> happy holidays from nashville, tennessee. and we're getting married. ♪ >> and good morning, everyone. welcome back to "today" on this christmas eve morning. t-minus 24 hours until we wake up on a beautiful christmas day. good morning. i'm savannah guthrie, alongside willie geist in for matt. and dylan dwyer in for al. >> the rain has cleared, we have

a great crowded you side. the elvis soundtrack is coming up. >> we had to practice or merry christmases. how many takes did that take? >> it's one, two, three, go. >> it's amazing, the chemistry. we have a lot to get to. let's start with natalie. she has a check of the headlines. >> good morning. two astronauts are on a space walk right now. it's about 260 miles above earth. they're on a mission to fix the cooling pump on the international space station. tom costello is watching it from the ground in washington. >> reporter: hi, natalie. good news from space, nasa has now managed to get this huge replacement pump, 780 pounds slid into position. it happened at just about 6:50 or so pacific time this morning. this was a three-hour space walk until they managed to get that positioned properly. and now the job is to make sure that all of the cables and the lines are properly connected.

all of those connector pins are properly lined up and the entire pump is ready to switch on. they'll do a full test later on. this was critical because two weeks ago they lost one of two cooling pumps on the international space station. cooling pumps needed to keep it cool. as a result being down to one pump they have had to conserve power. will this replacement pump fully work and keep the station cool as planned? if so, then this entire two-week ordeal has ended on a very successful note. now, natalie, back to you. >> one more day, the deadline has been extended for people looking to sign up for health care through the federal exchange. a government spokesman said that consumers will be able to select the plan through today and still get coverage starting at the beginning of the year. an official acknowledged that the government website was still having probls signing people up. the site has been plagued by computer glitches since they went live earlier this year. and nsa leaker edwin snowden

said his mission is accomplished. he said that he's won by quote, giving society a chance to determine if it should change itself. snowden exposed the national security agency's widespread intelligence gathering operation in june. he is now living in russia and he insists that he is not disloyal and his actions he says nearly 400,000 customers have no power on this christmas eve day and more snow and cold is expected today as utility crews from michigan to maine struggle to fix the lines brought down by the storm. officials say it may be days before everyone's electricity and heat is back up and running. well, tragedy unfolded in the colorado neighborhood monday. police say a man shot and killed his 14-year-old stepdaughter after mistaking her for a burglar. it happened just before 6:00 in the morning. police say the colorado springs

homeowner called 911 to report a burglary saying he had shot the suspect. it was later he discovered the victim was his stepdaughter. and she died at the hospital. the stepfather has not been charged but an investigation is underway. same-sex marriages will go on in utah. hundreds of gay and lesbian couples have been taking their vows since friday when utah's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. the law is being debate in the the court. the snow and ice may be a hassle for travelers this holiday season, but for one artist it's a perfect canvas. take a look. this is the incredible work of simon beck. every year he straps on his snow shoes and takes a walk in savoy, a region in the french alps and after five to nine hours of work, you see his designs are nothing short of spectacular. priceless works of art. best enjoyed from the vantage that is just incredibly beautiful. 8:05. let's send it back to savannah,

willie and dylan. >> thanks. how about a look at the weather? >> it's much colder here in new york city. you're from southern florida. how is it different here in new york than in florida? >> much different. >> very cold? >> we call it winter, because it's like summer winter. >> i want to go to swinter. we are going to see a good amount of sunshine in colorado springs, not too bad. 48 degrees on christmas day. 57 for thursday. so not a bad way to go through the christmas holiday. afternoon temperatures in some areas today will be much, much colder than that. look at that dotted line. north of that, that is where we have temperatures 32 degrees and below. in fact, feels like it's 25 below in some areas across the upper midwest and back through the northern plains that's where the cold air is and it's trying to move eastward. you can feel the difference on the east coast and we will see a

good morning. 8:06. waking up to plenty of sunshine here on this christmas eve. we still do have some haze that's hanging out in the lower atmosphere as you can see from our san francisco cam. it is very hazy right now, and you can really barely make out the golden gate bridge, and it's because of that spare the air we are talking about that alert once again for today. today's highs will be very warm. back into the mid to upper 60s. our warmest location is off to the north bay where we're going to be a few degrees shy of 70 degrees. have a good one. and that's your latest forecast. >> it's a little windy here. >> i hate when that happens. >> i know, exactly. coming up next, oh the things you can do with a phone and a little bit of time. the 12 days of christmas like you have never seen or heard it before. >> the young man that's become an internet sensation at all of 16 years old with his cover of an elvis classic. he'll perform it for live.

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we're back now at 8:13 with what's trending today. good christmas story this morning. rock and roll hall of famer carlos santana is making one homeless man's christmas dreams come true. he happens to be a former band mate of his. he came across marcus malone on the street while he was working on a separate story.

he claims he was a percussionist in the santana blues band and after a reporter verified the story, he staged a special reunion. >> man. >> the magnificent malone. >> oh, man. look at you. >> marcus the magnificent malone. >> those two former band mates hadn't seen each other in almost 45 years. >> amazing. >> he hopes to help malone get back on his feet starting with a reunion in the recording studio. they'll get back together playing music. they haven't done it since the 1960s. >> very cool. >> here's one that sounds hard to believe. when we think of its a wonderful life you think true american classic, right? but when it was released in 1946, the fbi actually considered it to be communist propaganda. according to newly released documents, the feds felt the

movie represented an obvious attempt to discredit bankers by casting him as a scrooge type so he would be the most hated man in the picture but in 1947 one critic said it's a poignant tale that proves money could be used for bad and good. >> so it was on the fbi propaganda list? >> yeah. unbelievable. >> i have to watch the movie. >> dylan has never seen it's a wonderful life. >> didn't that movie beat out elf in the competition. >> yeah. >> that was a problem in and of itself right there. >> dylan maybe you can watch it tonight and see if you spot the communist propaganda. >> nbc tonight at 8:00, 7:00 central. >> do you remember what you asked santa for when you were little. >> yeah. i never got it. i'm still waiting for that easy bake oven. >> yeah. >> it seems like kids these days, totally different, especially kids under the age of 3.

so, you know, cover their ears if they're in the room. we don't want to give them any ideas. but the new york times notes that kids as young as three don't want toys. they want tech. ipads and apps and parents are taking the hits. more than half with kids between 2 and 10 are planning to buy them a tech gift this holiday season. >> get some cases around that. >> exactly. >> just eat it. >> no, get your mouth off of it. it's not a teething ring. >> my daughter gave us tips. what do you want? lava lamp, a science kit, and kindle fire hd. >> she doesn't even know what hd is. >> she heard it at school or something. >> proving the point. >> they'll start asking for itunes gift cards as well. >> she'll be doing tech segments soon.

>> what else do we have? >> who doesn't like a little bacon for the christmas time? well, kevin bacon that is. the star and some of his celebrity friends are all coming together to sing a christmas classic. check this out. ♪ on the first day of christmas my true love gave to me. >> 12 lords a leaping. >> 10 lords a leaping. >> nine ladies dancing. >> 8 maids a milking. >> seven swans a swimming. >> six geese a laying. >> five golden rings. >> four calling birds. >> three french hens. >> two turtle doves. >> and a partridge in a pear tree. >> dance moves. >> some of those famous faces are matthew morrison, tara crews. >> nice work bacon.

that's what's trending today. now to more holiday music. millions have headed to youtube to check out our next guest. 16-year-old david thibault that took the internet by storm with his spot on rendition of elvis' hit blue christmas. ♪ i'll have a blue christmas without you ♪ ♪ i'll be so blue just thinking about you ♪ ♪ decorations of red on a green christmas tree ♪ >> david is from quebec canada and french is his first language so we asked julie to join us as well. good morning to you both. >> good morning. >> david, this has been crazy. in a couple of weeks more than 8

million hits on youtube. you got a record deal out of this. what has it been like for you? >> it's like a dream. i don't know -- you know. >> it's like a dream come true for him. >> julie, you actually discovered david. tell us how this all came about before you had him on your radio show. >> i am a huge elvis fan too. so i went to this elvis contest back home in quebec city and when i heard him i was flabbergasted. the kid is only 16 years old and he sounds just like elvis. so i had the idea to invite him on my radio show and the rest is now history. >> you're inspired by your grandfather who was a big elvis fan, is that right? >> yeah. >> you have a shout out to your friends back in quebec. [ speaking french ] >> translation, merry christmas. david thibault singing elvis'

blue christmas. take it away ♪ i'll have a blue christmas without you ♪ ♪ i'll be so blue just thinking about you ♪ ♪ decorations of red on a green christmas tree ♪ ♪ won't be the same dear if you're not here with me ♪ ♪ and when those blue snow flakes start falling ♪ ♪ that's when those blue memories start calling ♪

♪ you'll be doing all right with your christmas of white ♪ ♪ but i'll have a blue, blue, blue christmas ♪ [ music playing ] ♪ you'll be doing all right with your christmas of white ♪ ♪ but i'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue christmas ♪

♪ oh, well, i'll have a blue, blue, blue christmas ♪ >> thank you. well done. well done. david, julie, thank you very much. you can get the single, by the way, on itunes. it's eerie, isn't it? >> amazing. merry christmas to you. thank you so much. we move on to our special series we're calling it the social. this morning, a look at holiday gift etiquette. a lot of presents are about to be exchanged. how do you respond to that not so great gift? when it comes to gift giving, we say it's the thought that counts. >> these are for you. >> wiper blades. i don't even have a car. >> but when the gift is all wrong or disappointing. >> what kind of gift is dental floss? >> well, it's waxed and mint flavored. >> what's the best way to respond?

