now a on "news4 midday," a suspicious death and a family looking for answers. the mystery after a man was found dead inside a home. the manhunt is over, but not the threat. the german top security officials say the death of the christmas market attacker is not the end of the risk. leave room for time, what you can expect as you hit the road for a busy holiday weekend. i'm derrick ward at the live desk. the breaking news, a tense situation involving a hijacked libyan airliner, an air bus a-320 with 118 people on board

libya. it was on the tarmac in the airport on the mediterranean island of malta. two men with hand grenades reportedly hijacked the plane and threatened to blow it up. they began releasing passengers a short time ago, now all passengers and crew said to be safe with hijackers surrendering to authorities. they were seeking political asylum to a european country. malta prime minister says the hijackers have been searched and arrested. good morning to "news4 midday," i'm barbara harrison. >> and him chris lawrence, all the red that you're seeing a sure sign that christmas son the way. what are we looking at in terms of the weekend? >> good news for your trips out and about for today. now tomorrow may be a little different story as clouds will thicken up later on today and rain chances will be back in on us by early tomorrow morning. for now it's a pleasant enough day to be outside, a fair amount of su

clouds will gradually increase over the course of the afternoon. temperaturewise we've made it up to the low 40s for most areas. 42 at dulles airport. 40 degrees in fredericksburg, 37 degrees in winchester, as you're planning out the remainder of the your christmas eve eve forecast. sunshine through the middle of the afternoon. temperatures upper 40s to near 50 for a time this afternoon and then drifting back to the upper 30s to around 40. showers likely to move in after midnight, i'll time it out through saturday coming up. major breaking news, the man accused of driving a truck into a crowded christmas market is dead. anis amri was killed in a shootout and derrick ward is back at the live desk with the latest developments out of germany and italy. >> authorities are looking at how anis amri was able to move among italy, berlin and france after the crime and amid a continent-wide manhunt. they're looking into whether he had a network of people helping him.

with police this morning as reportedly confronted by officers and asked to produce his identification papers. he pulled out a gun and was killed. one officer was also wounded in that shootout. amri was the prime suspect in the terror attack in berlin. accused of driving a truck into a crowd of shoppers outside the kaiser wilhelm memorial church. 12 people were killed and 56 injured. this morning several men in australia are facing terrorism charges. police are accusing five men of planning an attack on christmas day. investigators say the men planned to use explosives, knives and guns to target multiple sites in melbourne. inspired by isis the. developing now in springfield, a man is dead and police are trying to find out what happened to him. news4's megan mcgrath is live on blarney stone court in springfield with more. megan? >> well you can see behind me that we still have a police cruiser on the scene. and at some point we

expecting investigators to return and continue gathering evidence. now the victim, hanukie youhanis, he was 22 years old. he lived here with his parents and other family members. a family member discovered him dead. police say the circumstances are suspicious. >> police tape still encircles the town home on blarney stone court. shawn griffin lives next door. he said last night he heard loud noises coming if his neighbor's house. >> i heard multiple bangs, it was loud to the point where you could almost feel it through the house, through the wood. i thought they were moving furniture. i didn't know what it was. >> exactly what happened is unclear. police say the victim, 22-year-old henok yohannes was found dead inside a family. >> my understanding is no one was home and a family member returned home to find the

deceased. >> the victim had trauma to the upper body, but investigators are awaiting results of an autopsy before releasing details. and investigators are looking for witnesses as well. anyone with information, you're asked to call fairfax county police. back to you. thank you, megan. right now the roads out there are getting more and more congested. if you want to avoid the traffic, you should probably get out there right now. >> news4's justin finch is in bethesda where he's been talking to drivers, how is it looking? >> so far, i want to say leaving early is the best bet. so far on river road cars are moving on both sides at a good clip. that could change in a matter of hours as aaa expects a large surge of cars to hit the roads soon. in what could be a record-breaking holiday travel season. >> even before you pull onto the beltway, rows of red lights may

