good evening and merry christmas. record temps fall, more rain on the way, too, what we can expect on christmas day. police shut down a montgomery county mcdonald's today after a shooting at that restaurant. right now, thousands of people

attending christmas eve mass across our area. tonight, after record setting christmas eve temps, we're keeping our eye on some dense fog overnight and into the morning. some folks could be dealing with more rain tomorrow. amelia segal joins us now. >> good evening to you. the good news is we continue to get new information into the storm center, it looks like most of christmas is looking mostly dry. if you're in southern maryland, you have heavy rain moves. and the thunderstorm out that way, the rest of the night, the focus is in fog and i'm already tracking places like fog including places like leesburg and annapolis and cull person. you can see around 6:00 a.m., thick fog in fredericksburg and gaithersburg and martinsburg as well and visibility a half mile or west. we'll continue to track dense

fog in spots until 10:00 a.m. it's not a widespread issue. where it does form in some spots it will be thick. otherwise temperature will be mild, 62 and i'll let you know how warm it will be and rain returning to the area. we're now seeing the last of severe storms that tore up the south today. two dozen struck mississippi, tennessee and arkansas. the latest we learned, 11 people have died. storms flipped a tractor-trailer there and everybody was out of their homes. >> just about everything around us is gone. it's still standing but it's not going to make it. >> search teams are looking for more survivors and say they'll be at it again tomorrow, too. teams assessing the damage. those powerful storms putting the brakes on travel

plans across the country. air travelers had to suffer through thousands of delays at the airports. heavy rain and fog delayed people at laguardia and chicago's o'hare. 38 million people are expected to fly this holiday season. developing right now, an mcdonald's in our region is closed for the night after a sho shooting. police are on the scene in gaithersburg in lake forest mall, where we see jackie bensen live with the latest. what are you learning? >> seeing an mcdonald's surrounded by yellow crime tape and police was unnerving for people coming through this busy commercial area doing last minute christmas shopping. police were called for the report of a shooting at 8:00 tonight. when they arrived, there was no victim to be found. a man showed up at a nearby emergency hospital room with a gunshot wound. it is not clear whether the

shooting happened in the parking lot or some area inside. police sealed off the restaurant and questioned frightened employees before allowing them to leave. police believe the man who was shot was driven here to the hospital. people shopping here at the lake forest area mall tonight absolutely unnerved at the sight of the police at mcdonald's. jackie bensen. news4. >> thank you. christmas eve services happening right now around our region including at the national shrine of the immaculate conception. choral services started at 10:00 and still happening. there was a children's service at 5:00 and tomorrow, the basilica will provide dinner for people in need. volunteers provide free christmas meals in the dining room or delivered to the homes of the elderly or disabled. ♪

tonight, cardinal wuerl is le leading mass at st. apostle in the northwest and explained the true meaning of the holiday. >> tonight, we celebrate our lord and savior, jesus christ and we do so by coming to the altar so we can -- >> cardinal wuerl will have a solemn mass on christmas day, tomorrow at noon, in the great upper church, the basilica choir and brass ensemble will provide sacred music for the mass. ♪ >> christmas eve services also going on at the national cathedral at the northwest washington. you're looking at carols by candlelight and the holy youk

rist started just over an hour ago. pope frances celebrated mass tonight and urged the faithful to return to the essential va e values of life. he celebrated mass for about 10,000 people beginning with a chant in latin and original proclamation of the birth of jesus. he said everyone should allow the simplicity of baby jesus born in poverty in a manger to infuse their spirit and lives. >> it's already christmas at beth lehem in west bank. prime minister mahmoud abbas was there at the christmas square, decorated with thousands of christmas lights tonight. the festive mood was dampened a bit by recent violence between israelis and palestinians.

that's it, it's over. if you didn't finish buying your last minute gift, almost all the stores are now closed. check all the people that packed the malls this afternoon. there are a couple of places still open. cv, always that 7-eleven gift and walgreens open, too. tomorrow, those stores and grocery stores and dollar stores are your only options for last minute items. a real life case of scrooge only on 4. a leesburg man admits taking money from his company's accounts and lining his own pockets at the expense of his employ employees. dick deanthony pleaded guilty to fraud a government contractor. he managed the books and admitted he took hundreds of thousands of dollars from company accounts. the companies' representatives say employees suffered a big hit to their retirement and pay because of the crime. deanthony's attorney says his

client admits his wrongdoing. >> in his particular case he wasn't really trying to conceal anything. it wasn't a situation he was trying to conceal to see, you know, take money but he found himself making large purchases out of the company fund. it looked extremely bad. >> a judge is scheduled to sentence deanthony in march and he faces up to 20 years in prison. new developments in the north carolina shooting tonight. it happened just as people were doing their last minute christmas shopping this christmas eve. someone fired a gun inside a mall in charlotte and then an off-duty officer killed him. the sounds of gunshots shocked people and their families. >> i had my little girls with me. it all happened suddenly, shots fired, people went running. >> according to police, this was not an active shooter situation. they say it started with a fight. the officer who shot the man is now on administrative leave.

