i'm natalie morales alongside willie geist and maria larosa and honey boo-boo, not so sure.ile, ahead, still making new year's eve plans? a lot of you are. and meanwhile, if you have little ones, you may want to get creative as you bring in the new year. >>> plus, as you pack for a trip, do you struggle to get the necessi necessities to fit? we will compete in a friendly challenge to see who packs the best bag. i think i have had more practice than willie does. >> you never had a friendly challenge. you're competitive. >> i reinforce friendly challenge and mia will show us the way to do it. >>> did you know you can actually get paid to shed those unwanted pounds? we'll tell you about that and hot health trends to watch in the new year. >>> maria has the weather trend. lots to talk about. >> the northeast system impacting and heavy rains. and tomorrow, more showers and thunderstorms across the south. more snow into parts of the ohio vehic valley and great lakes, not so much like this stiystem but som areas could pick up 3-6 and new york to boston and buffalo and maine. more s

i'm willie geist along with erica hill and maria larosa. k about that character, if you haven't seen the movie "django unchained" he is a reprehensible character. leonardo dicaprio said i read the script and hated him immediately and i had to play him. >>> this half hour, party season. new year's eve coming up on monday. chances are you'll have a cocktail or two perhaps. what should you drink if you're watching your weight on new year's eve? >> i'm guessing not the eggnog that we were drinking earlier. >> no. >>> standouts of 2012 when we're talking health and beauty. some of them are very affordable. >> what to do for christmas if you're a member of the royal family? how the queen and duke and duchess of cambridge spent their day. first a check of the weather from maria larosa, in for al. >> a little rough still in parts of the southeast and eventually into the midatlantic. sort of round two here with the severe weather. even the threat of tornadoes in that area in red especially, eastern south carolina, eastern north carolina during the af

i'm willie geist along with natalie morales, erica hill, and maria larosa. to check out the gadgets and gizmos that stood out in 2012, including the swiss army knife of bartending. >> really? okay. interesting. >>> plus, everything you need to throw for the ultimate new year's eve party, including creative cocktails to homemade center pieces that go beyond simple flowers and candles. >> all right. sounds good. >>> first, erica, you have a preview of what's coming up this weekend. >> indeed, i do. we will be keeping a close eye on the fiscal cliff negotiations as that clock ticks closer to january 1st. also, "mad" magazine celebrating its 60th anniversary. how its biting humor and scathing satire have given them their staying power. >>> plus, a little visit to the barefoot conetessa's kitchen. how she entertains over the holidays and how she's spending her new year's. >> i think that's my dream, to have a dinner party at her house. have her cook. >> she's lovely. we see her here sometimes. just as lovely at her home. >> you call it a visit. it's more like a p

maria l larosa. >> our pick city today is san jose, california. a little below average. that's a look at the weather across the c >>> and that is your weather. ng up next, the tragedies and triumphs of this past year and how we covered them. a look back at 2012 right after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] take the special k challenge. lose up to six pounds in two weeks. with the cereal you love... and so much more. what will you gain when you lose? [ ding! ] losing your chex mix too easily? time to deploy the boring-popcorn decoy bucket. then no one will want to steal the deliciousness. with a variety of tastes and textures only chex mix is a bag of interesting. to come home for the holidays. that's double miles you can actually use... sadly, their brother's white christmas just got "blacked out." [ brother ] but it's the family party! really jingles your bells, doesn't it? my gift to you! the capital one venture card! for any flight, any time! that's double miles you can actually use! how illuminating. what's in your wallet? let me guess, am i on the naughty list again? ho ho ho! yeah, our low prices are even lower. we need to teach her how

and we will see a lot of changes as we saw in laguardia. >> erica hill at laguardia airport. thanks. the weather channel maria larosa keeping an eye on the storm where it's headed today. >> it's still impacting the northeast. watches and warnings in purple including new york state to maine. what you're not seeing, it's still quite gusty. even though it's not snowing or raining, you will see airport delays because of gusty winds. >> cover from the outer rondex. on up to maine. i-95 is green but just enough to keep things ponding on the roadways. tough tough travel. major interstates affected including massachusetts pike. if you're headed home after the holidays, it is going to be a tough ride. these are additional snow mount s for the next 24 hours. looking at a foot to foot and a half of snow in the next 24 hours from albany to maine. savannah. >> thank you. from the winter storm to the political storm over the fiscal cliff, president obama is returning to washington this morning to try and work out a deal. with just five days left now, is there enough time? nbc's white house correspondent, peter alexander, good mor

he tries to beat malia and sasha to my lap. >> she also called bo, quote, the big baby in the room. >>> now a check of the weather with maria larosa is brought to you by subway. subway, get breakfast the way. >> picking up several more inches over the next few days. we can see that system pushing off to the east. that eastern system will continue to bring the severe weather threat from the carolinas into parts of the southeast. and snow on the northern fringe, blizzard warnings stretching the entire way. winter storm warnings for much of the interior northeast, in to new england. coastal areas, new york, boston could see a sleet mix as we get into the overnight hours. snowfall totals, areas in darker pink, upwards of a foot or more >> rain and snow possible. highs today >> and we want to give a quick happy birthday. anyone in particular you want the hug from? >> from my wife. >> there you go. good answer. >> that is a smart man, maria. thank you so much. >>> coming up a little later, we'll help to make those holiday gift returns a little easier. up next, we'll show you the man a little earlier was moved to tear tears from a gift h