await you and none from rudolph's shining nose. from now to january 2nd, aaa expects upwards of two million people from the washington metro area to drive 50 miles or more to their celebration. and nationwide, the agency predicts roughly 93 million americans will do the same. numbers that could make 2016 a record-breaker for year-end holiday travelers. >> i know it's going to be a lot of traffic. i'm a limo driver. i know how the traffic is. >> with coffee in hand, this road-tested driver is ready. >> do you have any back roads you rely on? any tricks? >> of course, yes. >> you can't tell us what they are? >> no. >> on this christmas eve eve, many work places may close early and aaa reports that could leave us with gridlock on major highways, about 4:00 this afternoon. >> they let me leave early today. >> at this woodbridge virginia

drivers were already prepping their plans to beat the gridlock. >> i think i'll hang out, do some more christmas shopping and try to wait it out. >> and despite the prices we have seen here on river road, across the country gas is cheaper this year. averaging about 2.26 a gallon and aaa says that's gotten a lot of drivers on the roads so far this year. chris and barbara, back to you. >> thank you very much, justin. here's a look at gas prices as you prepare to fill up for your holiday getaway, the national average is 2.27 a gallon for regular. maryland drivers are paying 2.28, virginia, 2.14, area gas is most expensive here in the district at 2. 54 a gallon. you may run into your biggest problem at reagan national before you get to the terminal. officials are expecting a lot of congestion getting up to the terminal. the terminalon

back-up. they suggest you park in the short-term garage instead. we're staying on top of travel issues you might face all weekend long. download the nbc washington app, and we'll send out traffic alerts so you can plan ahead. don't grab her! don't grab her! >> she called police for help. and ended up in handcuffs. the controversial arrest and new action taken by the department. the new american arms race. what president-elect donald trump is sharing about his nuclear plans and how world leaders are responding.

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don't grab her! don't grab her! >> a texas police officer has been placed on restricted duty for the way in which he arrested a woman and her teenaged daughters. jacqueline craig lives in fort worth and said a neighbor accused her 7-year-old son of littering and physically assaulting the little boy. after speaking with the neighbor, the officer starts questioning craig's parenting. >> why don't you teach your son not to litter. >> he can't prove to me that my son littered. it doesn't matter if he did or didn't. it doesn't give him the right to put his hands on him. >> craig and her daughters have been released from jail. fort worth police are asking for patience as they look into the incident. president-elect donald trump stunned nuclear experts when he tweeted that the u.s. should grow its

for decades, u.s. nuclear policy has focused on drawing down, not building up. thursday's tweet came hours after russian president vladimir putin delivered a similar message. trump is set to spend the christmas holiday at his florida residence, golf digest reports that he will play golf with tiger woods at his trump international golf club in west palm beach. ivanka trump and her family waking up in hawaii today after troubling plane ride there. she was confronted by fellow passenger on a jetblue flight from new york. witnesses overheard him saying quote, they ruin the country, now they ruin our flight. the passenger, daniel goldstein and his husband, matthew lasner were kicked off the plane. some say the encounter may have been planned. lasner tweeted before the incident that his husband was chasing them down to harass them. hashtag #bit

incident. >> he was visibly shaking if i was security, i wouldn't take a chance, either. >> the decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. if the crew determines that a customer is causing conflict on an aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane. developing today, syrian rebels are shelling the city of aleppo for the first time since the government declared it was in complete control. the syrian military said yesterday the rebels had been driven out. aleppo is the biggest city in syria, a key base for the rebels over the past four years, its eastern districts have been reduced to ruins. a united nations security council vote on israeli settlements is now completely up in the air. on thursday, the council postponed a vote on draft resolution that demanded israel stop its settlement activities. president-elect trump jumped into the international fray and tweeted the u.s. should veto that measure. that's when egypt requested the delay, to allow time for

waiting to learn if it will be given a federal grant that would help pay for a new four-phase consuction project along interstate 81. yesterday maryland governor larry hogan traveled to hagerstown to announce the start of the project. it's expected to cost the state $105 million. the federal grant would help pay for about 80% of that. maryland families struggling to pay for child care may soon get some help from the state. the "washington post" is reporting a group of state lawmakers are pushing governor larry hogan and the maryland general assembly to increase state subsidies and make some tax changes for families and child care providers. governor hogan has not said whether the funding will be part of his budget plan, due next month. the redskins are hoping for a happy holiday. but the pressure is on and they've got to be pretty much perfect from here on out. they're taking on the bears tomorrow, trying to keep those playoff hopes alive. skins have two games left.