>> i called my sister after i got a gift of grapefruit and i said oh, thank you. you shoun't have. no, really, you shouldn't have. >> oh, wow. look at that. it's rudolph sweater with the nose flashing. that's -- wow. >> when somebody gives me a gift i don't like, i usually repeat what the gift is. wow, a large night gown. >> if the person doesn't know you and they give you a lame gift you should be gracious enough to say thank you and move on and then regift it to somebody else. >> if a husband does not give a right gift. >> right. >> to a wife. >> right. >> he has an entire year to make up for it. >> true whereas the wife can make up for it that night, see. that's the difference. >> never buy your wife -- >> an appliance. my father gave my mother a microwave oven for christmas and my mother went really, charles?

and that taught me everything i needed to know. >> i got a microwave from my husband once and i just said this is unacceptable. >> yeah and never again did he make that mistake. >> never again did he make that mistake. let's keep the conversation going. thomas farley is the etiquette columnist for the new york post. >> good morning. good to see you both. >> if you get a gift you don't like, shouldn't you ignore it and pretend you like it? i thought that was the universal rule. >> you want to be gracious in the moment especially. but there's a few set of rules. we all strive to get the perfect gifts for everybody. when you're looking at the person in the moment and they don't like it, it's very heartbreaking. a few tips to help people make sure they're on their best behavior tomorrow. >> what about the face you make? you open the box. it's not something you like. how can you fake it without letting people know you are faking it?

or should you? >> well, you want to make sure that face and words are in sync. you don't want to be saying one thing and showing something completely different with your face. >> right. >> we've all done that. >> savannah. >> i love it, like that? i love it, question mark. >> perfect. example of what not to do. >> okay. >> you don't want to overcompensate. this is the best thing ever, thank you, you always wanted one. people are going to read through that right away. so definitely don't go in the other direction. >> if you do want to return it and let's say you have a gift receipt or something, do you have to tell the person you returned it? what if they're wondering why you didn't wear that sweater or whatever it is? >> if the person is thoughtful enough to give you the gift, you want that option. you can be gracious in the moment and it never has to come out. but if you haven't gotten the gift receipt that's when it gets tricky. >> what do you do? >> if it's something that your

grandma knit for you and it took her nine months and she's 98 years old you're going to be nice and not complain but if it's something that somebody spent a lot of money on, you want to say something. but do it privately. you don't want to embarrass the person in the moment while everybody is looking around and seeing. later on you say, you know what, i think maybe this size is not appropriate for me or a different color would be better. i'd love to make an exchange. >> to regift or not to regift? ten seconds. >> regift but just do it wisely. don't do it as a way of getting rid of something you don't like. >> don't give it back to the person that gave it to you. >> exactly. >> different friend circles. all right. thomas farley. thank you. nice to have you. >> what should you give to get a great reaction? we have a fail safe guide to last minute gifts. they're thoughtful and easy to grab. you can do it today too. but first your local news. coming up, we have a failsafe guide to last-minute gifts. they're thoughtful and easy to grab.

you can do it today, too. but first your local news. >> mayor ed lee sent a letter to race organizers to suggest changes to the event. he would like to streamline the schedule and centralize the main schedule. since team oracle won this year's cup, it will be up to them to determine where the 2017 race will be held when san francisco hosted this year, it did end up costing the city more than $5 million. a lot of people not thinking about the american cup today. they're thinking about the holidays and the weather week ahead. let's if to anthony slaughter on that. good morning. >> good morning. it's another beautiful day across the bay area. the only unfortunate thing that we have to deal with is sparing the air. we have to spare the air once again today, so no burning in the fireplaces. i know it's very tempting, but

it is illegal today. you can see we're looking at 30s and 40s, but it is hazy in san francisco and every where across the bay area, and that's that poor air quality i was talking about. that's where we do have on spare the air once again for today. temperatures will be warm, though, today. mid to upper 60s across the bay. really picture perfect. ten degrees above average. >> thank you so much, anthony where he we have another local news update coming up in half hour. in the meantime, have a great day. [ female announcer ] here's to a whole world

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8:30 now on this tuesday morning. it's the 24th of december, 2013. christmas eve, everybody. we are so happy to have you and our crowd here in rockefeller plaza on such a pretty morning. great to have you along this morning. >> what is this card? >> i don't want to spoil anybody's breakfast but if we take one step back, #man thigh on today. >> every year we do a christmas

card and my fiancee decided to be in it with me. >> you got engaged last night? >> yes. >> did you know you were buying into this situation. >> i did. unfortunately. >> i love that you're already rolling your eyes at him. >> so you don't love this look? >> occasionally. >> well, congratulations. >> congrats guys. that's great. it's crunch time if you're still holiday shopping. coming up we have last minute gift ideas. yes, there's still time, that will fool your family and friends, savannah, into thinking you shopped for them weeks ago. >> and that you really care about them, willie. >> what's a holiday without food? especially all kinds of christmas cookies and goodies. don't fear. she is here with an italian feast that won't keep you in the kitchen all day. >> especially if we take it straight from our kitchen to home. >> nice and easy. >> meantime, just 44 days to go for the winter olympic games in sochi. to mark the occasion we have a

trivia question for you. which country holds the record for the most gold medals in speed skating. is it norway, finland, or the united states? >> united states. usa. >> you win. it is the united states with 29 medals. by the way, u.s. speed skating olympic trials will kick off friday in salt lake city. one star to be watching, davis. i saw him win one medal. you can catch the coverage this weekend on nbc and the nbc sports network. >> i love it. the music always gets you. >> i figured we weren't doing norwegian skating trivia. >> i would think not. >> and olympic action begins february 6th here on nbc. a lot to look forward to. let's get a check of the weather christmas eve. >> some areas will see a white christmas. it's always festive for this time of year. we're looking at the chance for 3 to 6 inches of snow across

parts of minnesota and back through the great lakes where we could see 3 to 6 inches, especially right off the shores of lake erie. we'll see a lot of sunshine and a little cooler than you would like to see for this time of the year. that's just the way it is. we're looking at cold temperatures tomorrow too. especially in the northeast or the new england area. it's only going to be about 25 degrees. we're looking for that continued lake effect snow. this time around, mostly through michigan where we could see 3 to 6 inches and back through wisconsin but the western half of the country is looking pretty nice. even up through seattle there is no rain in we're looking at beautiful conditions right now. it is a little hazy out there, and we are sparing the air once more for today just because of poor air quality, but overall temperatures right now in the 30s and 40s with those thin clouds overhead. it is going to be a really nice day. very similar to what we saw

yesterday. we're talking about highs that will be back into the mid to upper 60s with our warmest location near 70. of course for your forecast any time you can check it out on weather.com. now back inside to you guys. >> thank you so much. well, the holidays of course are a time of giving and you never know how one simple act of kindness can change a life. >> a new children's book, christmas from heaven recounts the remarkable story of one man whose generosity may have helped change the course of history. here's today's contributing corr address spontaneo correspondence jenna bush-hager. >> his job was to supply food and on that night, flying into berlin, he might as well have been santa himself. >> i had that big load in the back and just so thrilled to

know that those kids that christmas eve would have something to remember that was special. >> reporter: but the story really began six months before at berlin's templehof airport. >> i was standing on the end of the run way and suddenly on the other side of the bashed wire about 30 children came up in front of me. >> reporter: the german kids were hungry and thankful too for the food and friendship. >> flour, dried eggs, dried potatoes and that was too tasty. they loved it. >> reporter: touched by their gratitude he wanted to give more. >> i reached in the right pocket and all was two sticks of gum. they hadn't had chocolate for years. >> reporter: he made a deal that when he would fly into berlin he would drop candy out of the plane. they had one question. >> we got to know the airplane and i said we'll wiggle the

wings. >> reporter: what did they call you? >> the wiggley wing. >> reporter: for safe delivery he rigged up tiny versions of a pilot's best friend, the parachute. >> the next morning, looked down there 30 skids in the bunch. every week they were out there. next week, do it again. >> reporter: eventually word spread back to the united states. candy manufacturers pitched in and when all was said and done americans provided 23 tons of candy for their former enemies. >> on christmas eve 1948. >> reporter: a story has inspired many, including our own tom brokaw who narrated the book with the mormon tabernacle choir. >> these children were in such a destitute state. along they come and show another side of the american face and what they did was not just distribute candy, but they

turned history around. >> the wounds of war began to heal. >> reporter: today he is a spry 93 years old and still suits up for air shows spreading his message of giving. and on this christmas eve, he says the memories of that night 65 years ago have stayed with him always. >> gravity's good. >> reporter: do you think about the faces of those kids? >> i never forget them. my great grandkids now, hear their chatter and i see the kids at the barbed wire fence and think how lucky can you be. >> jenna bush-hager, nbc news, new york. >> what a great story. tom brokaw wanted us to point out at this moment to remember what he had been through, a depression, the world war and the cold war and yet his proudest moment was the candy bomber. bringing joy to little kids.

>> i love how tom puts it, showing another side to the american face. that's an amazing message. >> did you see the look on his face as they recreated that? you can see tom brokaw narrate the story tonight on pbs. check your local listings. >> coming up next, procrastinators. we're talking to you. we have your ultimate guide to last minute holiday gifts. and finally, we'll have an italian christmas feast with help from none other than lydia in our kitchen this morning. but first, this is "today" on nbc. ♪ checkin' target off my list, ♪ ♪ last minute deals on toys and gifts. ♪ ♪ that's my holiday, ♪ that's my kind of holiday. ♪ wrap it up, pop, lock and shop, ♪ ♪ buyin' presents that i forgot. ♪ ♪ that's my holiday. that put you on their gift list? well say hello to aio! at aio wireless you can get an android smartphone

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back at 8:40 on this christmas eve with just a few hours to go, the last minute holiday shopping scramble is on but don't stress. we have gifts that are thoughtful and can be picked up in a hurry. she is editor at large at

southern living. good morning to you. >> thank you. >> you're our lifeline this morning. if you're waking up and don't have your presents you have your ideas? >> we do. it's not too late. it can be a thoughtful present and something that will impress the recipient. >> i love the idea of give the gift of food but you have a twist on it. >> everybody loves the crock pot. it's a great edition. you can put the ingredients in and go. we pulled a vegetarian chili from southern living and put the ingredients in there. you have a great meal for the day after christmas. >> that doesn't have to be that expensive. >> less than $20 and maybe 15 or 20 for the ingredients and you have a really great present. >> done and done. >> another good present for a friend. maybe a yoga mat. >> why not? we'll all be making resolutions in a week from now. it's fun to give your friends something maybe the two of you can do together. a yoga mat, bottle of water.

maybe cute colors and maybe a guest pass or day pass, maybe a monthly pass to a gym. i love these ones from crunch because you can do them online. you can get one for yourself or friend and do them together. >> you can buy by the class sometimes so it's easy for that. >> it would be a fun thing to try together. and maybe it would go in line with their resolution. >> we're all going to be making them in a week. >> we're all making them. >> coffee table books are a great idea and you can design it for the person you have in mind. >> there's a book out there for everybody, right? we love this one called timeless style. it's great for anyone into fashion design. she is an interior designer from atlanta. now, this has a whole chapter about rockefeller center. it is a beautiful book filled with arts and culture. gorgeous gift to give to anybody. now this next gift is a gift for an entire family. it's national geographic around the world in 125 years and it

has three generations full of photographs in it. it's gorgeous. i love this one from the south. >> this nice size feels like a luxury. something you wouldn't buy for yourself but you would love to look through. >> it's three volumes. >> amazing. >> back to the gift of food. always good. >> it always works. these are from blackberry farm. the great thing is that a lot of these mixes are gluten free. they're gourmet but they feel homey and warm and why not get a few extra just in case there's someone you forgot. >> exactly. >> and then you have something you can give to them. >> a lot of folk process kraras because they have a teenager on their shopg list. >> instead of just giving them a gift card give them something to go with the gift . there's these adorable speakers that you plug the iphone into. >> that's so cute. >> it's less than $15. >> wow. >> is it battery operated?

