they call it their home away from home. this yacht club in southeast d.c. destroyed by an early-morning fire. a look at what may have delayed the call to firefighters. a state capitals across the country, the electoral country is set to pick donald trump as the next president of the united states. despite an opposition movement, where the movement stands this morning. and a pretty chilly day to start off this work week. but we'll be talking about for christmas, a sneak peek at the christmas day forecast, coming up. "news4 midday" starts now. good morning, and welcome to "news4 midday." >> we begin with a stabbing at a

angie goff is at the live desk with details. >> at this point what we know is in the breaking situation, a person is in custody after the stabbing at the metro station in virginia. it was at the entrance to the dunn loring metro station, right outside that entrance. it happened around 7:30 this morning. the victim is alive and is being treated. the suspect did flee, but police say that metro surveillance video helped them find him quickly at rosalyn station, that the man had multiple fake i.d. cards on him, also a knife. they're working to identify him. and also a motive for this stabbing. stay with news4 for more on the developing story. in the district, we're following a developing story. a the clubhouse at the district's yacht club was destroyed in a fire. news4's molette green is live on water street with more on what

happened. >> barbara, good morning, firefighters left and came back about 45 minutes ago. to wet down the structure again for flare-ups. at this point, no word on a cause from investigators. fire crews called this an extraordinary operation. they battled this huge fire and at the same time they were able to save nearby boats from going up in flames. >> fire investigators spent the morning in and out of the charred district yacht club looking for a cause. members also now clearly see nothing much is left. it's located on what's known as boaters row on water street in southeast. just hours ago flames tore through this property. >> this here is devastating. >> firefighters had their hands full when they arrived to heavy smoke and flames, that ravaged the wooden structure. burning down the clubhouse, patio and cottage. a place so full of life with children atte

early sunday morning. >> we just had a christmas party for the children down here this morning. so -- i don't know. >> this area is isolated and it's possible the fire advanced before the 911 calls came in. firefighters also dealt with water supplies challenges and frigid temperatures. it's a devastating loss for members who called this their home away from home. >> this is our hangout spot here. we do everything here. you know. we have our parties here, we, we fellowship here. and this is where we come and watch all our football games. we do everything right here. now it's all gone. >> because this fire broke out overnight, there was no one inside. so luckily no injuries. and a club member tells me they have insurance to rebuild. in southeast, molette green, news4. well it was certainly chilly throughout the mrn

temperatures have barely budged. in fact we've got some sunshine. but that's not going to do a lot to warm us up as we continue through this day today. now temperatures not that bad. i mean we're at 35, we finally come up just a few degrees. but again, those winds, they were kind of 10 to 50 miles per hour, so kind of chilly this morning. they'll continue to go calm into the afternoon. plenty of sunshine for today, and temperatures are going to rise, possibly into the mid, maybe upper 30s. so that's pretty much where we're going to stay throughout the remainder of your monday. but this looks to be the coldest day that we have on the ten-day forecast. of course ten days go out over the weekend. what do we have this weekend? we've got the start of hanukkah, christmas eve, christmas day, kwanzaa, we'll be talking about that forecast and maybe if we could see more senator coming up in the 10-day forecast in ten minutes. we have a sad update to a sledding accident in lineborough maryland, a father and

injured saturday morning. the father has now died. the carroll county sheriffs office says 35-year-old adam french and his 4-year-old son were sledding down a driveway when they entered the road and were hit by a car. the 4-year-old is expected to recover. charges aren't expected to be filed against the driver. we are getting a look at new video of a massive video on the severn river. maryland natural resources say 16 boats overturned during strong winds and high waves. 22 people were pulled from the water. the boaters were part of a sailing regatta sunday afternoon. and check out this video of an incredibly fiery crash scene, this was outside of baltimore. icy roads are being blamed for this gas tanker overturning and bursting into flames on 95 on saturday. that caused a 55-car chain-reaction crash. two people died, including