>> we know our back is against the wall, we got to fight. we shouldn't never put ourselves in this position, but we did now we got to stand up like pros and make sure we can get up off that wall and feel more comfortable. >> they may be without jordan reed and line backer sua cravens. the skins cannot win the division and are behind green bay and tampa bay for the last wild card spot. rain coming our way, we may be looking at a damp christmas eve. chuck is tracking what toe expect over the holiday weekend. it's one of the most popular musicals in history, how "into the woods" is coming live to t he

you certainly know all the characters, cinderella, rapunzel, little red riding hood. jack of jack and the beanstalk fame. they all come together into "into the woods." joining us to talk about the show, alicia gamble who you've met on the show before. she plays the baker's wife in this well-known fairy tale. how do all of these characters get to pull together in one show? >> well all the characters we all know, we have jack and the beanstalk, little red riding hood and cinderella and my character, the baker's wife. her and her husband haven't been able to have children and discover there's a spell placed on their house by a

lives next door, so they're ordered to go into the woods to find these ingredients. they have to go into the woods and that kind of gets them interacting with all of these storybook characters. >> all of thoughs characters in there. >> they have the things that we need. you have the red cape, you have rapunzel is in there with her yellow hair. them interacting with these characters we've all grown up with going through the woods. >> it's been called a wild and witty reinvention of a fairy tale. is this for adults and kids alike? >> it's fun for the whole family. it is the stories we've all grown up with. with a slight i more adult twist, particularly towards the second act. there are some things that people might -- get a little -- scared. giants. >> we've had lots of kids, yesterday we had a matinee, tons of children and they were so attentive and paying attention and loved it. i think it's definitely fun for the whole family. >> the music, steven sondheim and james

>> the children will listen, such a beautiful piece. "children will listen." the song i sing is "moments in the woods" there's little red riding hood's song and "steps to the palace" lots of songs that lots of people know. >> you're no stranger to washington. >> no. >> we've had you here before. you grew up here. >> i did. >> where did you grow up and how did you get into the theater? >> goodness, i think theater has always been a part of my life. i was born and raised in d.c., takoma park, maryland. i went to catholic university. i've done most of the theaters i would say in the town. ford theater, signature theater. i started singing in my church gospel choir and did all the plays in my middle school and high school and then finally it was like this is what i want to do for the rest of my life. >> do you ever spot any people you know out there in the audience? >> i would say pretty much every show there's been someone i know, it's nice to see familiar faces.

area? >> my sister still here, i have aunts and uncles, both of my parents have passed away. but i have a wealth of friends who are my extended family. >> they must be so proud of you. we all are. >> thank you. >> it's great having you back here for the show. so this is at the kennedy center, open now through when? >> we close on january 8th. so we still have plenty of tickets available for the upcoming week. >> are you actually open and playing through the holiday weekend? >> yes, we are, we have one matinee christmas eve. and then we have two shows on christmas day. >> a nice thing for families to do. >> absolutely. when you're just trying to get out of the house. >> alicia, we're so happy to see you. alicia gamble. everybody come to see the play and your fabulous voice. this is a fabulous show, thanks for coming. the show looks fantastic. you know another reality show debuted today on hgtv, it will look very familiar. it features a local husband and wife fin

area. i'm an hgtv addict. i put it up on my facebook page. news4's mark segraves spoke to the couple about the pros and cons of our booming real estate market. >> the d.c. housing market is hot, that's good news for people like ati and rob williams. >> we saw the market turning around in 2012, 2013. we said hey we love renovating houses. >> for four years the couple has been having a lot of success flipping homes in d.c. >> we've made money on every single one. >> some more than others. >> the two have been having so much success, they've just taped a pilot for a reality tv show on hgtv. >> we've been in the real estate business for 15 years. >> it's a very hesitant about doing a television show. and putting our family like in front of tv. >> the two had become very comfortable in front of the camera. >> and say if the pilot becomes a series, great. if not, that's a