>> it is. >> and it's just a great little treat. $14.99 to put with the gift card and you have something they can open and enjoy right away. >> you can listen to their music. >> you can force them to do your play list. >> exactly. and the kids list. >> this is a great time of year. wonderful opportunity to teach your kids about gratitude and being gracious. put everything in an imagination basket for them and give them everything they need to make thank you notes or make stationary. so you can give them a little address book here filled with addresses you know of relatives that will be giving them presents so they can craft a card and write it and put it in the mail. you're giving them' present and getting them to use their imagination and you're teaching them about being gracious and grateful. >> i like that idea. and movie night is a cute idea. >> thank you. i think this works for anybody. it's great for the whole family. great for a girl or a guy. you can taylor it by choosing

certain movies. this popcorn bowl set, isn't it cute? it is less than $15 at bed bath and beyond and you fill it. you fill witt popcorn. maybe you want to buy ready made popcorn or give them the ingredients to spice up their own popcorn. a little bit of cheese or nuts and cranberries. and you're set. >> are these nailed down? >> no. >> thank you so much. great ideas. we appreciate it. coming up next, another way to eat your holiday stress -- not that. she is going to cook up an easy italian christmas feast. but first, this is "today" on nbc.

>> announcer: today's kitchen is brought to you by macy's. >> back now at 8:47 with today's holiday kitchen. this morning, an italian feast that's perfect for a hectic

holiday-like christmas. she's the author of the new book lidia's common sense italian cooking. good morning. >> good morning, willie, savannah. [ speaking italian ] >> we could go on like this all morning. >> are you going to make the feast of the seven fishes tonight? >> i am. i am. >> are you? >> this is one of the dishes that fits into it. the little pasta. savannah, how's your cooking lately? >> i'm working on it. it's a new years resolution. >> how about you willie? >> i enjoy a little cooking. >> so pasta, fresh or dry is fine. a little garlic, a little leeks, sue zuchini and shrimp. >> is there a difference if you do this fresh or homemade pasta. >> it is. it's a little difference in the texture. the dry pasta remains more

al denti. put a little red pepper in there. >> okay. >> all of it. >> okay. >> a little bit of salt on this. >> okay. >> and the tomato. this is plum tomatoes that i crushed. so go ahead and put it all in there. >> can you just use tomato sauce? >> no. >> come over here. willie, let's rinse that out. >> okay. >> let's not waste anything. >> okay. >> collect all around, savannah. put everything in there. all of these little pieces in there. >> beautiful. >> did you put salt willie? >> i did. >> you let this simmer like that. >> do i cover it or anything? >> no, you don't need to cover it. let it simmer and you put the pasta to cook. so here we have -- we have the sauce that simmered for about ten minutes. >> okay. >> this this is how it looks. we have a little bit of basil here and the shrimp. willie, you're in charge of the pasta. >> yes, ma'am.

>> but first, put the shrimps in. >> dump it or one by one. >> okay. >> mix it well in there. >> i don't want to mess it up. >> you're asking a good question. >> okay. good, good. get it under the sauce. >> yeah. >> okay. now here's a dumb question. were those -- i shouldn't even ask. were those shrimp precooked or are we cooking them now? >> no. >> i'm -- >> you're doing fine. >> i have a lot of experience. >> i need a little bit of pasta water right in here. >> just the water. >> just the water. you see when your sauce is dense. >> coming in hot. >> there you go. >> why the water? >> to make it a little soft. >> okay. >> water is fine. doesn't that look better now. >> it does. >> you can fish the pasta out of there and put it in here. >> coming in hot again savannah. >> right in there. >> clear. >> don't go like this because it's going to go down your sleeves.

>> that's okay. >> that's perfect. i'll help a little here. so you see, just like that. >> oh, that looks good. >> doesn't this look good. >> all right in the pan. >> you see. all in the pan. the pasta is undercooked. the shrimp is continuing to cook. you don't want overcooked shrimp. shrimp don't take long. as long as it will take the pasta to coat, the shrimp will be nice and cooked. >> so did you say you sort of want to undercook the pasta and then do the final bit here? >> absolutely. you undercook it a little bit and put it in the sauce and finish the cooking and it takes the sauce in and flavors good. >> beautiful. >> i would even take -- willie give me a little bit of oil. drizzle a little bit of oil on top of here. that's it. savannah take a little bit of basil. oh, you're a great assistant here. does this look good? >> that looks amazing. >> can you do this savannah? >> sure i can. i appreciate your confidence.

>> all right. >> now you're going to bring some for us. >> yes, i will. >> here's the finish. these are great peppers and it's good, let's say meatless. it's meatless. this is bread, you take bread, you soak it in milk and then you chop some olives, some capers, some cheese, some egg, some basil and you mix it nice and make a nice stuffing. you take your peppers, stuff it and put it in the oven about 30 minutes. >> quartered peppers? >> absolutely and parmesan on top. >> oh my goodness. >> and cookies for dessert. >> traditional. >> very traditional. >> beautiful as always. >> you made it so fun. thank you. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you. >> you can find lidia's recipes and more on our website today.com. we're back in a moment. this is "today" on nbc.

we're going to enjoy our feast. question for everybody, what do you think the top news making moments of 2013 were? there's actually a lot to choose from. well, we're working with a social network where you can share and debate your choices through top ten lists and then you kind of rank your top 10.

>> yeah. >> it's an online way to engage with others about what the big stories were. >> we'll talk about some of that next week. so we want to get yours. go to today.com and tell us and rank them up and we'll share them coming up next week. >> speaking of the top moment of the year, what if you were to sculpture that with playdough. >> well, they have and we'll show you the highlights of the year. >> we're going to challenge each other to see what we can create in 30 seconds. >> we're going head to head? >> yes, we are. >> and dylan, are we going to have a white christmas anywhere in the country. >> yes, where it's white right now, it's definitely staying white. >> not here, that's for sure. >> lidia, thank you for being here. [ speaking italian ] >> first your local news and

good tuesday morning to you. i'm peggy bunker. an annual last minute holiday toy drive is underway in san francisco. the owner of lefty o'doul's hopes to beat last year's record of the toys donated in a single day. you can stop by for a meal and drop off your toys. you can just drop something off as well. let's if to the forecast. anthony is here with that. good morning.

>> good morning. spectacular conditions continue to unfold. the only thing we have to deal with today is unhealthy air quality. otherwise, we're waking up to high thin clouds. temperatures in the 30s and 40s with very light traffic here. if you have to do last minute shopping, you are good to go. s otherwise, we're looking at temperatures today in our warmest locations in the mid to upper 60s with a few near 70. see any 25.

rockefeller plaza. >> welcome to today on a beautiful christmas eve morning. it's tuesday, december4th, 2014. i'm willie geist with natalie morales. al is off today. i hope you're not working or skipping out of work today. >> look at that dog. so cute. >> great crowd as always. >> i'm in shock over david thibault, the 16-year-old on awhile ago. he is yojoining us from canada d sang blue christmas. today he was live in studio and sang it for us.

unbelievable. >> remember we heard it last week and we were like i don't know. there's something in elvis's voice or something? we just heard it. it's all real. listen to this. ♪ i'll have a blue christmas without you ♪ ♪ i'll be so blue just thinking about you ♪ >> he's got it all. >> yes. >> even the humming. and look in the eye area, even the hair. it almost resembles a very young elvis, right? crystal clear bright blue eyes and i was like my goodness. elvis is alive. he's still alive. this is the real elvis. >> that's how good this kid is. >> amazing. >> 16 years old outside quebec canada. >> david thibault. you're going to know that name and hear it a lot. >> that doesn't surprise me. he has his vocals. >> that put me in the spirit.

>> should we explain what this is here for? >> no, just leave milk and carrots. >> this is for our crew. they get very hungry. we figure better than the sugary stuff this time of year. >> my kids are so excited. they're like christmas eve. it's finally christmas eve. luke has been correcting me on the countdown every day. he says mom, four more days and i'm like, no, te it's six more . >> george is four and he can't accept that christmas eve is not christmas. he hears christmas and he doesn't hear anything after that so he woke up this morning, i'm sure, looking for toys and santa didn't come but santa will be here. eve means night before. he doesn't care. he's not listening. >> listening to bing crosby. this is a big tradition. my parents play this song every christmas. they have the all album. >> yeah. >> and to me, i can almost smell the christmas cookies baking and

the christmas meal. >> sinatra. a little buble in there nowadays. >> yeah. >> obviously you do the milk and the cookies for santa. you do the carrots? >> we do. for the reindeer. sometimes lettuce as well. >> right. >> they need to eat. it's a long journey around the globe. >> when you live in an apartment building in new york as we do, the sleigh can't come into your apartment. >> what do you do. >> we go to the roof of the building and we put a bunch of carrots on the roof of the building. >> that's very elaborate. >> it s. it's a long night. >> santa gets off the sleigh and they munch on the carrots and we check the next morning and they're munched down. >> either that or it's the city squirrels or city pigeons. >> is that what it is? thanks for ruining christmas. >> sorry. i'm sure the reindeer are

chomping down. >> people are still shopping, though. >> i'm finally done. are you done? >> i have to pick up a few things on the way home but big things i'm done. toys "r" us, extended holiday hours. it will have stayed open 87 consecutive hours. >> hopefully the workers not working 87 consecutive hours. >> k-mart, macys, kohl's, a lot of them open more than 100 straight hours. you still have time. they're closing early tonight. >> 9:00 is walmart. a couple of places. but i'm sure if you're desperate you will find even the drugstores will stay open so you can find lots of gifts there. >> yes. >> but it has been unfortunately a bad season for retailers. it was such a short season between thanksgiving and chri christmas as well. they're running 3% lower than last year. foot traffic down by 21%. that's probably being made up online i would imagine. i did a lot of my shopping

online this year. >> yeah, you hope so. >> most did. >> we have a great christmas story to tell you about out of mississippi. they're calling this the charlie brown tree. a dead little tree on the side of the road, brandon, mississippi undergone a christmas transformation after a community decorated this thing. the decorations started with 9-year-old nick thornton who grew up watching a charlie brown christmas. he noticed the tree and it reminded him the tree from the cartoon. a sad little tree by the side of the road. so he and his family placed the first red ornament on the bush to brighten it up just as charlie brown did. >> but then the town, day by day, people came by and continued to decorate it with ribbons and ornaments and even american flags. beautiful star on top. presents have been added under the tree. i love that it took a 9-year-old to see, again, what a lot of people pass by as a dead tree. >> his dad even said we were thinking about picking it up and hauling it away and nick said