driver of the truck. seven people are still in the hospital with two in critical condition. we have breaking news right now. ryan sulandy will spend the next 18 years behind bars, he's known as ryan money, a christian rapper. he is convicted of second-degree murder for intentionally killing his producer. police say salandy ran over william mcdaniel with his car. look for reaction from us starting at news4 at 4:00 this evening, back to you. after a terrifying assault and robbery, the fbi and d.c. police are looking for three men who they say attacked a young woman. investigators say the woman was walking along monroe street near 16th street northwest. it happened around 3:30 sunday morning. she told police one of the men grabbed her and threw her into the back of a white work van. police say the men assaulted her anol

before throwing her out of the van near woodley park. call police if you have any information. electoral college members in several states are casting votes right now to officially pick donald trump as the next president. but some of them are facing pressure to not vote for the president-elect. news4's tracie potts has the latest. >> this afternoon, 538 electors gathered in state capitals across america to cast official votes for president. donald trump's chief of staff claims some have been intimidated and harassed. >> we've got electors that are receiving 200,000 emails. >> the director of national intelligence denied a request from some electors for briefing on russian hacking before they vote. there's been no evidence connecting hacking to trump. but hillary clinton's campaign chair is still raising questions. >> what did trump inc. know and when did they know it? were they in touch with the russians. top democrats say republicans on

senate committee to investigate. >> we need to get to the bottom of this. >> the investigation should be tough, strong and bipartisan. and should have access to all materials, classified and not. >> a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows 55% of americans, more democrats than republicans, are bothered by russian interference, but nearly half have no opinion on whether the president-elect is too cozy with vladimir putin. some experts say a countercyberattack may not be the best move. >> once you get into that kind of an escalation, we're in truth more vulnerable than they are. >> mr. trump continued his working vacation with meetings this afternoon at his florida estate. and our poll, 50% approve and 41% disapprove of his transition so far. >> a trump spokeswoman says they're still working on the legalities of separating the president-elect from his business. that he realizes there's conversations he won't be able to have with his own children about the business and he won

while in office. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. a father's push to keep his daughter's memory alive could mean a new downtown skating rink in poolesville. commissioners are expected to talk about plans to build a new year-round risk it comes after mark cohen put up a temporary rink in his back yard to honor his late step-daughter who died of respiratory disease. tonight, you have a chance to see some of our favorite hometown heroes. montgomery county is honoring its olympians. four athletes from the county competed in rio. swimmers, katie ledecky and canoer ashley mead will be honored in silver spring they'll be at the civic building in downtown silver spring starting at 7:00. ledecky and conger above won gold. remembering zsa zsa

her many romances to her run-in with the law. we'll look back at her captivating life. excitement is building for tonight's redskins game. it is a big one for the team and fans. a look at what's at stake. stay withs. we'll b ue

in, we just reported that the next governor of north carolina says that they are going to repeal the controversial bathroom law. it forced people to use the bathroom according to their sex at birth. well the law also denied people protections based on their sexual orientation or jepder identity. democratic governor elect roy copper said legislatures will hold any special session to repeal that law tomorrow. a lovely wedding day turned tragic in california, after a tree fell on a bridal party. the bride's mother was killed and five others were injured when a eucalyptus tree toppled over as the group was taking photos. a 4-year-old is in critical condition. fire crews had to use chain saws to rescue people trapped under the tree's limbs, it is not known what caused the tree to fall. ticking time bomb, that's how incoming senate minority leader chuck scm

referring to e-cigarettes, he's asking the fda to figure out why the cigarettes have been exploding. the fda identified more than 60 e-cigarette explosions over the last two years. the fda says it's reviewing the findings. schumer said they should take action now. the tobacco industry says e-cigarettes are safe if properly used. you have more time to sign up for health insurance on the healthcare.gov site. the administration is giving up until 11:59 p.m. to sign up tonight. the original deadline was last thursday, extended due to strong interest. the dmingts has set a goal of signing up 13.8 million people for next year. the archbishop of washington, cardinal donald whorl celebrated a major milestone, 50 years in the priesthood, we share reflections on his decade of service. >>

and preparing to be ordained a priest will always be a part of my memories. >> celebrating half a century of service to the catholic church, 50 years ago this week. cardinal donald whorl was ordained a priest. >> i can remember sitting in chapel at the seminary, and saying now i know, i'm absolutely certain. >> wuerl says he's most grateful to god for the call to serve, the grace to pursue that call and to persevere in it. speaking outside of the cathedral of st. matthew before mass, he recalled one special memory. >> the arrival of pope francis to visit. and that has to be one of the highlights of those five decades of service. >> and that famous fiat pope francis used during his visit, being put into service again. people filled with donations for the needy. the archdiocese says the fiat is