>> this is an adventure for us. >> it's a fun experience. >> and the couple is keenly aware while the housing market is good for them, it's not good for everyone. >> you're a developer, people think it's anti-affordable house. when that's not necessarily the truth. >> and luzere advocates for low-income families. he said families who make less than $30,000 a year can't afford to live in d.c. now without the help of the government. >> that means things like insuring that some developers set aside to make sure some of their housing is affordable. continuing to put resources into things like the city's housing trust fund. >> ati and rob are hoping their reality show gets picked up for a full season. as for the reality of making money, flipping homes. >> it's pretty special. we, we invest a lot of money into these projects. >> d.c. flippers airs on hgtv. in the district, mark segraves,

what people want. >> yes. >> that's the big thing. >> talking about hgtv? >> because they've figured out what people want. >> that's true. i was thinking about them. because they are building homes, redoing homes that people actually want to buy and move into. >> yeah. >> the market, there's no shortage of buyers in our market. there's a couple of zip codes around the city, there's not even a wait. you put the sign in the yard and it's multiple offers that day. so it's a good place to be doing the flipping. >> it's going to be a nice window into our market, in terms of if you're looking to buy or sell, it will give you a good idea of what your home might go for or what it costs to get into. >> the neighborhood where i live, the average days on market is like six. and there are markets where 100 days on the market is normal. not around our place. if you like it, you better show up and get it and then we can't even get into prices and everything. let's not even go down that ro

let's talk about something we can enjoy for free, like sunshine. we love this kind of weather around here, not too cold, not too warm. last year we were 71 degrees on christmas eve. we will not be 71 degrees tomorrow. and won't even be near 70 today. it will be a nice enough day to be on the outside we made 60 yesterde'llay, wold in the upper 40s to around 50. we're 42 now. you can see a fair amount of sunshine out there. gradually more and more cloud cover will come in. but the sun goes down. so much earlier this time of year that it probably won't be much of an impact. temperatures up near 50 degrees. as you're planning out the forecast, clouds to start. what is going on with my computer. here's future weather, this looks like it's going to work. skies go from clear to cloudy. by 11:00 tonight. maybe a few sprinkles in northern maryland, northern parts of the shenandoah valley. most of it will be dry between now and midnight. after midnight, rain chances start to sneak back up. temperatures in the upper 30s at 4:00 a.m. notok

sleet-snow-freezing rain action. by saturday morning, at 8:00, you see everybody has at least a chance for some showers across the region. not looking for a lot of rain. probably about a quarter of an inch of rain. most of the steadiest of the rain comes between 6:00 in the morning and noon. most of the rain trying to come to an end by early afternoon. here's 3:00 now, skies still mostly cloudy, but the bulk of the rain should be done before 3:00 in the afternoon tomorrow. skies will try to clear out a little bit. of course sun is down just before 5:00. and midnight. skies clearing out, so kids, be on your best behavior so santa can spot your chimney with care and it will be dry around here for christmas day and the beginning of the hanukkah season. planning the day for tomorrow, temperatures near 40 for the morning, an 80% chance of rain at 7:00 a.m. a 70% chance at noon. rain chances dropping off quickly

that's welcoming nous, stay ahead of the weather on our nbc washington app. coming up later i'll give you the check of the next five days and a look at the new year's eve forecast as well, stay with us. thank you, chuck. roads are getting packed out there. the times you'll want to avoid and the alternate routes that teght be fas

you're watching "news4 midday." now at 11:30, the travel rush is on, from the roads to the air, timing is everything as you prepare for the holiday weekend. >> certainly highways are starting to get busy and news4's melissa mollet is gauging the best times to hit the roads. >> a look at some tips if you're headed out of town or even when you're heading back into town. remember, travel at off-peak times that means leaving early or very late. when fewer people will be on the roads. now, if the bottom of the beltway or i-95 in virginia are really bad, you can think about taking 301 instead. sometimes that works. all major work zones in virginia and lane closures will be lifted from noon friday to tuesday right after christmas. hov restrictions on 66 and 95, lifted on monday 26th and the day after new year's day, on ja

i-95, this is important. on friday they shut down northbound at 10:00 a.m. and open southbound at noon. saturday, southbound all day. and sunday, there on christmas, closed southbound at midnight. and open northbound at 2:00 a.m. alternates in maryland, if 270 is packed, try 15. if 95 is jammed, think about the bw parkway, think about route 1. sometimes we don't even if you're familiar or from the area. have a wonderful holiday. thank you. a lot of are you staying home for the holiday, here's what you need to know about metro. marc and vre as well. metro rail will be open from 7:00 a.m. to midnight on saturday, sunday and monday. marc will have saturday penn line service on christmas eve but will be closed on christmas day. vre is running as scheduled today and no vre service on monday. in maryland, ride-sharing companies like uber and lyft are celebrating a government ruling. the pub s

