>> this is cbs-3 "eyewitness news." well, hole onto your hats if you're out today, very windy christmas in cape may, just a taste of the very frigid weather that's headed our way. good afternoon, and merry christmas, aim jim donovan, rahel solomon has the day off. we didn't get a white christmas but still steels very cold out there, and the temperature about to take another big dive this week. meteorologist, matt peterson here with the chilly conditions out there right now , good afternoon, matt. >> good afternoon, everyone, it is a windy windy christmas like we were just saying, and it will only get worse before it gets better unfortunately across the delaware valley for our monday afternoon, before

that arctic chill moves in really starting in the middle of the weaning all the way through this coming weekend. storm scan3, right now, as we get into the lunchtime hour, very quai wecht if comes to precipitation across the delaware valley, seeing some light snowfall across central pennsylvania some could reach maybe northeastern pa maybe areas of the poconos could get few nor flurries through the day, over tall will most likely be dry for pretty much everywhere in the viewing area temperatures for us right now, they've been hovering in the mid to upper 30's across much of the area through most of the morning, it has been a little bit, announced 35 degrees if phil, it is 23 in mount pocono, still clinic to go some of the upper 30's out toward millville, atlantic city and wildwood both at 37 degrees atlantic city and wildwood. that's winds are the main factor though for check out the wind gusts current gust to go 43 miles an hour right now, in philly, gusting to 31 in trenton, 44-mile per hour wind gusts being report in the atlantic city, 36-mile per hour winds gusts in wilmington , so because the high winds, a wind advisory is

in effect until 6:00 this evening. and as we get look at the headlines for the afternoon, again, cold and windy today. that blast of arctic i can air comes the middle of the week also talking about the next chan for some snow showers, jim, when i talk about the forecast coming up in just a bit. >> thanks, matt. after much back and forth beloved christmas tradition will not go on as planned, reenactors for george washington were supposed to em bar across the delaware river but now they won't. anita live in washington crossing bucks count which details on what's keeping them on the shore. good afternoon, anita. >> reporter: hi, jim, that's right. yes, almost a christmas miracle but now it is slightly disappointing turn of events for hundreds of people who showed up here today. you can see them behind me, spectators actually a bunch of them lined up here along the river, first low water levels were a problem, but then some student saved the day with some smaller lighter boats, but as you mentioned, as matt

talk about those high wind gusts, i can a test to those out here this afternoon. and those winds are what are preventing these crowds from crossing the river, this afternoon, and as you can see in this video from last year, typically durham boats are used to do this re-enactment year after year as they were involved in the original cross ing in 1776. but low water levels did make it a challenge, this year, to launch those boats. so there was concern about whether this event could go on as planned. so enter philadelphia water-borne, a non-profit that features middle and high school teach ends, to build boats, and they lent out six smaller hands made row boats to get general george washington across the river. but those high wind gusts today preventing that from happening this afternoon. even though the winds is throwing a wrench in their plans today, john, in character, as washington, has a message for those students.

>> i want to thank them very, very much. it is historically it was the people of philadelphia that did come out and help this crossing, they brought blankets, brought food, and now, also had their longshoremen come up and help with the crossing, so it is really historically accurate. >> and actually quite a big crowd out here this afternoon, we are seeing more spectators coming, for this event, that actually officially kicks off at 1:00. now like to get down here i would suggest you get down here early because actually there are still crowds going on, they say the program will still go on as planned but the high wind gusts unfortunately making sure that that re-enactment crossing the river will not be happening today, for live in washington crossing, anita o. cbs-3 "eyewitness news." >> thank you, anita for the update n other news, kad eel are basilica celebrated christmas day through worship and song. >> ♪

>> beautiful sounds came from the cathedral basilica choir as know took part in midnight mass. archbishop charles chaput led the celebration. the president and first lady melania trump are wishing the entire world a merry christmas , in first message in office the president called on everyone to renew the bonds of love and good will. muscle a lanky has that story from washington. >> my fellow americans, melania and i are delighted to wish america and the entire world a very merry christmas. >> president trump and the first lady tweet add video of their first christmas message in office. >> we renew the bonds of love and good will between our citizens, and most importantly , we celebrate the miracle of christmas. >> at this time of year we see the best of america. >> sunday night the couple attends add christmas eve service at the palm beach church where they were married in 2005. earlier they discussed christmas wishes with children who called in to norad to track the location of santa

claus. >> you want grand ma'am to get out of the hospital? that's great. >> president took time on christmas eve to once again lash out on twitter did he deputy director of the fbi. president claims andrew motorcycle kade who had supervisory role in the hillary clinton e-mail investigation was bias in clinton's favor l trump is upset that in 2,015, whether mccain's wife was running for the virginia senate, she received a large political contribution from a group connected to a clinton ally. president trump tweeted: mccain in addition to his wife getting all of this mine, he was using allegedly his fbi official e-mail account to pro mom her campaign. from mr. president provided no evidence he did that. learned mccain decided to require from the fbi by march. muscle a lanky, cbs-3, " eyewitness news".