let's put a ornament on the tree. >> spirit of christmas alive and well in brandon, mississippi. >> meanwhile, incredible video with a happy ending to tell you about. dramatic rescue in massachusetts. police received a frantic 911 call about a dog trapped in the frozen charles river. rescuers tracked the panicked owner data to an isolated stretch of that river. a 5-year-old golden retriever was found paddling for her life about 40 yards offshore. the firefighter was joined by paul delaney helped pull her to shore and reunited with her owner. >> she is doing just fine. >> she's doing fine. >> big christmas meal in store for crosby. extra gravy on that. >> crosby earned that one. this is an odd one but funny one. >> do you think it's odd, really? >> a guy recreated home alone as

a video christmas card. new jersey video editor plays every character in the classic 1990 film. >> i hate families. >> i hope you don't mean that. >> do these vans get good gas mileage. >> made my family disappear. >> look what you did you little jerk. >> i made my family disappear. >> that's the one. >> keep the change you filthy animal. >> is this tooth brush approved by the american dental association? >> this is my house. i have to defend it. >> this is the most frustrating scene in film history. he doesn't take one bite. >> hello. >> why did you take your shoes off? >> why are you dressed like a chicken. >> have you had enough or are

you thirsty for more. >> that's amazing. >> brilliant. paul little. well done. >> paul little from jersey. well done, man, that is great. >> nothing more adorable this time of year than checking out babies in beautiful holiday attire. take a look at some of these that were submitted by you. that's braden anthony. clearly helping his parents light up the holidays there. >> born on november 6th. oh my gosh. >> oh my gosh. precious. >> sacramento, california. >> remember when your body could do that. >> that pose. >> sleeping baby pose. >> and this one. >> memphis morris, october 16th he was born. parents recommend to always have the camera handy for the recommended cuteness. >> take a look. >> too cute. >> born in august in connecticut. >> check out more cute christmas

babies. >> thank you for sending us that. that is great. >> let's get a check of the weather. >> how sit looking for christmas time? >> there will be a white christmas for some. not for all. but there's a good chunk of the country where we have a lot of snow on the ground. especially central and northern parts of new england. right back through oklahoma and nebraska and kansas. that's where we have a lot of snow and through the mountains, through the eastern rockies, especially where we have about 98 inches of snow on the ground. we are looking for more snow to move into minneapolis. you'll see the snow falling in minneapolis and chicago, especially into tonight tomorrow too just enough to cover up the ground and the brown snow that's out there. a little bit of freezing rain through south dakota and nebraska. keep that in mind if you're out and about driving around. we'll also see lake effect snow showers through michigan and parts of western new york and pennsylvania and ohio too. it's the southern half of the country where we have the nicest weather. temperatures will be a little bit cool. we'll top out in the 40s and 50s.

some of the colder air will good morning. 9:09. waking up to clear skies across the bay area. just a few high, thin clues for the most part, and very hazy here on this tuesday. in fact, you can see in san francisco right now we'll take it off to the east bay. you can see we're looking at hazy conditions off on the horizon. traffic not being impeded too much right now. we're just basically looking at a few cars on the road. overall temperatures today back into the mid townshiper 60s. our warmest locations will top out near 70 degrees in the east and the north bay. have a good tuesday. and that's your latest forecast. >> thanks a lot. coming up next, you get an ugly sweater from christmas from your aunts. do you tell her you like it if she asks? >> yeah. >> how to handle some awkward social situations right after this. [ male announcer ] everything you do on the new sprint network is important.

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all of that celebrating means there's plenty of opportunities for awkward situations. >> here to put our holiday etiquette to the test is the contributor and editor harriet cole. >> good morning. >> good morning. we'll be doing a quiz with ho ho ho as a yes or no you didn't? >> yeah. >> all right. >> who ever rings first gets to give your answer and then i'll let you know howell you're doing. are you ready? >> yes. >> the sweater your mother-in-law got you doesn't fit or isn't your style. if she asks you if it worked out, do you tell her the truth? >> ho ho ho.

>> why? >> because i think if -- you said it's your mother-in-law? >> yes. >> i hope you have a good relationship and she would want you to have i think something that you liked. as long as she didn't knit it, i think you're okay. >> and also, she asked. >> yeah. >> if she doesn't ask you do you think you should say it anyway? >> i might just suggest that, you know, if i could get a bigger size would be better. >> just say i love the sweater. it's beautiful. i'm just going to get the bigger size. good eye but too small. >> perfect. >> maybe not year one. >> yes. >> okay. here we go. a guest staying with you over the holidays wants to extend their stay by a few days. is it okay to say no? >> ho ho ho. >> yeah. >> if you're here in expensive new york city or some other expensive place and have to go to a hotel, what do you tell them? >> get out.

get out. don't let the door hit you. >> some people don't leave you, though. >> how do you do that in a nice way? >> it is hard. >> you can tell people we want to spend time alone with our family too. we spent this much time with you and we want to spend the rest of our holiday together. >> hopefully they get it when you leave the luggage right at the door. >> sometimes people don't. >> this is the question we ask all the time. is it ever okay to regift? >> i said ho ho ho. >> so the thing is, don't pretend that it's a new gift. don't put it in a tiffany box. people do that. people pretend when they regift. we shouldn't do that. you can say i received this wonderful toaster and i had one already and i thought you would like to have it. or whatever the item is, if you just make it clear that you're honest, then it's okay. if you don't have a gift card, what are they going to do. >> right.

should you give them a little something that's more personal too though. >> it could be personal. a great regift could be something you might not even spend that much money on the gift for that person. but you've got something you think is perfect for them. >> okay. all right. >> aunt betty is pressuring you to try her famous fruitcake. do you have to give it a try? >> can you just say i'm on a diet. >> no. >> aunt betty worked all day. >> take a bite. and don't skrunch your face up. a little bite and give her a hug. >> you put it in your cheek over here and then -- >> speaking of cheeks, if you find yourself under mistle toe with someone you don't want to kiss, are you obligated to pucker up? >> no. >> absolutely not. >> i agree. i got a question saying if somebody walks around with mistle toe, do you have to kiss

them? that's creepy. >> that's creepy. >> you use humor and say no, go kiss her or jump out. making it humorous makes it less awkward. >> or if it's fake mistletoe. >> that is a really aggressive move though. >> isn't it weird? if an acquaintance gives you a gift you weren't expected, are you obligated to give one back? >> ho ho no. >> correct. the thing you are obligated to do is not what you just did. you're not supposed to cringe. oh, i'm so sorry i didn't give get you something. what you should do is to complete the circle of giving. thank you so much. really sincerely thank them for thinking of you and for giving you something at the holiday season and end it with that. >> okay. unfortunately we're out of time. >> i love this game. >> this is so much fun. >> who won? would you say i won? >> i think it was me. >> natalie won. >> congratulations.

>> good job. >> a giant stocking. >> congratulations, i guess. thank you. merry christmas. >> okay. >> up next, natalie has all the news you need before you leave the house. >> a giant arm for this thing. >> now that we know how to handle these awkward social situations. the perfect present wrapping when you to think out of the box. some victories are uplifting. some inspire us to new heights. and some victories are worth striving for. but at famous footwear, we believe... ...the best victories are the ones that are right within reach. these are the victories we're famous for. famous brands, famously easy, famous footwear. victory is yours. [ ding ] cheese plate?

cheese plate. no, i made something better. you used the oven? boom. [ male announcer ] pillsbury crescents. make the holidays pop. ♪ [ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. vicks nyquil -- powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪ 6-symptom cold & flu relief. honey, don't use your sleeve. for cold and flu season, there's clorox bleach. jingle all the way... ♪ells, ring in the holidays with buy one get one free family sleepwear ...like joe boxer. plus members always get more. kmart. get in. get more christmas.

taking a look at the headlines, nasa is hoping to wrap up repairs today during an emergency space walk on the international space station. they are fixing the cooling system. the astronaut is wearing a back up space suit. last time-out he did have a little problem with water leaking into his suit. >> the deadline has been extended by one day for people looking to sign up for health care through the federal exchange. consumers will be able to select a plan through today and still get coverage through the beginning of the year. officials acknowledged the government website was still having problems with people trying to sign up. the site has been plagued by glitches since it went live early wrer this year. it's well-known that women should eat healthy foods before and during pregnancy but new research suggests a father's diet also plays an important role in his child's health. vitamin b 9 which is found in green vegetables, cereals and

fruit. they're 30% more likely to have birth defects than those whose fathers had adequate levels. >> if you're feeling stressed out this holiday season and who isn't about that yearly trip to the in laws, you are not alone. 40% of americans find the december holidays to be the most distressful time of year to travel. consumers say airline delays and cancellations, bad weather and the price of transportation are the three top reasons for their stress. >> and hockey fans are still buzzing this morning about a modern day miracle on ice. the sabers and the coyotes are tied at one in overtime. now watch carefully as you see here. the puck pops up. where does it go? yeah, right there in the pants. turns out, landed right in the back of the pants of the coyotes goal tender mike smith. only he did not know it at the time. he actually skated backwards right into his goal and that actually was the goal for the win, willie. >> that was the amazing thing.

the game winning goal. >> right there. >> we're back after your local news and weather

good morning to you. i'm peggy bunker. new details in the legal battle over an oakland teenager declared brain dead after a tonsilectomy. doctors will release findings about her brain function at a hearing this morning. yesterday the judge appointed the chief of pediatrics newer olgs to get an outside opinion on the teen's condition. the family attorney also asked if the judge would order a third evaluation by a pediatric professor at the university of toledo. the past president of the catholic medical association. the judge has yet to make a decision on that. she has been brain dead for almost two weeks. there is a court order to keep her alive until monday. a busy night for police following the final regular season game for the 9ers at candlestick park. the san francisco police

department said the 30 people were arrested for various things including public drunkenness, property destruction and for reportedly trying to steal stadium seats. 81 people were ejected from the game. seven were sited for various offenses. officials at the county jail said it usually takes only new year's eve like they did last night. another look at the weather coming up after this break.