says the companies will not be required to use a fingerprint-based background check on drivers. uber threatened to pull out of maryland if it was forced to do so. the commission agreed that uber and lyft's background checks are fairly extensive. they'll have to rerun those checks ever ay year and have to use accredited screening company. schools have to pay for two years of credit monitoring for students affected by a data breach. the district offered one year of protection at no cost tmt said 1,000 students may have had their financial information stolen through the maryland state education department. it includes students in public schools between november 2005 and november 2006. the school district is contacting everyone who was affected. absentee vote something under way in fairfax city in a special election for mayor. three city council members are competing for the job. michael demarco, david myers and

the winner will replace the mayor who resigned after a drug for sex sting operation. the elerction is on the 7th. police are trying to catch a holiday thief. they said this man is snatching wallets and purses and using the credit cards to go on a shopping spree. he used the cards at several stores, including a cvs. d.c. police are offering $1,000 for information leading to an arrest. a d.c. 9 within within d11 being honored for saving a woman's life. she was given a life-saver pin for her actions, she had just started working at the call center in june, yesterday was her final day of training around 11:30 thursday morning employees at the giant on alabama avenue called to report a woman in cardiac arrest. damons calmly instructed the callers on how to conduct cpr until emergency responders

at last check, the woman is recuperating in the hospital. great news. a bethesda bartender jumped into action and saved a customer. >> that's right. now that customer is getting a chance to say thank you. the man doesn't want to be named. but he can be seen thanking dirko stankovic who performed the heimlich maneuver at the restaurant. darko said it would take him two months to earn the undisclosed amount of money that the grateful patron gave him. >> i didn't do it for something, i just act i think every normal human being should react. >> yet the owner has made it restaurant policy that every staff member learn the heimlich maneuver. we've been taking you around the world this week as we share our favorites from our annual christmas on embassy road

down under, for a look at the holidays in australia. ♪ ♪ >> two giant magnolia and silver tinsel wreaths adorn the gates of the residence of the australian ambassador to the united states. >> another in the palladium window above the portico is a welcome sight. the lighted trees cast a silvery glow of yet another wreath with magnolias and crab apples on the grandak door. >> hello, barbara, how are you? very great to see you. >> merry christmas. sorry susie is not here. come through. >> how beautiful. >> the fragrant red

the boxwood globes are a favorite of his wife, susan, as are the decorations on the bannister. ambassador kim beasley says while christmas in australia has its own unique style, he and his family have acquired a lot of new ideas since they've been here in washington for the last four years. >> one of the great things about being in the u.s. has been the fabulous way you do christmas. you are infinitely more ornate than folk are in australia. i think probably because your christmas is in winter. and that sort of lends itself to images of snow and sleigh and sleigh bells and reindeers. >> says in australia, on the other side of the equator, it's summer at christmas time. >> it's usually very hot. so a lot of australians will in fact spend christmas in their swimming costumes.

or down at the beach. >> what a lovely room. >> well this is the the library. >> here the ambassador has displayed his collection of coptic silver crosses. in another room, he showed us his collection of russian religious icons, they were situated above a nativity creche he bought here in washington. while christians currently make up the largest religious group in australia, the numbers are changing. >> all the religions that you have here in the u.s., we have in australia. except we know them better than you do, because you are obliged to put your religious affiliation on your answer to the census, so we know exactly how many of the different faith denominations and religions that there are. and i'm pleased to be able to report to you, and this makes australia a very safe place to visit, a according to the last census, there are

knights. so if you come to australia, the force will be with you and there will be somebody out there watching over you. >> whether jedi knights are believers in some other higher force, many children in australia think that this guy, father christmas or santa claus, will be coming around on christmas eve. in a different outfit. >> santa claus, father christmas, he comes down the chimney in australia, too. he just had to have a change of clothes over the equator. so he switches from wearing the sort of nice gear that he uses for the northern hemisphere, he strips off, and gets in his bathers and what we call bathers, which is a swimming costume and a t-shirt so he comes down your, your chimney as a fairly underdressed old man. >> he says many people will enjoy a barbeque or christmas on the beach. but here in the dining room of the australian residence, they'll invite others from their country and they will serve -- >> the same christm d