activists continue demanding chicago mayor rahm emanuel step down. they're upset over emanuel's handling of the deadly shooting of a black teenager, laquan mcdonald. they're investigating the police department but these demonstrators say that's not enough. dozens of people gathered for a peaceful protest and held signs shouting rahm must resign and more than a dozen people died down to participate in a die--in. >> if your kids are waiting for santa, gather them around the tv. we have a special dramatic re reading of 'twas the night before christmas by our own pat collins. and we're tracking santa as he approaches the washington area. this hasn't happened since 1977 and won't happen again until 2034, a full christmas moon. matt murray, our photojournalist

captured this stunning video. coming up on our forecast, more rain moving back into the area and when cold air finally returns. tomorrow, celebrate christmas with barbara harrison and she takes us on a world tour without leaving washington. nbc's

well, if by chance they're still up, gather the children around. time now for a very special r d reading of 'twas the night

before christmas, by our own pat collins. [ drinking ] >> hey, you weren't expecting barbara harrison, were you? let's get on with it. 'twas the night before christmas and all through the house not creature was stirring, not even a mouse. the stockings were hung by the chimney with fair in hopes that st. nicholas soon would be there. the children were nestled all snug in their bed while visions of sugarplums danced in their head. mom in her kerchief and i in my cap just settled down for a long winter's nap.

and arose such a clatter i sprang from my bed to see what's the matteder. i threw open the shutters and raised up the sash. the moon on the -- new fallen snow -- >> no! >> gave a luster of midday to objects below. what to my wondering eyes should appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. with a little old driver so lively and quick, i knew in a moment it must be st. nick. more rapid than eagles his courses they came. he whistled and shouted and called them by name. on dasher, on dancer, on prancer, on vixen, on comet, on cupid, on donner and blitzen, and that other guy. to the top of the fork, to the top of the wall, now, dash away, dash away all!

as dry leaves before the wild hurricanes fly, when they need an obstacle mount to the sky, so to the rooftop they flew with a sleigh full of toys and st. nicholas, too. then, in a twinkling i heard on the roof the prancing and pawing of each little hoof. as i drew in my head and was turning around, down the chimney st. nicholas came with a bound. he was dressed in fur from his head to his foot. his clothes were all the fashion. he had a bag of toys flung over his back. he looked like a peddler opening his pack. his eyes have a twinkle. his dimples, his cheeks were like roses, his nose like a gem.

and his mouth was drawn up like a bow. the beard on his chin white as the snow. and a circle of smoke around his head like a wreath. he had a broad face and a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. he was chubby and a right jolly old elf. i laughed when i saw him, in spite of myself. a twist of his head and wink of his eye, soon gave me to know i had nothing to dread. he spoke not a word but went straight to his work, instilled the stockings and turned with a

shirk and lay with his finger aside his nose and giving a nod, up the chimney he goes. he sprang to his sleigh, his team gave a whistle and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. but i heard him explain as they drove out of sight- >> merry christmas to all. >> to all a good night. >> oh, pat collins. we will never think of it the same way again. >> if that doesn't put you in the christmas spirit nothing will. >> that's right. people won't need that elmer fudd hat. it's not cold this week but we will get wet again later, right? >> the good news is you can let the kids go out side and get rid of some energy. mild temperatures again

tomorrow, high today 71 and high tomorrow, 70 degrees and rain. you may want to keep that in mind. showers saturday and record warmth returns sunday and monday, a major cooldown. it may be quite the shock to the system. the modern impact comes when we deal with patchy dense fog at 10:00 a.m. and rain in the evening hours. aside from that, maybe sunshine in the morning hours, especially later morning hours. and tomorrow, later in this day dealing with wet roads and evening hours. sunday, driving around you will probably have the air-conditi air-conditioning or at least windows down. in the mid-50s for some spots. people telling me they had to turn the our conditioning in