>> temperatures are going to warm quickly from bs)e they're at right now. in the 30s and 40s. back into the mid 60s this afternoon. in fact, the unfortunate thing with this warm air is that we have to spare the air once again. beautiful sunshine will continue. it will be a little hazy at times as well. unfortunately, with this spare the air alert in effect for today, we're talking about unhealthy air quality all across the board from the south bay to the north bay, and you know, the things here we're going to be looking at unhealthy air not only for today, but through tomorrow. thursday and friday as well.

there will be a weak disturbance that moves this way as we head towards this weekend. by saturday we'll go from the unhealthy level to the moderate level, but definitely want to make sure you take it easy if you have to be outside today and the next few days. back to you. >> all right, anthony. good advice there. of course, that means no fires in the fireplace for the holidays. a lot of people asking if they can do that or want, but, no, that is something that would definitely earn you a citation. we will have another local news update for you in just about half hour. keep it here. we'll have all the latest after this. [ laughter ] he loves me. he loves me not. he loves me. he loves me not. ♪ he loves me! that's right. [ mom ] warm and flaky in 15, everyone loves pillsbury grands! [ girl ] make dinner pop! so i should probably get the last roll... yeah but i practiced my bassoon. [ mom ] and i listened. [ brother ] i can do this. [ imitates robot ]

everyone deserves ooey, gooey, pillsbury cinnamon rolls. make the weekend pop. one more time in 2013. >> it's almost the end of the year. >> it's christmas eve. >> what are we doing about the playdough. >> here's the deal. they put together the moment of the year and they do them in playdough in a beautiful professional way. diana nyad on her swim. >> jennifer lawrence. >> what does the fox say first. then the cronuts. a big year for the cronut and jennifer lawrence and the super bowl when the lights went out. >> yeah. we thought we would have some fun with ours here. >> we're going to create our moment of the year in playdough

and we already have 30 seconds to do it. >> and go. >> oh, oh. >> mine is a story a covered. >> yeah, sure. >> i think it's a story everybody knows about. what about you? what are you going for? >> i'm worried about my structural integrity here. >> mine isn't sticking. >> okay. >> how come you don't make flesh tones. >> that's what i really need. >> i have like a golden fleshy looking thing here. >> this is not going well. >> wait, wait. >> we need 30 more seconds. >> can we have 30 more seconds. 30 more seconds. come on. >> okay. and time. >> what have you got. >> what in the world? okay. i do this much better with my

kids, i promise. >> i don't even know where to begin. >> okay. it has eyes. >> sound effects. the royal baby. >> the royal baby. >> the baby just lost his arms and legs. >> this is play-doh's version. >> it's very sad. it's like gumby just melted andsor rang. >> here's what it is. i'm going to walk you through it. >> see there's a tongue sticking out there. >> it's miley cyrus. >> miley -- she's bent over and here because i didn't have time, this is robin thick. right there. in play-doh. isn't it beautiful? >> really? that's the best you could do. >> i had 30 seconds. >> come on. mine at least has eyeballs. >> play-doh, thank you very

much. >> all the years with our kids worked for nothing. >> i think your kids need to come and help you make some of these. >> clearly. >> they might do a better job. but as far as snow is concerned, we're going to see a white christmas in areas like wyoming and through the dakotas right now. we have freezing rain across southern south dakota. lots of sunshine from seattle right down into los angeles. it's going to stay nice and sunny. we're not looking at rain in areas like seattle for the christmas holiday. but in l.a., not a bad view there. you can see things are nice and quite. it stays sunny all day long. temperatures are nice and warm too. we should hit about 71 degrees later on this afternoon. elsewhere across the country, it's anything but 70s. we have below zero temperatures across the northern plains. even into the upper midwest it feels like we're well below zero. about 3 to 6 inches of snow possible and eventually snow showers will move into the chicago area later on tonight and into tomorrow. lake effect snow across interior northeast and also we're looking

for some of the snow showers to extend down into west virginia. temperatures, though, are a little bit cool. 43 across parts of oklahoma. 49 in carolinas. 53 down through new orleans and we'll see those temperatures zarchlgts good morning. 9:34. waking up to clear skies for the most part. it's hazy out there, and that's really what we're going to be dealing with all day long. in fact, poor air quality will remain in place really all day, and that's going to continue in this spare the air alert that we have in effect for today. otherwise, temperatures today will top out m mid to upper 60s across the bay area. definitely make sure you take advantage of that, but if you do have those airport ailments, make sure you limit your time outdoors. have a good one. >> that's your latest forecast. >> thank you. you're not quite close to wrapping all of the gifts. >> not close. what do youo with the doll

house or bike that won't fix in a box or gift bag. here to help with is marine. >> merry christmas thanks for having me. >> i don't know what's under this but i'm guessing a bike or something like that. >> maybe. >> the easy thing would be to slap a big bow on something. but it's always more fun to unwrap a present. you can do this big box reveal. >> it's big items. >> oh, sorry kids. mommy broke your bike. >> hopefully that won't happen on christmas morning. >> yeah. >> but even something like a bike, just get a big box and just use the top. >> that's cool. >> wrap every single thing to make the morning last longer. >> the bow is the cheap way out. that's nice and easy. >> what do you think? >> a giant bottle of something

to drink. >> no. >> a dollhouse. >> that's cool. >> that's an awkward thing. >> if you wrap it and then all the little things all ready for them to play with, you can set it up for them. it makes it easy. if you don't have a big, giant box, you can make one out of, use some heavier duty duct tape and make a bigger box. >> good idea. >> other odd shaped presents here. some things you're going to want to go with it. the shape is going to indicate what you go with. >> this is cute. a hockey stick. >> we use this craft paper here and then the red tape. but you can also use a cand candy cane striped wrapping paper. we just made the form of the hockey stick. old boxes using duct tape and giving yourself that shape. >> that's cool. >> here we have the tennis racquet. so we went with the lollipop theme. it's a little different color. bright pink, greens, purples. they're all so festive and it's a lollipop and tennis racquet.

we're letting them indicate how we're going to wrap it. >> thinking outside the box. >> we went with the hard wrap and now this is the soft wrap. >> soft wrap. >> this one over here, willie is going to be your wrapping station here. this is for you. i got this for you. >> thank you. >> this is our tape dispenser here. >> i like that. >> there's two things you can do with odds and ends. even if they're toys. you can do the soft wrap with the tissue paper or you can make the wrapping paper part of the present. so here we have new dish towels, christmas scene dish towels so you can go ahead and wrap your item in front of you. >> that too? >> each item or -- >> i'm going to let you see how you do with it and then i'll wrap my items. >> i'm letting you have free reign here. >> okay. >> two different kinds of ribbon. >> you do this tighter, didn't you? >> i did. >> it's a disaster. >> it's inventive. >> we are not very creative. >> she's beating you willie.

>> it's not about speed. it's about quality. >> it's about quality. there you go. >> you can do that. >> can i tape? >> yeah. >> use tape or ribbon. >> there you go. willie is getting right into it. >> a piece of ribbon. >> i'm going to open mine upright away. since i have two little items i'll put it right in the middle here and fold my towel up like this. >> trying to be creative with the bow. >> there you go. you got it. >> well, that was beautiful, natalie. i wonder who it's going to be. >> look at that. >> that's one way to do it. >> see how ic contrasted the green and the red. >> no one would ever know what this was. >> right. >> or you could have done the easy one which is wrapping the ends. >> that's the easy way out. >> no. not doing that. >> okay. so here we go. a tip on this is we have wire in this ribbon so it gives us a

little structure. >> and some has no structure at all. >> i have an egg beater. >> i got you a can opener and towels. >> mine are both in here. much better. >> good idea. >> merry christmas. >> coming up next on hope to it, the gift of a new home for deserving wounded warriors. great story after this. i was living with pain -- all over. the intense ache made it hard to do the things that i wanted. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia -- thought to be the result of over-active nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. so now, i can do more of the things i enjoy. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters,

changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, or tired feeling. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. with less pain, i'm feeling better with lyrica. ask your doctor if lyrica is right for your fibromyalgia pain. ♪ thank you grandma for the dolls. ♪ ♪ i love it! ♪ i'm ninja kicking through the halls. ♪ ♪ i love it! ♪ mom's posting pictures on your wall. ♪ ♪ that's my kind of holiday. what does that first spoonful taste likok. honey bunches of oats. ching! mmmm! mmmm! mmmm! wow! it's the oats. honey. yeah. honey bunches of oats. this is a great cereal. she should be braiding her hair. not losing it.

he should be battling video villains. not cancer cells. they should be living life. not fighting for it. at st. jude children's research hospital, we're fighting for kids who aren't as lucky as yours. st. jude's research labs may not be in your community. but our discoveries are. our research has changed how the world treats leukemia, brain tumors and sickle cell disease. and no family ever pays st. jude. for anything. our discoveries today could save a child you know, tomorrow. so if you have healthy children, give thanks. give thanks. da las gracias. give thanks. give thanks. give thanks for the healthy kids in your life. and give to those who are not. go to st. jude dot org or shop wherever you see the st. jude logo. bill: boy, oh, boy.s penguin!

ja: yay! now what do you think he's got in that gift box, bill? bill: hopefully a present for my wife! jane: oh, no... bill: yea... catch the great ritz holiday parade across the web, for deals, recipes, and festive fun. it all starts at ritzparade.com. smoke? nah, i'm good. [ male announcer ] celebrate every win with nicoderm cq, the unique patch with time release smartcontrol technology that helps prevent the urge to smoke all day long. help prevent your cravings with nicoderm cq. a 3d white smile with crest 3d white toothpaste. it removes up to 90% of surface stains in just 5 days. unleash your smile with crest 3d white toothpaste. life opens up with a whiter smile. ♪ last minute deals on toys and gifts. ♪ ♪ that's my holiday, ♪ that's my kind of holiday. ♪ wrap it up, pop, lock and shop, ♪ ♪ buyin' presents that i forgot. ♪ ♪ that's my holiday.

this morning, a special gift in time for christmas. >> severely injured military veterans were given brand new custom homes. here is one family's story. >> when i was injured in iraq it was maybe the second to the last mission and we were about a week and a half from going home. >> army staff sergeant wallace finena lost his leg and arm while deployed in iraq in 2007. >> there was a land mine and i didn't realize until i went up to stand up and move. >> they called, it was about 4:00 in the morning and they said your husband has been in an accident. we flew out two days later. the doctors said, do you know who this is? he said that's my wife. >> wallace better known as wally to friends and family began his recovery process.