pontiff's emphasis on charitable work. erika gonzalez, news4. all of the donations will go to the spanish catholic center of catholic charities. well pack your patience at the post office today. it is the busiest shipping day of the holiday season. here are a few important christmas shipping deadlines. tomorrow is the last day to send by first-class mail. wednesday is the deadline for priority mail. friday, is the deadline for priority mail express. the post offices will be open on saturday, but most will close at noon. be sure to keep an eye out this thursday, 30 million packages are expected to be delivered. making it will busiest delivery day. well if you're flying for your holiday destination this year, a new study shows that airport satisfaction is improving. j.d. power study found overall satisfaction reached 731 points out of 1,000, that's up from 725 last year. our local airports all

reagan national scored a 725, dulles scored a 718 and bwi marshall scored a 712. among the factors the study considered, the accessibility, check-in and bag as screening. 90.6 million people are expected to drive to a holiday destination this year. from friday december 23rd to monday january 2nd. if you're trying to beat the traffic, experts say it's better to leave earlier in the day and earlier in the week and middays aren't a great time to leave. so don't leave us now. because you can find some pretty heavy traffic out there at this time of day. the one and only zsa zsa gabor, an actress, socialite and symbol of glamour is gone. nbc's kristen welker gives us a look back on the woman who made silver screen memories, and did it her own way. >> hello, darling, i'm zsa zsa. >> zsa zsa gabor.

>> hello, hello. >> her string of husbands and jewels and the wit that would steal the show every time. >> you just be there in the room. you and the champagne. >> her film career began with "lovely to look at" in 1952. followed that same year by perhaps her most famous movie -- "moulin rouge." i see ts i want them to be, not as they really are. >> she appeared in more than 40 films and television shows, in everything from horror movies to comedy. >> we have two cars, one limousine and one cheap. >> i'll take the limousine. >> she was eclipsed by her glamorous image. >> i always said that men should be 50/50, at least 50 years old and have at least $50 million. >> bore in budapest, hungary in 1917, zsa zsa was the mi

her many lovers included some of herrera's most famous and desirable men and she headed to the altar nine times. hotel magnate conrad hilton was her second husband and the father of her only child, francesca. on her final marriage, she found her prince charming. frederick prince van aanholt. >> got involved with all of these crazy people in hollywood. >> in 1989 she was convicted of slapping a beverly hills police officer during a traffic stop and spent three days in jail. >> her later years, medical problems began to take their toll. in 2002, a car wreck left her partially paralyzed. then, a broken hip kept her in and out of the hospital. and most recently, her right leg was amputated. but to the end, zsa zsa maintained a persona of flirtatious fun and a touch of old hollywood

>> she was quite an actress, quite a lady, we all knew her. we all still talk about zsa zsa gabor. >> and we'll tell you about bryce harper's big life moment. >> after a rough weekend, good news for people traveling this weekend. our weather, lauryn will be back with a look at best weather days to

the chicago bears and the green bay packers fought

in the fifth coldest game in bears' history on sunday. temperatures in the first quarter were in the single digits at soldier field. yesterday the wind chills, below zero. the bears lost the game by three points. the coldest game in nfl history remains the frozen bowl as they call it in 1967. >> that man is wearing a bear coat. >> hard to keep your feet warm. there's only one nfl game tonight to give d.c. the best chance to make the playoffs. >> we're talking about the skins game. they're facing the carolina panthers. see lauryn ricketts is here, we're at home at fedex field. so if you still want to go to the game, tickets are going for $30 not bad online. one of the players to watch, one of the panthers former players, josh norman, said he's ramping up the intensity toward his old team. >> no surrender, noer incy. i think they know that in me. so goi

