Mid40s by 5 00 p. M. It was a spiritual start to christmas in philadelphia. Nbc 10 was at the cathedral about a still basilica. The Archbishop Giving the homily to the crowd that gathered as they do every year. And christians a from across the world gathered in bethlehem. Central manger square was decked out in white and yellow lights and a towering christmas tree. Now, about half of last years pilgrims made the trip to the west bank this time. Analysts blame the summers war in gaza. And church goers gathered in the Lehigh Valley up to that shares the name of christs birthplace. Nbc 10 thin bethlehem. And you are not alone on christmas. That is the message and the mission of a local charity that offers comfort to Homeless Veterans and there are plenty of them. Jesse gary is live for us in center city. President obama set a goal of ending homelessness among veterans. Does this group believe were moving in that direction . Reporter we are moving in that direction. Homelessness among vets is down 33 since 2009. But the chairman of the House Veterans AffairsCommittee Says we have a long way to go before we reach what he calls functional zero. As a result, many nonprofits around the city take to the streets to do outreach. Staffers at the Veterans Group in University City say many of those battle Mental Health issues an drug abuse. Those demons can seem overwhelming during the holidays, so they will be out later today roying food, clothing and hope. Trying to make the holidays a little less strenuous. Reporter they will start the outreach here at logan square and move on to other parts of the city. Some getting help from the federal government. Live in center city, jesse gary, nbc 10 news. Hope francis celebrated Christmas Eve with a late night has. Thousands gathered for the popes blessing. In his homely, francis said the birth of jesus crist showhrist e patience, tenderness of god. Planning for Pope Franciss visit is picking up. Organizers from the world meeting of families say hers tackling issues large and small, everything from housing and transportation for the more than 1 million expected visitors to buying and storing mass booklets and communion wafers. It will be pope francis first trip to the united states. Happening later today in bucks county, a christmas tradition dating back to 1776 will be renewed along the delaware river. Thousands are expected to witness the annual reenactment of Washingtons Crossing of the delaware. They row across the river in replica votes. They will do that around 1 00. They havent been able to do it for the last two years because part of the river was frozen. That wont be a problem today. Historians consider the crossing as a turning point in the american revolution. If for you got something, some stores in the area will be open on this Christmas Day, that includes most 7elevens, cvs, rite aid and walgreens. Most of those stories will have hours between 8 00 to 6 00 and pharmacies will be open 9 00 to 5 00. And if youre looking to grab a bite to eat, dennys is open. Some applebees locations will be open. And certain boston market, Golden Corral and ruby tuesday restaurants will also be ready for you. If you need any caffeine fix, starbucks is offering some locations with open hours. Have a full list of restaurants that will be open today. So head over there and check that out. You can also town load the new app and get your information on the go. And some people today will be seeing the movie the interview. Penn cinema is the only local theater showing that filmfilm. Sony had pulled the move have i of movie had threatened violence. But sony changed its mind releasing the movie to mostly independent theaters. You can also watch it on sites like youtube and google play for 6. You can also watch it through xbox. An overnight house five this delaware sent one person to the hospital. The fire broke out on octave drive around 12 30 this morning. One person inside the home was able to make it out safely. Hes being treated for smoke inhalation and is expected to be okay. No other injuries were reported. The cause of that fire is still under investigation. A crash on the eastbound could y schuylkill expressway sent one person to the hospital. This traffic cal camera show where is a car flipped over. While officers were handling that accident, another car crashed into a Police Cruiser there. All lanes were shut down 076 for a while. Eastbound lanes are now back open. This Morning Police are looking for the man who tried to sexually assault a woman in west philadelphia. The woman was able to fight off the attacker. It happened around 8 00 according to witnesses. A man knocked down the woman, then dragged her into an alley way off vine street. The attacker had knife, but the victim had a stun gun. She tasered the guy and ran off. Forward claiming their neurologist inappropriately touched them. The doctor was hauled out in handcuffs on tuesday. List char Police Charged him with criminal sex all contact. After our story aired, more than ten women came forward with similar allegations about. The weather should make it easier on holiday travelers today as compared to yesterday. But there are still wret roads in the area as we take a live look at i95. Heading out toward the airport where the first flight of the day is set to depart within the hour, now we wont be dealing with fog today. So there should be fewer problems with departures like we saw yesterday. Marios flight are denver to philadelphia was delayed and to make things worse, the airline lost his bags, too. Lord knows where the bags are. Maybe the bags are still in denver. And there are christmas presents in the back alleck baggage that not receive. Many airlines have lowered the number of flights they offer on Christmas Day so planes could be packed. Passengers are encouraged to arrive early and keep checking the status of their flight. Good morning and Merry Christmas heading into the rest of today. We will continue to see light rainfall, but thats going to clear up as we head into your 8 00 hour. Were still seeing light showers near atlantic city, stretching in to the poconos and also the suburbs. If we take a9g closer look, by 8 00 a. M. , things will start to clear up and then were going to see windy conditions moving in from the west and that will help dry us out. Well see colder air moving in so temperatures will drop as we head throughout today. Were starting off pretty warm and mild in philadelphia, in the mid50s. 57 degrees in atlantic city, 55 in wildwood, 48 in reading. Temperatures in the poconos at 41. But as we led in to the afternoon, youll notice the temperatures pushing in to the 40s. Here is a closer look. As we push into the 9 00 hour, youll start to notice the temperatures dropping throughout today. So heading this to the 40s, it will feel a little bit more like christmas. 