opening of presents, the joy of

giving, spending time with family and friends. hustle and bustle to remember the important things in life. it's christmas day 2016. we'll start with the weather. it was a mild and comfortable day and tomorrow should be much of the same but some parts of our area should see a touch of freezing rain. meteorologist chris sowers in for melissa. >> good evening, walter. kind of seems strange to have to mention freezing rain or drizzle. over the foot of snow, blinding snow, wind speeds up to 50 miles per hour and it stretches is cross minnesota and the u.p. of michigan. this is a warm front and the air behind this front is extremely mild for this time of the year. but at the same time we have

this cold area of high pressure and this air is going to sneak its way in on the eastern side of the appalachians and it's going to drive down, not terribly cold but they're just cold enough to create some problems here first things tomorrow morning. there's your set-up as we take a look at the freezing rain advisory. this is far western suburbs, the city of philadelphia, the i-95 corridor are not included in this. temperatures are going to be right there on that freezing mark. here's what you can expect, cloudy skies most of the day. it's kind of a dull and dreary looking day, maybe some patchy mist, and freezing drizzle possible west of the city first thing tomorrow morning otherwise it's chilly most of the time. take a look at high. tomorrow afternoon we'll probably stay in the 40s but by evening the numbers continue to climb all the way up to 50

degrees and that occurs after sunset. we keep climbing so far we may make a run at 60 by tuesday. i'll have those details in the accuweather 7-day forecast. >> the weather outside is frightful for some parts of the nation and that's making holiday travel difficult as you can see. forecasters have issued a blizzard warning for north dakota, south dakota and montana with expected totals up to 15 inches across that region. an ice storm warning is also in effect which could make matters even worse. if folks must travel they should back extra water and flashlights just in case. a fire broke out inside their home. fortunately they were able to escape. jeannette reyes has more. >> my mother called me. we were getting ready to come over for dinner. she called me crying saying the house was on fire. >> reporter: around 1:30 this afternoon the fire department says a fire broke out on the second floor of this home off of

marlboro lane in glen mills. lisa's mother and brother were inside when they hard the crackling. they both got out uninjured. >> i said how bad is it and she said it's really bad. >> the flames grew bigger and the battle to put it out more complicated as it spread through the 1-family home. this is viewer video of that fire. >> the difficulty was that it was in the crawl space of the attic and the second floor. so once it gets into walls we have to try to find it before it gets too extensive. >> my step-father passed away and my mother has been dealing with that, a couple of her friends have died and this is another loss so i'm worried about her. i'm dealing with all of this on christmas no less. >> reporter: the blaze left behind significant damage, but it didn't change everything. >> i'm just glad nobody was hurt. so you have to look at these things and think the glass is

half full, not half empty. >> reporter: reporting in glen mills, jeannette reyes, channel 6 action news. >> meanwhile more than 60 firefighters battled a fire in upper darby today. the home was under innovation. the fire began in a basement and quickly spread to the second floor. crews arrived to find sections of the first floor were missing making it a dangerous fire to handle. fortunately no injuries have been reported. there were some frightening moments when fires swept through a home in willow grove. nobody was upstairs and the family on the first floor might not have made it out safely if it weren't for a woman who happened to be walking by and saw the fire. >> it's an apartment. upstairs is different. they didn't even hear it. we heard the smoke alarms going off. it was squary. >> luckily no injuries were

reported. officials say the second floor endured smoke and water damage. the cause remains under investigation. men and women who work hard to save lives and keep us all safe went the extra mile to give us children a very merry christmas. the action cam on the scene from the department's 14th district dropped off toys they had been collecting for weeks. each and every year officers adopt families who need a little extra cheer during the holidays. and local charities spend christmas giving back to those in need. the action cam at thee at the chosen 300 minuistries. and toys really were the name of the game today in households across the nation and the world. youngsters eagerly opened gifts. christie ileto has a look at today's festivities in local

home. >> reporter: christmas started early for ashley, emily and brooke at 6:00 this morning eager tota had left them. ashley struggled to decide which one was her favorite. a new cell phone is a favorite for lucas. >> i brought it into bed withme. >> reporter: and a cat for emily. >> a kitty cat. because it's cute. >> it's all in the faces and the memories that we made. >> anthony is a police officer