we got. >> no america mercy is right. linebackers stewart cravens and will compton likely won't be playing tonight. you can watch the game at 8:30 tonight. here's advice on getting to the game. i'm melissa mollet with a look at the traffic and a look at the rasks game tonight. they're playing the panthers and han 8:30 kickoff. it will be a little congested getting into fedex field. it's a bit of a later game for "monday night football" and kind of hopefully some of the folks will be traveling after rush hour. last trains as far as metro goes leave largo town center on the silver time at 11:10 and the blue line at 11:23. morgan boulevard, siller line, leaves at 11:30. the blue line to franconia at 11:26 and to largo town center at 12:32. go redskins! >> isn't i

for the cowboys, because we wanted them to beat the bucs, now we need them to win this game. one of three teams in the running. >> are we going to have good weather? or a cold bowl. >> great weather. it's going to be great. it's going to be cold. it's not going to be as cold as the packers game yesterday. i mean i was watching, the wind chills were at negative 14. no winds tonight, people have been asking me about the winds. >> no winds tonight you're looking good. light winds, temperatures below feezing. i have the forecast. so we're going to be talking about it. we're also going to be talking about christmas. yeah. and you know, after this weekend, hopefully everybody got in the winter-like spirit. especially because we had the ice. my goodness, it was terrible on saturday morning. and you know we're dry today. but we do have a little bit of a breeze right now. but it will calm as we continue into the afternoon. no ice, no rain today. thank goodness. now as we head into your tuesday, sunshine, but definitely chilly. and then we've got pretty quiet weather this week. if you're traveling

looks good, up and down the east coast. current temperatures barely have budged throughout the morning and we're staying in the 30s. that is it. a lot of those areas still, the freezing mark or just below. there could be some slick spots, so please be careful. nothing showing up on the storm team 4 radar thanks to high pressure in charge, we're headed into the mid, possibly upper 30s for daytime highs today. again we'll have the sunshine, but winds are going to be calming and we're going to stay dry. not only dry in terms of any precipitation, but also dry in the atmosphere. so you may find yourself reaching for that hand lotion, the chapstick a little bit more, we've got a dry air mass over us. redskins/panthers, hopefully josh norman will be like desean jackson when he matched up against the eagles. it looks like we've got winning weather, with temperatures in the 30s, falling to the 20s overnight. 41 for tomorrow, still a little warmer, plenty of sunshine around for tomorrow. as we head into the rest of the work week, we warm up, wednesday is the first day of winter. now of course we've got

all next weekend. we'll be talking about that forecast. i'll show you that specifically, coming up. thank you, lauryn. nationals star bryce harper officially no longer available, ladies. the former mvp just got married over the weekend. he married kayla varnem at the more mon t norman t morman temple in san diego. good news for a little syrian girl whose story has come to light on social media. the 7-year-old and her mother have gained hundreds of thousands of followers on twitter after posting about their life in aleppo. a look at how they escaped from danger. plus it is flu season and there is statistics that has doctors concerned right now. where they tell you, where it is and a look at the areas already being hit hard by the flu .

i want

future. >> the cease-fire in syria is in effect again right now. and this little girl is finally safe. bana is one of thousands of civilians who were effectively trapped in the city of aleppo. and you just heard from her mother. they were evacuated today. and she earned a lot of attention pleading about her situation in aleppo. >> today the united nations is trying to do something about it. the u.n. security council voted unanimously to send more than 100 people to the city to monitor those evacuations. they'll be working to make sure the fighting doesn't break out again. the syrian army took the city from the rebels. both sides have accused the other vif lating a cease-fire multiple times. an news4 i-team investigation is revealing a major local school district is dropping the ball. that allowed teachers accused of misconduct to keep their teaching licenses for years. scott mcfarlane explains what the i-team is working on for you this morning. >> our investigation will show at st

of misconduct involving students all lost their jobs, but all were allowed to keep their teaching licenses for several years. in at least one case, the teacher managed to land another job at another school district where he was arrested and pleaded guilty to a sex offense with another student. tonight's report also raises questions about whether the school district gave us the full story when we started asking questions about this. state officials says he's much these cases is potentially dangerous. >> is it problematic, licenses left languishing for six, seven years before they're revoked? >> definitely, if there's a basis for action against a license and any time passes before that action is taken, that whole interim period is troubling. that person could work elsewhere or secure a license. >> tonight we hear from the father of one of the victims and why he thinks this happened. and a