>> i thought how am i going to be a father, how am i going to be a husband, how am i going to live my life? >> relearning to stand, walk, even change his young daughter's diapers, but coming home brought its own unique challenges. >> like the garage and the front door both have steps on the entryway. the doorways my wheelchair won't fit into it. i have to stop at the doorway and hop into the rooms to either dress my children, tuck them into the bed, take them to the bathroom. >> that's where homes for our troops comes in. >> these homes are funded through donors, through sponsors. through volunteers. our mission is to take care of our most severely wounded warriors and build specially adapted house in order to give back them the freedom and independence of the wounded veterans. >> tim mchale, the president and ceo of homes for our troops spent 35 years in the army. for him, the cause is personal. >> i have seen all the challenges that many of these veterans are dealing with, with their injuries.

and i really felt compelled to be in this kind of position. >> this december the nonprofit built 12 homes for 12 veterans in eight different states. >> it's a special time of year and this will bring some great meaning to our veterans. >> they're one of the families receiving a new home. >> it's probably made him feel less of plan because he wasn't able to help out, but in this new home he can do anything. >> after a procession and ceremony with friends, family and volunteers -- >> congratulations. thanks for all that you have done, all your service. >> they get the key to the newhouse. >> i love it. absolutely love it. >> i couldn't ask for anything more. this is perfect. >> bringing new meaning to the term "home for the holidays."

and for more information on homes for our troops and how you can get involved, head to "today today.com. a good way to help out, go online, make a donation to a military group or which ever one you choose. >> you see what the impact it had on that family, so many families. great job. coming up next, we'll switch gears and talk about drinks and desserts andyou quick tricks to help ♪ [ male announcer ] even well-planned holidays can wind up at the corner of "stockings are stuffed" and "quick -- duck!" luckily, walgreens is always nearby, so it's easy to get in and out for extra stocking stuffers... or anything else you might suddenly need. stop by walgreens anytime for hershey's kisses chocolates, gift cards, and more. plus most stores are open christmas day. here at the corner of happy and healthy. plus most stores are open christmas day. hey now... she's just gifing out gif-ing out?

cause of all the good stuff she got at kmart. now through christmas eve get up to 75% off fine jewelry. plus, members always get more. kmart. get in. get more christmas. i'my body doesn't work the way it used to. past my prime? i'm a victim of a slowing metabolism? i don't think so. great grains protein blend. protein from natural ingredients like seeds and nuts. it helps support a healthy metabolism. great grains protein blend. for realsies, ryan is a total hottie mchotterson. totesies. trouble understanding others on the phone [ male announcer ] in honor of the important things you do, due to a hearing loss? save up to $100 on any new phone visit sprintcaptel.com or call 877-805-5845. when you switch to sprint.

[ female announcer ] we eased your back pain... ♪ ready or not. [ female announcer ] ...so you can be up there. here i come! [ female announcer ] ...down there, around there... and under there for him. tylenol® provides strong pain relief and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. it cleans, fights stains and brightens your clothes. so all that other stuff people use in the wash doesn't really hold its weight, does it? so try tide pods. why? the proof is in the pop. so try tide pods.

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all right. you're going to have a house full of people today and tomorrow and between us you haven't given it a lot of thought. >> susan is here with tricks to make your last minute holiday planning going a little smoother. good morning. >> great to be here. >> so a lot of people you say are getting ready right now. >> yes. >> trick is really with the planning. >> plan ahead. it's such a simple trick but what i do every holiday, i set the table the night before. >> right. >> this is not the time the day of christmas to find out there's a wine stain on your table cloths, your missing chairs, you're missing plates. set yourself up the night before. it will be a great ease off your mind. >> that's good advice. what are we doing here with the ice cream in the muffin tins? >> this is something, pie is often being served at the end of the day. you want to scoop, prescoop and put them in little cupcake tins. >> okay. >> put them in the freezer. freeze them up. >> yeah. >> in time for dessert, you have this. you thaw it for a few minutes

and plop it on the plate. >> perfect little ice cream balls. >> yeah. >> i like to do that. >> what about the butter? >> butter is also cold. i think it's prettier presentation if you take a simple box grater and grate a few in there. >> like your grating cheese. >> i think it looks nicer. >> yeah you put the brick out there and it starts melting. >> if you haven't had time to thaw your butter, you can grate a little bit. >> good idea. pizzas if you're having an appetizer. >> frozen pizzas are a wonderful way to serve up an appetizer. during the holidays it's fun to use christmas themed cookie cutters. cut a shape out. >> cut it up first and decorate it. >> slightly thaw them and cut the shapes out. >> we're so handy and crafty today. >> and once you get that out, you can decorate it with fresh herbs, a little olives and anything you like. you pop it in the oven. >> great idea. >> they are kind of cute. >> they're great.

>> candy canes, whatever you have. >> you have to chill a bottle of wine or champagne quickly. >> more wine is not cool. you're doing a one to one ratio of ice and water. you put in a couple of handfuls of salt. >> why? >> it lowers the temperature. so your wine or champagne is going to cook up a little faster. stir it around. >> i had no idea. >> about 20 or 25 minutes you'll have a cooler bottle of wine. make sure you rinse it so you don't get salt in your wine. >> definitely. >> this is the fun part of course. who doesn't like a festive drink. you don't have time to make punch, get some champagne and make it more festive. drop a few berries in there. whatever you like. it keeps the drink cool as well. >> that's cool. >> the frozen thing, a lot of people have them in the freezer already. >> how about this decorative look? >> this is a little quick decoration. these do not take up a lot of space. they're easy, you can go sneak

around your christmas tree if you have one. take a few bits out. wrap the bottom, you know, and pop it into whatever you have. maybe you can use clear glasses or whatever you have. a little charlie brown moment. you have smallulbs put them on there too. >> we're out of time; merry christmas. >> thank you so much. >> you too. >> we're back in a moment. this is "today" on nbc. [ female announcer ] here's to a whole world of happier holidays. time to enchant, delight and amaze.

safeway will help you gather everyone 'round. a smoked, shank half ham is only 99 cents a pound. starbucks is just $6.99, that's a cup of good cheer. get sweet clementines for $4.99, enough for everyone here. turns out this season less is really so much more. so make your holiday merrier than ever before. safeway. ingredients for life. that put you on their gift list? well say hello to aio! at aio wireless you can get an android smartphone free with activation. free android phone?!?! yes please. plus, aio has a reliable nationwide network and no annual contracts. it's like the presents just keep coming! a wireless company that puts me at the top of their list? i'm in! stop by your neighborhood aio store or visit aiowireless.com. aio, a new way to wireless.

r. kathie lee and hoda coming up next with quick fishes. >> plus a performance by

good morning to you. merry christmas eve. it's 9:56. i'm peggy bunker. san jose police are investigating a violent mall robbery just steps away from santa and little kids waiting in line for their holiday picture. this happened at a jewelry store in the middle -- excuse me -- of

east ridge mall last night. now, that's off capital expressway near highway 101. witnesses say a man snatched a glasss7 jewelry case and then e off with several pieces of jewelry. the robbery happened right next to a line of parents with their kids waiting to greet santa. >> when this other man turned around, he had a light green sweater. he had like a nylon -- black nylon over his face. as soon as i seen that, we just started running. witnesses tell us some stores shut their gates there. they were told to shelter inside. other shoppers say they were ordered out of the mall. the mall's operation manager said the mall was never evacuated. san jose police say the suspect ran off and hasn't been identified or arrested. we do want to go to anthony slaughter, who has his eye on the forecast. good morning. >> you know, we are looking at a beautiful day across the bay area. in fact, temperatures are going to warm very quickly from where they're at right now. in the 30s and 40s. back into the mid 60s this afternoon. in fact, the unfortunate thing with this warm air is that we have to spare the air once

again, but beautiful sunshine will continue. it will be a little hazy at times as well. unfortunately, with this spare the air alert in effect for today, we're talking about unhealthy air quality all across the board from the south bay to the north bay. you know, the thing here, we're going to be looking at unhealthy air not only for today, but through tomorrow. thursday and friday as well. there will be a weak disturbance that moves this way as we head towards this weekend. by saturday we'll go from the unhealthy level to the moderate level, but definitely want to make sure you take it easy if you have to be outside today and the next few days. back to you. >> all right, anthony. thank you so much. we will have another local news update coming up for you in just about half hour. in the meantime, have a great day. >> announcer: from nbc news,

this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> beautiful, kids. >> that's the way to start it. >> that's right. >> hey, everybody, it's christmas eve. that's the ps 22 chorus from staten island new york with oh, come all you faithful. gosh, we're so happy you guys are here. >> they made christmas eve perfect. >> what's great about that is it's so busy this season, so much activity and all of a sudden you see a choir of kids from a school and they sing that song. thank you, guys. that was a gift to us. you put us in the christmas spirit. thank you. >> thank you. do you believe it's christmas eve already? >> it's always a blur this time of year. >> say you can't believe it. >> oh, yes. >> kids, guess who is singing? do you know who is singing this song? >> kelly ripa. >> kathie lee gifford. >> we have a lot of singing today.

alexajoel is here with us. >> we have emergency help. >> we have the most beautiful story about some rescue dogs that are trained to be service animals for kids with autism. let me tell you something, if you have a child with autism or you know someone who does you've got to see this story. it's totally amazing. >> we tell amazing stories all year-round but this one is going to grab you like it did hoda and i. you're going to just love it. >> it is christmas eve. on christmas eve let's talk about important things like presents. >> yes. >> do you open -- >> spiritual secular. >> do you open presents on christmas eve? >> no, we don't. we've always been christmas morning. >> even when the kids were little? >> yes it's because it is anticipation of it. the appreciation of waiting for something is important. we try to go to church on christmas eve.

we couldn't take them to the christmas mass, the midnight mass, too late. but many times now they're doing families ones that are earlier and try to have a christmas eve service. then christmas morning the smartest thing anybody ever said to me was years ago when they said you want to keep your kids normal and healthy, give them three presents like the wise men brought the baby jesus, just three. >> is that what you did. >> just three and they will so appreciate the three and that's what we did from the time they were little on. at thanksgiving this year we sat around the table talking about what we were grateful for. as a family every one of us said you know what, there is not one thing in the world we want except to be together so we made a pact, no presents. i think i'm going to enjoy tomorrow morning more than any christmas ever because just to be together, just to celebrate what christmas is truly all about as a family -- because the stuff is wonderful but the stuff can get in the way of the real purpose. >> so what are you going to do

tomorrow morning? >> we're going to probably sleep in a little bit for the first time and put on the music, put on the fire. we like to have a little nosh in the morning. what about you? >> we decided that nothing says christmas like the bahamas. my mom, my sister and i, the three girls are going to go to the bahamas. >> fabulous. >> the kids and my brother and his wife go to vermont with his wife and their family so the kids aren't there so for us -- >> you want to get out of the hustle and bustle. >> why not. that's what we're going to do. no presents, we're not stuffing presents in the bag. we're going to have toes in the sand and cold drinks. i'm so excited. here's a question for you. we heard a couple of christmas songs but what do you think is the song where people mess the lyrics up the most. >> it's got to be -- >> the 12 days of christmas. >> it's almost impossible. >> can you name the 12 days of christmas. let's try.

does it start with partridge in a pear tree. >> yes. a partridge in a pear tree. two turtle doves. i can't go that way. i got to go down. >> 12 drummers drumming. 11 papers piping. ten maids a milking, nine lords a leaping. >> no. ladies dancing. 8 lords a leaping, 7 swans a swimming, 6 gooes a laying five golden rings -- >> here it is. ♪ >> even we ruined it. okay, anyway --