>> in his traditional christmas message, pope touched on several pressing images, took aim at areas of tension where president trump is playing a crucial role. including his decision to recognize jerusalem as israel 's cap top. the pontiff called for peace around the world specifically calling out the conflict between north and south korea. >> well, our 29th annual "joy of sharing" toyfest was a huge success this year. all because of you. in this morning, we got to peak inside a west philadelphia home as a few children opened thrower gift. >> this year's 5500 toys were donate today children in the philadelphia area, one of those recipients is michelle, and her family. michelle is disable and is confined to a wheelchair. she has two grandsons who woke epp to pile of presents thanks to your generosity. >> i am blessed, and just thankful, and i'm in my new house, and they have their nice new gifts. and i really thank the wishing well program for looking out

for us, and i thank the salvation army, too. >> well this brand new bike was a big hit with the grand kids, already got some use at 5:00 this morning. well, sports fans are hoping for a few more gift today. wins from the eagles and the sixers. pat gallen takes a look at how the teams are spending the holidays. >> the eagles are looking to wrap up home field advantage throughout the playoffs with a win tonight putting a bo on what's been an out standing season, perhaps they'll get a gift tonight against those oakland raiders, but enough of the christmas puns, let's talk little football. with the vikings winning this week tends means the birds still have something to play for as they look to grant top seed in the nfc playoff. but this morning head coach doug pederson gave the players and coaching staff permission to put away the play book and the film and spends some time with their family before the 8:30 kick off. >> i think it is important that they spends time with their families, you know, christmas morning, so giving them an opportunity to push the schedule back just little bit. we don't play obviously until 8:00.

so, yes, i think it is important that the coaches and players, listen, you don't get these times back. you don't get them back. and it too important to me, my family, so i want to make sure that these players with young kids, coaches with young kids, they go a chance to spends christmas morning together. >> carson palmer in the tropical spirits over the weekends. the quarterback for the arizona cardinals did pre-game warm up in a pink flamingo outfit. every week quarterbacks from the cardinals compete in a challenge and the loser has to wear a costume of the winners choosing. palmer was obviously a good sport about losing that challenge. >> hey, they don't call him big red for nothing, following the chief's 29-13 win over the dolphins on christmas eve. santa claus stopped by to congratulates the team on victory. wait, wait, wait. that's andy reid. that's former coach of the philadelphia eagles, suited up like the big guy. and of course, he was in the holiday spirit as the chiefs clinch a playoff spot. >> and don't forget the 76 play at noon today, highlights later on, first christmas day game since 2001, take on the

north new york nicks at madison square garden, lose to go curb a losing streak, fell to the raptors saturday won just twice in the month of december. pat gallen, merry christmas. >> we will be live at the linc getting you ready for the eagles big game coming up on " eyewitness news" beginning at too far tonight. so, did you get a christmas gift you didn't exactly want? coming up on cbs-3 "eyewitness news" at noon, it is almost time for the rush to return. what you need to know before you try take back those unwanted gifts. and, it is a christmas first for the royal family. how they broke protocol for the first time in queen elizabeth 65 years on the thrown. ♪ ♪

>> welcome back, the season of giving is in full return, and the season of returns just around the corner. nearly two thirds of holiday shoppers returned at least one item this past season. that's nearly $90 billion worth of gifts. here are some tips if you plan on making a return this year, first make sure to check the company's return policy, look to see if you're eligible for free shipping, and avoid doing returns in stores tomorrow. if they close to 40% of people do post holiday returns on december 26th. and, warning for folks who may have received a gift card this year. be aware of hackers. now that chip cards are becoming harder to infiltrate, criminals are targeting gift cards. in some cases they're copying numbers off gift cards in stores, then draining them of their cash and returning them

to shelves, not all bad news, report says gift card companies now have a computer defense system that can detect when hackers are trying to steel gift card balances. well, meghan markle gets her first taste after royal christmas. markle spend the morning at her first public appearance with the queen. she walked arm in arm with prince harry as the royal family greeted resident after leaving christmas services. the royal family broke with tradition today. markle is the first royal fiancee to spends christmas with queen queen elizabeth before marrying into the family. >> well, still on "eyewitness news," a very frigid christmas tradition, also, where is mary lee the mystery surrounding the shore's most famous shark and why researchers haven't heard from her in month. matt? >> reporter: and we are already looking into the coming weekend. it looks like it is going to be a cold saturday, and sunday , temperatures only in the 20's, maybe a few snowflakes on saturday, and then quiet conditions as we wrap the weekends up on sunday

, i'll also be talking about arctic chill for the week ahead, coming up in your forecast.