they've become more proactive on preventing these cases in the future. we'll talk to them tonight as part of our investigation. scott mcfarlane, news4, i-team. starting today, it's easier to get into the smithsonian's new museum of african-american history and culture. starting daily at 6:30 a.m., a limited number of same-day passes will be offered. the passes will also be available at the ticket office, starting at 1:00 p.m. on weekdays. until now the passes have only been available through online reservations made weeks or months in advance. admission is free, but you do need a pass to get in. the museum opened in september. school districts across the country are seeing an uptick in flu cases, nbc's goddi schwartz has more. >> in the season of giving, the worst thing to get is the blanket-dragging couch-curling bone-aching flu.

right before her high school winter break. >> i was asking for cough drops and she said that i just really sounded too sick to pak my vitals that day. >> she's not just missing finals, she's missing the winter formal. >> i was supposed to go to winter formal tonight with my friends, but now i can't. >> in western north carolina, a whole school district shut down thursday and friday because of outbreaks of strep, pneumonia and flu, after nearly a quarter of all high schoolers came down with symptoms, prompting some people to do their holiday shopping with masks. >> i'm trying to keep from getting sick. >> flu cases are slightly up nationwide and the latest numbers show only about 40% of adults have been vaccinated so far this season. and now the cdc is recommending against flu vaccines in nasal spray form because they might not be effective. >> the flu mist doesn't work. >> there's concern that the change could lead to fewer vaccinations for those scared of the needle. but or

the beckett protection. >> a lot of people didn't get vaccinated last year, so a lot of people double dipped, they got sick for a couple of weeks and got a little bit better and got sick again. >> the cdc estimates that last year the flu vaccine protected five million people, roughly the population of the atlanta metro area. back on the couch, jill tells us she was supposed to get her flu shot that day. as for her winter formal, snapchat will have to do. >> nice music. will you be my winter formal date? >> goddi schwartz, nbc news, los angeles. after the break, a look at whether the latest "star wars" movie is meeting expectations. and lauryn lets us know when

♪ ♪ >> the new stand-alone "star wars" movie did better than good at the box office. "rogue one" made about $155 million in its debut weekend. that's the second highest opening weekend in december ever, only behind last year's "star wars" movie "the force awakens." film experts say it could hold its first-place division for the rest of the year. that's how popular this movie is. i like "star wars." >> i like it, too. i just haven't seen the last few that have come out. >> they're really good. >> never seen one. >> what? >> i know. not one. >> he's not the only one, he saw "the force awakens" and really liked it. >> i got to figure it out. the prequel. >> it doesn't matter which one you watch. >> this weekend would have been great to go to the movies and watch it, after the ice, saturday morning was a mess. >> 65 degrees on

yesterday we hit 67. we hit that high at 1:46 p.m. and then the temperatures went down. well i don't have any 60s for the next ten days, but today looks the coldest over the next ten days. and we're going to top out in the 30s outside today. now we do have plenty of sunshine out there. a little bit of a breeze, that's calming down. temperatures in the 30s right now. mid 30s. this is pretty much where we're going to say, we'll go a couple of degrees, but we won't get to the 40-degree mark. everybody in the 30s throughout the remainder of the day. 39 in d.c. 34 in gaithersburg. daytime highs in the 30s with plenty of sunshine. if you're headed out to fedex field tonight or maybe need to go out shopping again this will be your forecast. we're going to have clear skies, but it is going to be chilly out there. the winds will be on the lighter side, but again it is going to be pretty cold as we continue into the overnight and then of course for your morning tomorrow. now a look at your next five days, temperatures are going to be in the upper 30s for your

monday, by tuesday tomorrow, we are looking at temperatures just a few degrees above where it is today. but again we're going to have plenty of sunshine. high pressure right over us. tuesday and wednesday. so of course plenty of sunshine, temperatures are going to be in the upper 40s on wednesday, it will be fairly mild on wednesday. and then thursday,er in from the upper 40s, i do believe some areas can get into the low 50s. now doug and tom will be here this afternoon. i've lowered the chance of rain as we get into thursday it doesn't look like that much is going to be moving through our area. so again we have a slight chance, but we may have to take that out. friday we clear back out. great travel weather up and down the east coast for the next five days and we get into the weekend, saturday and sunday is on the ten-day forecast, i'll show you that coming up in about ten minutes. many of us make holiday cookies every year. you do sometimes? >> sometimes i do. a lot of work. after the break professional advice on making them look and taste even better. s.ay with u