>> when regis likes to do our concert we would get the people out of the audience to do it and it was so much fun. it was so much, only because we couldn't remember. >> our producers are puzzled. they don't know how they butchered it too. >> they did it too and they were looking at it. >> please play this with us. it's called guess the christmas song. there is going to be a lyric and we're going to try to guess the song that goes with the lyric. the first lyric is this. gone away is the blue bird. here to stay is the new bird. >> as we go along walking in a winter wonderland. ♪ gone away is the blue bird >> could have used my version. ♪ he sinksgs a love song as we along walking in a winter wonderland ♪

>> here comes the next one. >> giddy up jingle horse pick up your feet. must be jingle bells. >> no. it's -- ♪ >> i love it. okay. here's the next lyric. are you ready at home? troll the ancient yule tide carol. ♪ >> deck the halls. >> wait. people at home are still enjoying. >> okay. here's one. it's beginning to look a lot like christmas i think, hoda. >> wait. you haven't given people at home the lyrics. >> i'm sorry. >> take a look in the five and ten. >> stop giving away the secret

to the people at home. ♪ >> again, not my version. >> ho ho. >> here's the last one. may your days be merry and bright. >> that was got to be -- >> jingle bells. >> no. have yourself -- oh, ♪ >> white christmas. >> that's what i was going to say. >> this is great. by the way, you know what's great to have on in your house? pandora on christmas. >> who is that? >> oh, a mercy play. that's all right. it's over. >> she's singing. they don't care at all. we have big news, you guys. christmas story turns 30. >> i think i'm the only person who has never seen the movie, a christmas story. >> tbs is running one of those

24-hour marathons. >> i have a chance now. >> it starts tonight at 8:00. if you don't know the film, you probably know this scene. take a look. >> spine stiffened, his lips curled in a defiant sneer. there was no going back now. >> this is nuts. >> ah! ah! >> oh, my god! they left him at the tree? >> it was a pole. how did that film that? it looked like they really do it, didn't it? >> that's a prosthetic tongue. >> by the way, the home in cleveland is now a museum, 40,000 visitors are expected a year. >> that's amazing. last year the film was named one

of the ten films to go into the library of congress national film registry to preserve culturally historically significant films. >> here's a quick question for you. who is the hardest person in your family to shop for? >> nobody anymore. >> so according to this survey, the most difficult person to buy a present for is your spouse or significant other. they say moms are the number two. i think my brother is harder. >> i think there is somebody that's difficult in every family. anyway, we just hope you're going to have a blessed christmas eve and christmas day tomorrow. >> from a fashionable table setting to christmas gifts we're going to help you through the emergencies. >> wait until you see how the dogs are helping kids with autism. >> ps 22 take it away. >> take it away, kids. ♪ we wish you a merry christmas, we wish you a merry christmas

and a happy new year ♪ ♪ we wish you a merry christmas, we wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year ♪ wisest kid, am i forgetting something? no holiday's complete without campbell's green bean casserole. wish you were here. ♪ [ doorbell ] [ gasps ] ♪ [ gong ] [ wisest kid ] m'm! m'm! good!

cow: (tearing up) go get em' gracie! girl: bye! cow: they grow up so fast baby: (giggles) cow: my bad. girl: would you like some tea? cow: yes please. girl: o.k. cow: (sniffling) i miss her so much already. get on skype at recess! mom: we're fine. we're fine. cow: ahhhhh vo: make us part of your family. look for nutritious dairy brands with the real california seals. mom: she's going to be done at noon. cow: (yells) noon! ahhhhhh you would need like a bunch of those to clean this mess. [ kc ] you're probably right. hi, cascade kitchen counselor. 1 pac of cascade complete cleans tough food better than 6 pacs of the bargain brand combined. cascade. beyond clean and shine. every time. than 6 pacs of the bargain brand combined. wout of landfills each year? plastic waste to cover mt. rainier by using one less trash bag each month, we can.

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there is an absolutely wonderful place in new jersey that trains shelter and rescue dogs to be service animals for children with special needs. >> it's called mirlin's kids. janice decided to dedicate her life to helping others. >> and so she has by rehabilitating thousands of rescue dogs including emme who she trained for a special little boy with autism named harry. >> she was chased by other dogs and in a position where she had to fight for her food.

we're going to be teaching her that she was a new job of protecting a job. this is not a case of teaching the dog to sit or lie down. this is life and earth. she'll be able to keep a child from running into the street because she's 90 pounds. typically a service dog for a child who is a flight risk, you want to have a larger dog that can actually physically provide a boundary and prevent the child from going where the child isn't be going. >> that's unbelievable. >> so much more. janice, so nice to welcome you here. >> thank you. >> when you think about a child with autism and all the worries parents have, i find that astonishing that a dog can stop a child from darting out into the road and those kinds of things. >> yeah. actually the dogs can do a lot of different things. one of the things is obviously have a tether where the dog is physically restrained and the dog will actually back the child away from the street.

the dog will back up until it feels pressure on the tether and keep the child away from the curb. >> it's an emotional connection that they have with the child. that's such a tough part of autism, right? >> yeah. well, the great thing is that the dog not only is a physical support for the child -- >> make yourself comfortable. >> he'll fall asleep. >> good night. >> good night. i love it. they feel so -- go ahead, janice. >> a lot of children have issues where they don't give eye contact. they don't speak. >> they don't like touch. >> they don't like touch but they'll be hugging. it teaches them to give eye contact not to a human but to a dog. they start learning that skill and this way they don't have somebody who is going to be judging them or watching to see what they're doing. >> and the trust that develops between them. >> what about the training to get a dog ready to take care of a child like that? how long does it take for that to happen? >> it can take anywhere from about three to four months if

it's a very good dog who is already well behaved and if it's a dog who might, let's say, have a few fear issues like emme was extremely fearful. she was actually so fearful that she was literally in a pile huddled. when i took a picture of her it looked like a pile of dirt in this place in texas. >> it took a lot of love to get her in the place to give it. we're going to meet a family whose lives were forever changed. you're going to love this story. you got the bargain kind?

you would need like a bunch of those to clean this mess. [ kc ] you're probably right. hi, cascade kitchen counselor. 1 pac of cascade complete cleans tough food better than 6 pacs of the bargain brand combined. cascade. beyond clean and shine. every time. than 6 pacs of the bargain brand combined. what does that first spoonful taste likok. honey bunches of oats. ching! mmmm! mmmm! mmmm! wow! it's the oats. honey. yeah. honey bunches of oats. this is a great cereal. chose prego traditional over ragu traditional. prego?! but i buy ragu. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made. [ pop muzak plays ] [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. but cash's mom traveled the country for her child's life. cash: to st. jude.

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>> we are back on this christmas eve day with a remarkable story of a woman who has dedicated her life to training rescue dogs to help children with special needs. >> when 6-year-old aiden was born with autism, anxiety and a seizure disorder, his family decided to leaf their home in australia to come to the united states to get aiden the help they needed. >> a miracle came in the form of a service dog. aiden, his mom lisa and janice are here who helped place aiden and his family. >> we are so happy to see you. merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> one year ago, aiden, you got this beautiful dog as a present from janice? >> yeah. and i got an elf, remember,

okay? >> okay. how does he help you? >> she helps me calm down. >> yeah. >> and she helps me at school. >> she goes to school with you? >> that's pretty cool. lisa, have you seen an incredible difference? >> huge, huge difference in aiden. his anxiety levels dropped immensely. >> it was instantly you said. >> it was two days. they bonded christmas night. he fell asleep on top of her and she didn't move. it was incredible. she certainly changed our lives. >> which camera? you can just look at aunty hoda and me. >> how does a mom know like lisa knew, how do you know if your child is a candidate for one of

those dogs? >> people get desperate when they have a child with autism or pdd which is per va tif development delays and people get scared and try to search for something. i get a lot of parents who have severely aggressive children who really can't appropriate candidates. i can't put a dog into harm's way. i want to help the family but i don't want the dog to be in a dangerous situation. >> it has to be the right match. now you find these dogs and many of them are about to be put to sleep. >> most of them. >> if it's extremely expensive for you to train these dogs and you give these dogs free of charge to the families. how can people help you? >> make donations to help merlin's kids. we have about 300 people around the country. no one gets paid. it's the expenses of veterinarian and food and travel. >> how did you find out about

this. >> from australia, good day. >> jumped on the internet and aiden has always had a close bond with animals. he's been able to connect with dogs in ways he can't connect with humans. we thought a service dog would be perfect but the prospect of raising $30,000 is out of our range. >> for most people -- he kisses her right on the lips. that's exactly right. >> every day i've got to wash them. >> you've got to wash them. because you never know where that mouth has been, you know. >> aiden, thank you for coming to see you. >> merry christmas, sweetheart. >> thank you. >> janice, god bless you for all the great work you're doing. it makes me cry. it's so beautiful. hoda, take that, please. >> headed for the holidays but not sure if you are set -- >> jill martin has help for all

your emergencies after your local news. ♪ ♪ ♪ wake it up with olay regenerist. formulated with a skin energizing complex, it penetrates 10 layers of the skin's surface,

because energized skin is younger looking skin. ♪ is younger looking skin. these samsung gadgets and you can buy 'em all with your walmart credit card. can i show you something really cool? he's really into this stuff. sure. these guys can read each others' minds. so when the galaxy tab 3 or galaxy s4 have a holiday film, this guy can get on the party bus too. oh, i'll get on that party bus. choo-choo! that's a train. own the season and get connected with all the latest samsung devices. get 6, 12, 18, or 24 months special financing with a walmart credit card. minimum purchase and certificate required. valid in-store only through 12/31/13. walmart. good morning to you. 10:26 on this christmas eve. new details in the legal battle over an oakland teen declared brain dead after a tonsillectomy. doctors will release findings on the brain function at a hearing this morning. yesterday a judge appointed the

chief of pediatric neurology at stanford children hospital to give an outside opinion on the teen's condition. she has been brain dead now for almost two weeks. since the court ordered the stay to keep her alive until monday. the san francisco police department says about 30 people were arrested last night for various things, including public drunkenness, property destruction, also for reportedly trying to steal some stadium seats. in addition, 81 people were ejected from the game. seven were sited for various offenses. officials at the county jail said it's usually only on new year's eve when the jail fills up like that. we'll be right back after this break. mom swaps one of my snacks for a yoplait. i don't mind, i mean it's orange crème. and when mom said bobby was too edgy... 'sup girl. i just swapped him out for tyler. 'sup girl. mom never questioned bobby again.

two can play at this game. [ female announcer ] swap one snack a week for a yoplait. and everybody wins. yoplait. it is so good.