ham, it will be christmas pudding. >> this is the best part -- >> for the ambassador, he and his family will take back lots of american christmas traditions and decorations that they've collected here and adapt it to the holiday down under. christmas in australia. >> this weekend celebrate christmas around the world without leaving your couch this year we're going to visit and take you to see the ambassadors of norway, panama, indonesia and russia. we actually will go inside their private residences and talk to them about christmas in their countries, it's a very washington holiday special. we hope you'll join us for more on our special on christmas on embassy row. a lot of fun. and a lot of kids are hoping for the newest video game, ou

why you might want to watch how much time they're spending on their screens. he had a corncob pipe and a button nose, a little boy gets x-rayed at the doctors and leaves his family with somethg to rememinbe fios is not cable. we're wired differently. leaves his family with somethg to rememinbe that means incredibly fast 150 meg internet for the holidays. so in the 3.7 seconds it takes gary watson to beat the local sled jump record, fly, gary, fly. ...his friend can download 13 versions of the perfect song... ...his sister can live stream it... ...while his mom downloads how to set a dislocated shoulder. get 150 meg internet, tv and phone for just $79.99 per month online for the first year. cable can't offer that. only fios can.

kids love to eat snow. but a boy in tennessee took it one step further when he accidentally swallowed a snowman. aden is 12 years old and was messing around with this figurine when it got stuck in his throat. his mom and dad didn't believe him. but after a series of calls and a trip to the er, be a vea the revealed a shiny snowman. >> it was a lot heavier than i thought it would be, it got stuin

small enough to pass naturally and aden is going to be fine. family even plans to commemorate the accident by making it part of next year's christmas card. let's hope they clean up this snowman before slapping the picture on the card. >> wow. well a lot of kids are hoping to get high-tech toys and video games for the holidays. >> during winter break they'll have plenty of time to stare at the screens. nbc's erica edwards has tips on how to maintain a healthy balance. >> kids will want to spend as much time as possible on their new tech toys. screen times will understandably increase, but pediatricians say maintaining a balance over holiday break is important. >> one tip, before your kids even open their gifts, it may be a good idea to set some ground rules so they don't overdo it. >> have a discussion with your children that these are the holidays, but you knowat

when we get back to school, we'll get back to our usual routine. >> make sure children are part of all holiday festivities and that they're also engaging with friends and family. setting up media-free zones like at the dinner table can be helpful. experts say parents should lead by example. >> put away our cell phones and tablets, look at each other and interact and have conversations. because nothing is, nothing takes place of that important face-to-face interaction. >> for moms and dads still considering whether to purchase their child's first mobile device, experts say it's not the age that parents should be looking at, but the maturity level. >> if your child is losing their backpack or their homework folder all the time, then it's going to be pretty expensive to lose a cell phone. >> what better way to keep an eye on your kids' media use than to play the games with them. erica edwards, nbc news. yes. >> and we're nog,

to our screens. so i don't know. >> what about you, what are you up to? what are you skag for for the holidays? >> we're not doing gifts, we're in the middle of building a house and it's like everything we've got is going into that. there may be a few little things to unwrap. but i don't dare reveal it. >> somebody might be listening. >> it's all about the spirit so what we're going to do is make sure that we have great meal so we can do that and have a special bottle of wine just in case. outside it's going to be a good couple of days for weather around here. temperaturewise, nothing too crazy, not too warm like last year. not too cold like a couple of years ago, just about right. a little warmer than average. we should in the upper 40s to near 50. right now still a fair amount of sunshine coming through, temperatures have made their way to the low to mid 40s across the area. if you're planning it out. about 46 to 50 degrees is about it

notice today is more in the way of cloud cover coming in. doing any traveling or if you're expecting someone to come in from anywhere around the country, look at the rain from san francisco to los angeles, so flights out to and back from, coming back from the west coast could be affected. that rain chance goes into the deserts tomorrow. so las vegas and phoenix will be getting rain showers there. out across the middle of the country. snow across much of iowa, minnesota. there could be flight delays in the twin cities, milwaukee and chicago. st. louis, with some raindrops there as well. so here's your peek at the next couple of days around here, near 50 today and tomorrow, our chance for rain tomorrow, nothing heavy. mostly between 3:00 in the morning and lunchtime tomorrow. dry saturday night, sunday and monday, another chance for showers and milder weather coming up on tuesday. thank you, chuck. well tradition is a big part of the holidays. especially when it comes to the foods. ahead, eating a dell k