we are down to the last days of shopping before christmas arrives on sunday. if you don't have time to get to the store this week, you may have to make your presents yourself. the good news is most people like those home-made edible presents. joining us now is meredith thompson, the pastry chef in city center d.c. you have a great variety of

you're going to show us how to make iced cookies, which are always a holiday favorite. >> they are, especially in my house. >> mine, too. >> and yours is dichb, not just a regular sugar cookie. >> one of the most popular things we're selling right now is chocolate shortbread cookies with royal icing and sprinkles on them. they're not overly sweet, the chocolate balances out the icing, it's more of an adult kind of cookie. >> what do you put in your cookie batter? >> the cookie dough is here, it's a shortbread, so it's got butter, sugar, eggs, flour and salt and cocoa powder. >> we rolled out our dough. the key to making these kinds of cookies is you want to work with a cold dough so the shape holds when you press your cookies. >> his adorable cut-outs. >> all you do with this recipe is cut them out, put them

your parchment paper. and these cookies, if they're approximately a quarter of an inch thick, we bake them at 350 degrees for eight to ten minutes. >> thicker than the normal cookies. the especially the ones i make at home are a little bit thinner. >> the temperatures vary depending on how thick the cookie is. >> exactly. with these, because they're chocolate shortbread, you'll do it more by smell than by sight. you're not going to see the brown edges come on. but you will definitely start to smell the chocolate and that's a sign that they're good to go and ready. >> so once they come out of the oven we've got these guys ready to go. and what we can do is grab some royal icing bags. >> our royal icing -- >> tell me what you put in there? >> pasterized egg whites and confectioner's

sure that it's pretty and not going over the edges. >> take a deep breath. a lot of people freak out. >> oh, my god, i'm going to make a mess. what you want to do is we have some number 3 tips here and we're going to go around the edge of the cookie first. and if you stop your line, that's okay. can you kind of pick up where you left off. >> and the key is to line the cookies. >> line the cookies first and then you want to wait a little bit just to make sure that that edge is going to hold. this icing hardens pretty quickly. so even just a couple seconds, i would try to get as many of these, outlines done first and then can you go back and fill with the rest of the icing. >> the filling, do you start from the edges in? does that work best? >> there's many different theories with that. so what i would normally do, we've got one bag of this. so i actually kind of start

a little bit. because you don't, what we don't want to have happen is too much icing to run over the size of the cookies. >> well that looks beautiful, do you use a knife? >> then you can use a knife and spread it out, so it starts touching the edges. >> i need to taste these. >> get in there. >> they're so pretty. >> the nice thing about those is you've got like a nice buttery texture of the cookie. the icing and then the crunchy sugar on top. >> it's delicious. >> thank you. >> merry christmas. >> happy holidays. >> yummy. better bring me a piece of that, eun. up next, the irish tradition of keeping a lit candle in the window. we visit the embassy for ireland for more on that and the unusual food le for santa. ft

over the next week, we're taking you on a holiday trip around the world. the journey is called christmas on embassy row. through the years we've been lucky enough to get insight from the diplomats living here in washington. today, a look inside the embassy of ireland. ♪ ♪ >> it's a house with a history of many christmass. built some 80 years ago here in the nation's capital for the uncle of franklin dell mo roosevelt. known as delano house, the

elegant portico now bear as brilliant coat of arms of the republic of ireland. this year marks the golden anniversary of the raising of the irish flag above this beautiful washington residence. ♪ ♪ >> hi. >> thank you. merry christmas. >> welcome as we say in ireland. >> what a beautiful room. >> a welcoming fire crackled in the hearth of the first four libraries, it's what you need when you go into every irish house. >> and in every irish home at christmas, a candle is lit in the window. >> every household in ireland has a candle in the window on christmas eve. and there's so much symbolism and the candle really significant nyes people are welcome. this is a light to show to strangers you are welcome in this house. >> ireland'smb