and since i can remember he's worked a lot. so it was exciting to have them home with the kids. the story of jesus's birth came to live this morning. the church handed out gifts to more than 500 children and gift bags to dozens of seniors. from the vatican to the birthplace of jesus christ, celebrations around the world struck a common theme of peace and hope. >> reporter: prayers and songs in bethlehem; people from around the world gathered at the church of nativity the traditional birthplace of jesus. in rome pope francis said commercialism has taken christmas hostage and urged the faithful to focus less on gifts,

more on helping others. pope francis also sent a special message to syria in the war-torn city of aleppo. christians there celebrated at church for the first time since the end of a 4-year battle for the city. in the uk the royal family attended church services without queen elizabeth who is still recovering from a cold but she did tape her traditional holiday message. >> just to remind us that inspiration is a gift to be given as well as received. >> reporter: the duke and duchess of cambridge broke from tradition spending christmas with kate's family p principals george and princess charlotte stole the spotlight. >> i realize that barak needed all the help he could get. >> this is our first christmas in the white house and -- what? stop. you're going to have to pull it together, potus. >> well, it looked like santa

was trying to work off all those cookies in macedonia. hundreds of people ran through the streets in a 2k fun run. >> president-elect donald trump is raising eyebrows with his christmas greeting to the world. trump tweeted merry christmas and is shown with a raised fist although it's unclear what that signifies. in a surprise move mr. trump announced he was dissolving his foundation however new york's attorney general says trump may not do that until an ongoing investigation is complete. tonight is also a second night of hanukkah. a giant menorah was lit in washington, d.c. it's an event national symbol of the festival of hanukkah inspiring communities across the globe to hold lightings. it was also celebrated in suburban square.

the national museum of american jewish history in old city hosted the annual being blank at christmas event. each year the museum tries to bribe entertainment for families who don't celebrate christmas. >> there were arts and crafts for kids while adults could enjoy the museum galleries. >> pipe music icon george michael has died. according to publicist. no further details have been released about his death at this hour throughout his career his drug use and penchant for risky behavior ended with several brushes with the law most famously in 1998 when he was arrested for public lewdness in los angeles. george michael was 53 years old. carrie carrfisher's mother

she is now in stable condition. she thanked the public for outpouring of prayer and support for her 60-year-old daughter. promised the family would share any updates. much more to come on action news. christmas may be over but the shopping continues. gift cards, returns, exchanges and some great deals as well. we'll show you where to go. also it was a trip back in time today. george washington and his troops crossed the delaware river as we know, but do you know why? history of this watershed battle. also jamie apody has sports when action news comes right back. fios in the house!

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abc's chuck seefrson has more. >> reporter: as mourners placed flowers in memory of the loss. a russian military plane took off sunday morning from the airport in sochi. 2 minutes later it crashed, taking 84 passengers and 8 crew members into the waves. by air, and by sea, more than 3,000 responders are on the scene working through the night they had recovered some bodies and fragments of the plane. the aircraft's flight recorders have no beacons making their recovery more difficult. the flight crew reported more problems before the disaster and it's spreaded over a wide area. among the victims, 64 members of the official choir of the

russian military. russian president putin declared monday a national day of mourning. we will conduct thorough investigation and we will do anything to support the victims' families. in sochi sunday night they came to pay their pects. so far the damage has been relatively minor. 4,000 people along the coast were evacuated for fear of a possible tsunami. the staff at the u.s. embassy in japan is getting a lot of attention for their holiday message.