their house. and here's your hourly planner tomorrow for christmas. 7:00 a.m., temperature around 64. we're at a mild 65 degrees. we hit our high of 70 at 3:00. there is a chance of showers by the afternoon hours. it will be a little humid out there but i really think it won't be until the evening hours. notice we're even getting in on potentially sunshine. once we hit 3:00 p.m., showers south of the district. notice areas of heavier rain. maybe a few rumbles of thunder around tomorrow evening, midnight, still tracking some rain. saturday, dealing with showers, high of 60. at breakfast, temperature high of 60 degrees and by lunch, mid-50s. a little cooler and then we continue to drop, temperatures in the low gives but overall

still well above normal this time of year. by about 15 degrees. sunday, high of 75. that will be a record. mostly cloudy skies, locally, travel weather lacking good. look at the temperature drop from sunday to monday. 75 on sunday. 49 on monday. here's the thing. it's 49 during the early morning hours. by the time the afternoon and evening hours roll around, we'll be in the low 40s. tuesday looking like rain. high of 57. we'll keep it dry wednesday and neve thursday. right now, temperatures not so bad during the day, 54 degrees but i have to include a chance of showers in the forecast. >> as you know, we've been on facebook and instagram tracking santa's every move. santa's norad tracker, he is already delivering about 5 billion gifts. he is in lakewood, new york,

heading north and then swirl back to the mid-atlantic region. this is the 60th year the military has been tracking santa. we put a link to the website on our washington apps. he still has packages to deliver. jay gruden trying to do so

all right, dave. saturday can't come fast enough

for fans anyway. >> i know. i've got to focus because i've been addicted to that santa tracker tonight. i have to focus on football. "it's a wonderful life." it was on tonight on nbc 40. i did watch it. gruden faced challenges but did not have a guardian angel to show him the way and in stead he had confidence and persist st s steps. another reason is kirk cousins the starter is playing his way to a contract extension. perhaps the biggest reason is gruden himself who made the unpopular decision to go with cousins. and he could become the first

head coach. the key to gruden's success is simple. he really likes this team. >> they're a fun group of guys and have fun coming together. it's fun to come to work everyday. no sourpusses in here and they enjoy practice for the most part and all willing to do what it takes to make each other better and make this deem better. >> you don't figure it out in one day, don't always have the answers. teams learn the system and better understanding and you start to create the culture and identity you want. we've done a lot of good things to this point and credit jay and the coaching staff for laying that foundation. wizards pulling off against the memphis grizzlies despite an undermanned roster. john wall has been playing santa claus giving out 33 assists his last two games. no holiday break.

they fly to brooklyn tomorrow to go for their fourth straight win on saturday. that chill in the air, as amelia told you, is not on the outside, in the rivalry between nationals and mets. second baseman, daniel murphy is moving on to sign a three year deal with the nationals. he rejected a one year deal at the end of the season when he helped the mets in the world series and national championship league series mvp. h murray last year hit 14 homers and 17 rbi and took the national championship series by storm with homers in six straight post-season games, a major league record. murphy had the lowest strikeouts of any and he will be national and could go in the backyard and play baseball with this weather. we have to focus on football and

the santa

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it's the best gift ever. now during the ford holiday sales event get 0% financing for 60 months plus 1,000 dollars holiday bonus cash on select vehicles. see your local ford dealer. well, it's not every year santa gets the perfect waterskiing weather but, boy, this year it was. something of a gift for him. the crowds in alex candendria c out in droves. it's 40 or below usually outside. we won't see that for the next seven day, right? >> even on monday when it's cold, looking at a temperature of 49 degrees.

temperatures continue to run well well with babove normal an fog in the evening hours. >> what a roller coaster. thanks for having us in. christmas eve at the basilica is ♪ (vo) some call it giving back. we call it share the love.

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now, a special christmas presentation from nbc news. ♪ >> from the vatican in rome,

christmas eve at st. peter's basilica. the celebrant of midnight mass is pope francis with music by the sistine chapel choir. this broadcast is presented in consultation with the united states conference of catholic bishops. the commentator is father manuel torontes who is pastor of immaculate conception parish in chicago and also assistant to the director of the vatican press office. >> merry christmas from the vatican. feliz navidad. i'm a parish priest of the archdiocese of chicago and i, along with nbc, would like to welcome you to pope francis' midnight mass at christmas. as christians around the world celebrate the birth of jesus tonight, i will be accompanying you during this mass marking the third christmas of pope