mother always placing a candle in the window at their family home in tipperary where she grew up. >> christmas is very much a family time. so the memories are very much about my family. >> an irish family tradition baiting back forever, she says, is a christmas wreath. this one above the door to the drawing room. >> it's with the holly and ivy that we would gather in the countryside around. >> she says they liked to think the wreath was an irish invention. >> the irish, we think we invented everything. sometimes we did sometimes we embellished a little bit. >> the tree is always decorated with lights and ornaments that have been collected over the years. >> it's very much a family tree. residences like this are official, but they're your home and you have your own imprint so you see this in my tree. look at the angel, this paper angel was made

when she was in kindergarten. my daughter is now 30. >> ornaments that represent other diplomatic postings and significant places visited. >> some especially delicate ones are are made of irish crystal. >> i love putting up the tree and i stand back and it allows you to recall and reflect and enjoy so many happy memories. >> the resident chef was busy preparing for guests that would soon arrive. >> tell me what you're serving? >> well this is irish smoked salmon. on irish soda bread. >> the chef was just whipping up some more. >> how do you make irish soda bread. >> it's easy, that's why most people at home, that's the first thing they start learning to make at home

it's very difficult to mess up. and the soda bread must be perfect as a base for all the wonderful irish canopies that will be served to the guests, along with delicious sweets like scones with jam and cream and tiny mincemeat pies and the famous irish spirits and some of the libations must be reserved for the guy who will be coming down the chimney with the gifts. >> it's usually a bottle of stout, a bottle of guinness and some mince pies, because when he's in ireland that's what he likes to eat and drink. >> the traditional irish jig music with its toe-tapping, hand-clapping tempo is always a welcome sound in every irish home at christmas. for ambassador anderson's guests, many irish americans, colleagin

world and friends, the music is welcome and uplifting entertainment. and this season she also loves the song from home. ♪ as we gather in the chapel here ♪ ♪ in old kilmaden town. >> this famous tenor says the irish cherish their folk songs and love to sing and dance. >> in ireland, they have suffered for years, to get themselves out of those troubles and hard times they've sung, they've danced, they've played music. that what has carried them through all the years. >> it's a spirit that's contagious, especially through the music. >> and there are always the traditional carols sung at christmas. ♪ ♪ >> i have to say we love to use the irish

for most people in ireland, our vernacular, the irish language, we always get a bit nostalgic around christmas. >> how do you say merry christmas in irish? >> i'm delighted to teach you, it's -- [ speaking foreign language ] >> merry christmas. ♪ ♪ christmas on embassy row tomorrow we will visit the embassy of haiti. and then on sunday, christmas day in the morning we will have 2016 version of christmas on embassy row, a lot of wonderful ambassadors participated and you'll get to see how they celebrated christmas in their own home towns. >> i love that you take us around the world and we don't have to leave our homes. looking forward to it. let's get a final check on the forecast with storm team 4 meteorologist lauryn ricketts. >> i love that. it makes you get into the

maybe not going to feel too much like christmas by the time we get to the weekend. temperatures having a slight chance of showers on thursday today. we're stuck in the cold. let's concentrate on the weekend. saturday, the beginning of hanukkah, also christmas eve temperatures will be in the low 50s. i am going to tell you we'll have plenty of sunshine out there. as we get into your sunday, christmas morning, christmas day, we're going to keep it cloudy, keep temperatures in the 50s. keep the rain chances out for now. doug and tom are going to be back with you this afternoon. we'll let you know if they have any rain chances, we may have to add them. and then of course, monday kwanzaa, temperatures will be in the low 50s. we have a chance for rain showers, sunday into monday. as i said, we have them on for sunday, let's hope it stays. that does it for "news4 midday." thanks so much for joining us. we're back on the air this afternoon, first at 4:00. >> you can get your news and weather updates any time on the

bake some cookies? >> not today. >> see you in the morning, have a great day.

stand by, everyone. we're live in five, four, three, two, one. ♪ joy to the world the lord has come let earth receive her king ♪ ♪ let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing ♪ ♪ and heaven and nature sing ♪ and heaven and heaven and nature sing ♪ ♪ and heaven and heaven and nature ♪ >> yes, that's one way to start our week. oh! [ applause ] >> yes. >> is there more? >>