>> welcome back everyone, one of the most popular visitors down the shore has gone missing. it has been more than six month since marry lee the shark has been spotted swimming off the new jersey coast. since then the 16-foot shark's transmitter has been silent. researchers think the transmitter's batteries may have died partly because she surfaced so frequently over the last five years that they've been able to track her >> well, we only saw a few flurries around here this morning, but parts of pennsylvania woke to up a white christmas, this is the scene in erie, heavy snow fell

this morning, and more is on the way there. they could have to dig out for more than a foot of snow by the time the storm ends tomorrow. well, that's not here. >> no, not here. >> i don't mind a dusting but i don't want to be shoveling a foot of snow. >> part of western new york, where some of this is coming through, over 30, 40 inches every snow right along the lake. >> oh, not good to travel this holiday weekend. >> no, travel across part of the northeast, little bit wish i wash i because of the system around philly, though, easy travel conditions, we will talk about that. >> good. >> thank you, matt. >> of course white christmas, actually defined as an inch of snow on on the bound, so folks up in here think morning woke up to officially a white christmas, now, we didn't have that here, in fill, but there were areas off to the north and west that actually had an inch. of snow that came with the areas of precipitation, this morning. so, trees some snow totals up from northeastern pa, mount pocono, whitt christmas for them, newhart, as well, inch and a thirds, portland, inch of as a thirds, lehigh and,

inch and a tent, and also one end of snow in bush kill center. poconos woke to up officially white christmas. lehigh valley, cloud cover out there, see plenty of sunshine, couple of streamers of lake effect snow trying to work their way right new into central pennsylvania along i80 really doesn't look at this point like most of these are going to work their way east. but we could see maybe few flakes that do fly in the poconos, as we go through the afternoon hours today, but not going to accumulate, again, many more than maybe few flakes all we are looking at em temperatures in the 30's across i95, even up into the lehigh valley, too, seeing low 30's there. actually seeing temperatures fall in the last couple of hours, we've been sitting in the mid to high 30 range most of the morning, and south jersey, atlantic city at 37 degrees, now fall tone 35 here in philly. winds, that's going to be our

main concern through the afternoon. wind gusts for us currently in the 30, 40-mile per hour range as we see areas of low pressure exit off into new england, again most of this wind coming in out of the west to the northwest, gusting 43 miles per hour already in philly, 41-mile per hour winds gust down in dover. so with wind gusts in the 40, maybe even 50-mile per hour range, this afternoon, we are looking at wind advisory for the entire regiohis goes until 6:00 this evening, when winds gust also finally start to dip down probably back down to the 20, 25-mile per hour range, start to fall off even more as we go the overnight hours. area of low pressure off the coast of new england, gave us few snow showers specially in the poconos, going through the first half of the week low exit off to the north. we actually end up with relatively quiet weather going through tuesday, and wednesday , start to see high pressure build on in. but this will come with a blast of arctic air, that moves in and we could look for temperatures that may be only in the 20's at times as we get

into the haft half of the week , and this coming weekends , as well. holiday travel, we will be doing it today. give it yellow light for this afternoon, really because of the strong winds more than anything else. as we get into tuesday, wednesday, thursday, arctic chill, easy travel conditions there. then friday into the weekends, maybe chance for some snow, so back to that yellow light. game day forecast down in south philly tonight, 31 degrees. twenty-nine with windchills in the teens, as we head toward the ends of the game. 37 degrees for the high temperature today. we do get to up 33 tomorrow. and then, jim, here comes the arctic chill, high of only 28 on wednesday. only 26 on thursday. and then the chance for maybe few snowflakes friday, saturday, new years eve this coming sunday, staying chilly high of only 28 degrees. >> i'm on vacation in five minutes so i could careless about any of that. >> i know, you're going within it will be worm. >> exactly, five minutes left to go. up next frigid christmas tradition.

>> swimmers in london are warming up after a very frigid christmas trade eggs, took a dip, part of traditional christmas race, few people dressed as santa even taking a plunge, as well. that's "eyewitness news" for today at noon, i'm jim donovan , for matt all of us here, thanks for watching. >> eyewitness continues tonight at 5:00. always on line at cbsphilly.com. >> we hope you have a merry christmas, the young and the restless is coming up next.

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>> mariah: ooh! hi. >> sharon: wow. went all out this year. >> mariah: yeah, getting into having a paycheck this holiday season. >> sharon: wow. by the looks of all that, you must be done with all your shopping. >> mariah: uh, yeah. yeah, just about. uh, what about you? >> sharon: um... yeah, same here. >> mariah: [ chuckles ] >> sharon: um, you know, i never