>> we are looking at a beautiful day across the bay area. attorney generals will warm quickly from where they're at right now. in the 30s and hos back into the mid 60s this afternoon. in fact, the unfortunate thing with this warm air is that we again, but beautiful sunshine will continue. it will be a little hazy at times as well. unfortunately with this spare the afr alert in effect for today, we're talking about unhealthy air quality all across the board from the south bay to the north bay. you know, the thing here we're going looking at unhealthy air not only for today and tomorrow. thursday and friday as well. there will be a weak disturbance that moves this weekend. by saturday we'll go from the unhealthy level to moderate level and make sure to take it easy if you have to be outside today and the next few days. back to you.

>> all right, anthony. thanks so much. we will have more local news corrupt in about half hour at 11:00. we'll see you then. have a great day. we are back on this christmas eve with more of today and jill's fashion emergencies, the holiday edition. >> bracelets that can charge your phone -- what -- to one that doubles as a bottle opener. today contributing editor, jill martin is here. >> wow, i already like it. >> i only know this word, five golden rings. i don't know the rest of the song. >> wow. a lot of holiday cheer already for jill. >> the first one is you're going from day to night and these are hane's.

they start as a legging and then you're going out at night. you take off and then -- >> watch it, jill. don't fall over. >> you turn it into tights. >> stop it. >> that's really great. are they comfy? >> yeah. >> terrific. love them. the they come in all these different styles. >> no. we're moving on. these are boot tights. boottights.com. they have a build in sock. you know how your foot hurts. >> i always snag my panty hose. >> it runs up. fish nets. this is a whole situation here. let's start with the usb cuff links. your guy is going out. he doesn't want to take his computer but he needs his data. two gig abites, whatever that means. >> what is that? >> you plug it in and all the data. so he's styling and profiling.

>> why is he carrying around a big abite. >> let's say he doesn't want to carry his computer home and he plugs that into his computer at home and has all the information. >> oh, i see what you are saying. it's not like a date. it's just to transport it. >> i don't know. maybe you want your guy to bring some gig abites. >> i get you would. >> this is just for the holidays. designers have come up with this bracelet. let's say you're going out and you want to take your gig abites as well. you can charge this into your phone and you get extra power. you could also put your data in here. look at all the different ones. >> remember when you used to go out to get a bite. now you take your gigabytes with you. i'm born out of time. >> glam set, comes with a clutch. you get eye lashes, clear nail polish, mascara, this doubles as eye liner and lipstick.

>> that's a nice hostess gift. >> this is for us. it's a whole travel situation. you get this for home. then you get the travel items and the brush. >> i need those. >> they're three ounces. i'll just put them up there. now we have this sheets, 20 sheets for $3. you can carry these around day and night. if you want just a little shimmer on your face. >> they're shimmer? >> just a little shimmer. >> if you are going to a party. >> these are to pack all different floral scents, four different notes and you can mix and match them. >> like perfume. >> you have to pick. i know this isn't your tone but i love that. this is -- here's one for you. you heat this up. they're therapeutic. it smells like hot cherries.

$20 to $55. aren't they great? >> good. >> two more things. wine wipes. they come with a mirror. we're drinking red wine so you get wine on your teeth and it takes off your wine. >> that's so attractive at the table, too. >> well, i mean, i feel like you could go like this. >> ten seconds, girls. >> okay. this is a watch for your guy, happy hour. it's 5:00 somewhere. i've been practicing but it does work. then you put -- >> too bad i'm not getting hoda any christmas presents. that would have been perfect. stick it in a stocking. jill, love you. now that you have got that down, what to do if you haven't thought about setting your table until right now. >> help is on the way.

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so you bought and wrapped your gifts, picked out your outfit and even managed to prep a few dishes in advance. but how about setting the table? >> no need to panic. here with easy last minute ideas to spruce up your holiday meal is contributor to house beautiful magazine libi langdon. >> merry christmas. so the idea is we want to add some style to the table but you don't want to spend a lot of time doing it. >> sure. >> a lot of these items you might already have in your house, get from your back yard or from a grocery store.

this is a fun table decor. simple candy canes and inside i put tupperware with water. >> that's just adorable. >> go hoda, go. >> look at hoda being crafty. that is so charming and the little kids will like this. >> yes. so the next thing is just a simple drinking glass and a floating candle that you put in the middle. >> that is beautiful. >> uncooked cranberries are going to float around. put some cranberries in there and it gives you a little color and just kind of dresses it up a little bit. >> and you put some natural bow in there. >> just a little greenery in the bottom and you're totally set. >> i love this. >> that is adorable. gorgeous on a table. beautiful. >> and then this is what i call the nine-second napkin ring. you literally just take a little piece of greenery.

it could be silk or real and you're going to set it in there with a tie, just any ribbon you have and a little cinnamon stick. any wrapping you have left over, ribbon, it's really, really simple. i like to leave it long so it sort of goes over the table. >> that's a napkin at a setting? >> exactly. you set it right on the plate. >> i can do that. hoda is a good tier. >> that's really good stuff. this is one of my really favorite ones. just a simple -- >> trying to make a bow out of it. >> don't say anything. >> this is really fun way to dress up a plain wine glass. this is just double stick tape on the glass. look. so how easy that? when you are done with dinner you take the tape off, rinse the glass and put it through the

dishwasher. >> that's gorgeous for new year's eve. you are batting 1,000, baby. >> let's bring all the stuff over and finish making the table. it's so, so simple. >> i need my napkin. >> yes, we really need it because you worked so hard. i've got the center piece. voila. this is a really simple table. it's burlap so you don't have to do a fancy table cloth or spend a lot of money. >> right. >> also these little ties on the backs of the chairs just easy ribbon tie with a little spring of greenery. >> it doesn't look overdone at all and look how fast you did it. congratulations. >> thank you. >> you left someone off santa's list. >> it's not too late. amy goodman has gifts you can throw together from your local store right after this. [ female announcer ] imagine a match made in skin heaven.

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of happier holidays. time to enchant, delight and amaze. safeway will help you gather everyone 'round. a smoked, shank half ham is only 99 cents a pound. starbucks is just $6.99, that's a cup of good cheer. get sweet clementines for $4.99, enough for everyone here. turns out this season less is really so much more. so make your holiday merrier than ever before. safeway. ingredients for life.

so make your holiday merrier than ever before. it's christmas eve, the presents are plenty except you just realize, left somebody off your list. it's not too late apparently. >> amy goodman, the senior style editor for the nest.com has good ideas you can find at your local drugstore or grocery store. is that a fact? >> merry christmas. even on christmas eve you can find things at your local grocery store, the 711. we believe at the net.com you can get great gorgeous gifts even as the countdown begins. >> are they lower priced? >> you can get many good deals. >> let's pretend we have a friend who is a movie buff. they love the movies. >> this is called the real ticket. i got these videos at 711 if you can believe it or not. you get the movies, the traditional candies, some drinks and gourmet popcorn you get at your store. then a little subscription to netflix. you can do this electronically,

send it to somebody who you're not going to spend christmas day with or print it out as we have here. >> what about for the mom or dad who is always carting their kids around. >> you want to give them good juice here, the caffeinated kind, coffee beans, the four pack and make their car like an inviting home. we have febreeze. i like the itunes gift card that you can get at 711 and my favorite, the car phone charger for when they're actually in the car. you can get it for the ipod or cell phone. >> what do you have here? >> this is called the christmas tree of wreaths. we tell stories over and over again. with that spirit you go to your skids' library and repurpose them and rewrap them and stack them according to width and this becomes a gift for family members and friends. i love that. >> that's sweet. on your feet which we always are. >> shoes is a personal gift.

you can't really pick out the actual pair. this is from soul society. you give them an e gift card and couple that with homemade foot scrub i have with sugar and olive oil, stones to keep the feet in shape. the boxes, the containers that you are seeing today i bought at the beginning of december because i knew i was going to be last minute gifting. >> i love the container store. there is nothing they can't contain. >> you're right. what about r and r which who doesn't during this time of year? >> this is the gift of relaxation, a beautiful robe, memory foam slippers. also essence of beauty from cvs, nice shea butter. from spa finder wellness 365 a gift certificate. we're pairing gift certificates. i thought this would be great for you klg.

we call this winter warmup. you get hot chocolate, gourmet ones from your grocery store. these i bought for 99 cents at the drugstore, some scarves, pair it with mugs. for the hot chocolate, mini marshmallows and candy canes to top on your hot chocolate and so affordable. this is inspired by bobby thomas. i walked into walgreens and i saw in the beauty department and electronics department hello kitty. maybe your little boy likes dinosaurs and pick up all the dinosaurs. >> so cute. >> baked goods always hit home. it comes from the heart. italian wedding cookies, decorated your containers with these scotch brand expressions tapes to make it holiday festive and you have a gift from the heart which can be done even in

these last hours. >> thank you. with billy joel for a dad and chris ta brinkley for a mom, alexa rae joel couldn't miss. >> she's here to sing us a holiday song. - hi, i'm martha. if you know me, you know i don't do many ads, which is why when i say pine brothers softish throat drops are the best throat drops in america for minor sore throat irritation, then you can believe it. nothing on the market soothes your throat as effectively and deliciously as pine brothers.

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series on today brought to you by toyota. coming up tomorrow trisha yearwood cooks a christmas meal with us. >> plus how one young woman found her birth mom. >> we leave you with a special performance from the daughter of piano mom billy joel and sizzling super model christie brinkley. >> here's alexa rae joel singing santa baby. have a great christmas, everyone. god bless, every one.

♪ la la la la la la ♪ santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree for me ♪ ♪ been an awful good girl, santa baby, so hurry down the criminalny tonight ♪ ♪ santa cutie, a '54 convertible too, light blue ♪ ♪ i'll wait up for you, dear santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight ♪ ♪ think of all the fun i've missed ♪ ♪ think of all the fellas that i

haven't kissed ♪ ♪ next year i could be just as good if you check off my christmas list ♪ ♪ santa, honey, i want a yacht and really that's not a lot ♪ ♪ i've been an angel all year ♪ santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight ♪ ♪ santa cutie, fill my stocking with a duplex and checks and sign your x on the line ♪ ♪ santa baby, hurry down the chimney tonight ♪ ♪ come and trim my christmas tree with some decorations

bought at tiffany ♪ ♪ i really do believe in you ♪ let's see if you believe in me ♪ ♪ santa honey, i want a yacht and really that's not a lot ♪ ♪ i've been an angel all year santa baby ♪ ♪ so hurry down the chimney tonight ♪ ♪ hurry down, hurry down, hurry down ♪ ♪ hurry down, hurry down, hurry down ♪ ♪ hurry down the chimney toni t tonight ♪ ♪ ho ho ho

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a jewelry store smash and grab just steps away from kids in line to see santa. new details about the suspect coming up. sdmrimplts and a fitting sendoff for candlestick park. the big play in the final minutes that had fans on their feet. plus, why that might not be the final day.