this already smells great. garlic sizzling in there. what goes next? >> yes. so no i

the garlic gets a little color, a velvety like brown and at the same time we have the boiling water and put our pasta in. >> this is going to cook that fast? i no he we like this to be al dente. >> so the garlic is ready, we add our mushrooms. we add a little wine. >> where do you find little tiny clams like that? >> these ones are from new zealand. they're very, very good. very nice flavor. little salty, but very, very meaty. >> i know that the italians will argue over how many dishes you're supposed to have on christmas eve. how many fishes, is it 7, 1 or 13? >> in my house i do only unthis one. we're from lake como. seven different fishes in southern italy. >> so it will vary. >> so you do a lot of the southern italian cooking

>> almost 90% of southern italian food. >> you've got lots of fabulous italian things on the table. salami and my favorite, panetone for christmas and this is a lupo verde. they're becoming very popular. >> green balls, for the soccer team. >> let's take a look at these clams. starting to open now. >> and we'll cook it a couple more seconds. >> how long do you usually have to cook them? >> as soon as they open, they're ready. it can be from two minutes to four minutes. no more than that. the more you cook, they shrink. then we put the pasta in. >> this should start at the same time? >> yes. >> and then -- >> that looks so delicious. >> at this point we add parsley and a couple of cherry tomatoes. >> i've never seen it with cherry toes

>> and garlic, as much as you can take. it smells so good. >> a touch of olive oil. and then lightly with spices. >> i like the spices. that looks so good. i wish everyone could smell how delicious this smells in here. >> just wait until the sauce gets nice and creamy. and then, a little plate. it looks delicious. al dente. very important, how long should the spaghetti actually cook? >> in five minutes so we do four minutes in the water and then the rest of the time for about a minute, minute and a half with the sauce. to get more flavor. >> of all the types of pasta that you could choose to put the sauce over, you prefer spaghetti? >> spaghetti and linguini. and then that's the little twist that we do for new year's

little -- christmas eve. >> christmas eve. >> this is a little speck, crystallized and dehydrated. and pecorino. >> i'm eating this. >> so happy to have you from lupo verde. are you working christmas eve? >> absolutely. i'm working every day. >> thank you very much. chris, shall i bring you a little bit of this? >> thank you very much, barbara. almost every family there's at least one gift you have no idea what to do with. how one restaurant is offering a

if you don't want to cook on sunday several restaurants are staying open on christmas day, including one we just saw, lupo verde here in washington. >> and also denny's. hard to compare the two. but denny's is also going to be open 24 hours. serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. last year, believe it or not, more than 1.5 million people ate at denny's, making christmas the busiest day of the year, applebee's will open on christmas eve and christmas day, times vary. if you can't live without your pumpkin spiced latte. starbucks will be staying open some limited hours. >> chinese restaurants always open. >> check with your local chinese restaurant to see if it's

>> what do you do with the gifts you don't want? the burger king down in miami beach might have an answer they'll exchange your unwanted gifts for a free whopper. the only down story is that the burger king in miami beach is the only franchise taking part. we understand those gifts have to be, though, unused, or burger king will donate them to charity. still a nice idea. a lot of folks looking ahead, perhaps making plans to get out of town here tonight or tomorrow. what are they going to be facing out there? >> no big storm. we will have some showery weather around here for the first part of the day tomorrow. a little showery around here tomorrow morning. it will be dry by late tomorrow evening. by the time the sun goes down tomorrow on christmas eve, it will be dry. little shower chance on tuesday, next good chance of rain comes up on thursday. cold

weekend. that's going to do it for "news4 midday," thanks for joining us, we'll be back

♪ stand by, everyone. we're live in five, four, three, two, one. ♪ dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh over the fields we go laughing all the way ♪ ♪ bells are about to ring making spirits bright what fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight ♪ >> what a great way to start the feel-good friday. right before the holiday weekend. that was the festive cheer from the chorus of los angeles. this is my first time hearing them. i love that. >> natalie, this is tradition here for us right here. they come every year and are part of our family here. so i was very excited for you to get a taste of them today. hey, fellas --