they posted this video online showing them perform a popular dance from a japanese tv show. us ambassador caroline kennedy makes an appearance dressed in a santa suit. now that all the gifts are unwrapped, odds are you got a gift card, but is it really what you wanted. it's estimated that $1 billion worth of gift cards went unused last year. but you can make sure it doesn't happen this year. you can give the card to somebody else as a gift. regift it. you can also sell it. there are websites that offer to buy and sell gift cards but you don't get the full value or you could donate it to a charity, church, a food bank or even a school of your choice. if you want to spend them or return some holiday gifts, a lot of source are opening early tomorrow. tarkt, macy's and dick's sporting goods all open, and

many stores are slated to stay open well into the evening. with that said gas prices across the country, the rise during the travel january 1st it will jump by $0.08 because the state's gasoline tax goes up in the new year. in jersey people are paying $2.37 on average and this delaware they have the least expensive at $2.24. the city's trdrop off the t sanitation convenience department centers. trees can also be placed along the curb be picked up on your regular trash days. many local counties will have that information posted on their

websites. a little girl from south jersey unleashes a little bit of christmas magic. the. and taking a look here from city hall. meteorologist chris sowers has the exclusive accuweather 7-day forecast when action news comes right back. > an estimated 10,00

came out to the banks of the delaware today to see the 64th annual reenactment of george washington cross the river. he made the crossing on christmas day 1776 in a bold move to surprise hessian mercenaries. washington's victory during that battle helped turn the tide in america's fight for independence. that is a lot of fun. and if you've never done it, you should do it next year. >> i always do the civil war reenactments. i love them too. >> it's a lot of fun.

>> i guarantee it was a lot colder when he crossed the river than today. >> you were doing the news that day, weren't you? >> no, i was not. >> you have the accuweather forecast. >> we did. we had it all up and running. as we take a look, doing all right this morning, temperatures are really starting to drop off. we managed a high of 50 degrees as we flip it over to radar but now the numbers are quickly dropping through the 30s. actually some locations are into the 20s. double scan life, crystal clear, no issues out there now. sky conditions are mainly clear but things are going to change rather quickly over the next 12-24 hours. 34 is where we started out this morning with some patchy forecast. 34 in allentown, reading checking in at 32. millville you're the cold spot, 28. atlantic city also showing 28 degrees. satellite 6 along with action

radar. big mess across the high plains, bliss ard conditions, we have a blizzard warning in effect, ice storm warning, the whole nine yards how they're expecting anywhere from 12-15 inches of snow, ice as high as perhaps an inch thick in some locations. it's a big, big mess. this storm will actually be charging east but we're going to get into the warm sector of this monday night into tuesday. so that's what's on the table here. we could potentially make a run at 60 degrees tuesday afternoon. in the meantime look at the cold air that's in place right now. as this precipitation starts to move in, cold air in place, it could mean some issues here. first thing tomorrow morning. future tracker 6, not showing too much. these future cast products show a difficult time picking up drizzle. we're not seeing anything as of 8:00 a.m. but we're probably going to have patchy drizzle. there could be some freezing drizzle in some of these outlying suburbs by 1:00. and we get into the late

afternoon and early evening hours sky conditions begin to clear, that's the front in the process of pushing through. first thing tomorrow morning starting out close to freezing and again some of the drizzle moving in, that could mean some issues out through here. but we're above freezing across the i-95 corridor and points south and east. cloudy skies chilly. here comes the warm front now all of a sudden we're close to 50 by 10:00 in the city, 51 in millville, 53 in atlantic city and here's tuesday morning, we're all the way up to 60 degrees. there's that warm piece of air that's starting to punch its way through. but overnight tonight, closer to down, there's your freezing rain advisory, far western suburbs from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m., the i-95 corridor should be in the clear. increasing clouds, it's going to be cold. 27 degrees, outlying suburbs 33 for center city.

for tomorrow, lots of clouds, a little bit of misting taking place from time to time. also some drizzle out there 50 degrees. a late-day high that occurs after sunset. 60 as we get into tuesday with morning showers some afternoon sunshine, wednesday partly sunny, the temperatures drop again now we're down to 43. wind chills in the 30s. thursday occasional rain but we start to moderate we're close to 50. friday is colder with a high of 40 and as we get into new year's weekend temperatures drop off again. 37 for sunday. >> not too shabby though. >> not too shabby. >> thank you, chris. there was a bit of christmas magic at a family's home in gloucester township, new jersey. don't you love it? she knew she was holding a magic wand but she didn't realize the kind of magic it wielded. with the push of a button she was able to magically light the christmas tree.

it is wonderful to see. by the way we have loved getting your pictures this season. keep sending them along using the #6abclife or on twitter, facebook or instagram.

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