48 degrees closer to 4 00, 5 00. And then well see more sunshine for us, as well. Temperatures stay mild and above average heading into the end of your week pushing in to the weekend. Ill go over the details in the 7day forecast. Too hot for the holiday. A look at one of the most in demand items this christmas and when you may actually be able to get your hands on them. Plus, donations disappointment. Local clarity extending its holiday fund raiser in hopes of helping just a few more people this year. 5 13 on this christmas morning. While many of us on the east coast are just waking up and run to go the tree to see what santa left behind, santa claus is still hard at work. Norad is tracking santa claus. Here is a look as they near the end of their long journey. Right now santa claus is flying through the hawaiian islands. And now hes on his way to you maui. Happening take, the white house releases the first couples christmas message to the nation. It will be part of the president s weekly address which is usually delivered on saturday. This week its being delivered a couple days early due to the holidays. The president will be joined by the first lady to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. They will be in hawaii until the new year. 5 14. This morning workers at the centers for Disease Control and after an employee was possibly exposed to the ebola m y virus. The cdc says a lab tech may have come into contact with a small amount. That person is being monitored for 21 days. Less than a dozen workers at the cdc are also being examined. Officials say the risk is low and does not extend i dont understand beyond the lab. George h. W. Bush will stay in the houston hospital overnight after being taken there for experiencing shortness of breath on tuesday. A spokesperson said bush had a good day yesterday and his prognosis is positive. Its not clear when the president will be back home. Pennsylvania governor tom corbett is give something State Government workers a long Holiday Weekend for christmas. Holiday for nonessential State Government employees. Those workers also got to leave a few hours early yesterday. A spokesperson says giving the day off saves the state some you utility costs and he also add the obvious, that many would have taken friday off anyway. The Salvation Army in chester came up way short of its Christmas Fund raising goal. But its not too late to make up that shortage. The goal was 60,000 but the donations totaled just under 20,000. The group says it will continue to accept donations over the next few days. In fact they accept contributionstougt all year lon. 5 15. Were celebrating the best of the best this christmas. Nbc 10 and more fm teamed up to share the finalists of the local christmas choir competition. Listen in to the second place winners for the 9th to 12th grade division. Spring Ford Area High School choir. Deck the halls with boughs of holly fa la la la la la la la la tis the season to be jolly fa la la la la la la la la don we now our gay apparel fa la la la la la la la la troll the ancient yuletide carol fa la la la la la la la la see the blazing yule before us fa la la la la la la la la strike the harp and join the chorus fa la la la la la la la la follow me in merry measure fa la la la la la la la la while i tell of yuletide treasure fa la la la la la la la la fast away the old year passes fa la la la la la la la la hail the new ye lads and lasses fa la la la la la la la la sing we joyous all together fa la la la la la la la la heedless of the wind and weather fa la la la la la la la la they nailed it. I wish i could do that. You can. Just from the diaphragm. Push. I know nothing about singing. But that was good. Ive heard Brittney Shipp try, too. She will belt out the forecast in just a moment. Congratulations, though, to those choirs. Morning. And if you want to hear more of our local youth sing, in the next half hour, nbc 10 takes you you behind the scene ever tof t spring ford area choir and what it takes to create that winning sound. Diaphragm. Christina telling my secrets this morning. I will save from you my singing. But we will dry out the next few hours. A windy christmas on tap for us and well stay mild in in to the weekend. Big changes on the way in your 7day forecast. Here is a look outside right now. You can see the wet roads. So take your time if you plan on heading out. Well see wind speeds picking up as we head into the rest of your late Morning Hours and into the afternoon. But rain is coming down throughout all of our area. 48 he degrees in reading with light rain. 57 in atlantic city. More rainfall. And again we have at least another 2, 2 1 2 hours left of light rain pushing through. Were at 48 thin reading, 50 in philadelphia, mid50s in trenton. 56 in mt. Holly right along the shore here, 56 degrees in avalon. 55 in delaware city. The wind direction out of the west. So drier air moving in. Wind gusts up to 30 Miles Per Hour in atlantic city, up to 31 in the poconos. 21 in allentown. And there is a look at the widespread rainfall. But you can see the back edge where it will start to clear out soon. So we arent going to continue to see all the rain that we saw yesterday. Were pretty much done with this system. Just seeing a last little batch move through here. So by 8 00 a. M. , just lingering showers right along the shore and then even clouds will start to clear up. So pushing in to the late more than hour, expect to see plenty of sunshine, but windy conditions sticking with us. And wind gusts up to about 35 Miles Per Hour. It will be a windy day, it will also be a cooler day. Cred credit was well above our average. Take well range between 52 and 56. Becoming sunny, but staying windy. And then we stay sunny heading in to tomg which will be nice. We also stay mild. So 54 on your friday. On saturday, 58. Sunny and mild. Chance of showers moves in, even a wintry mix possible by sunday night, heading in to monday clouds and cold. Tuesday, a chance of though by wednesday. A holiday treat is being recalled after being linked to at least three deaths. Plus another record setting day on wall street. Just one of the many signs the economy is improving. Well take a look at what you can expect for 2015. vo nourished. Rescued. Protected. Given new hope. During the subaru share the love event, subaru owners feel it, too. Because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. Well have given 50 Million Dollars over seven years. Economy is improving. It is 522 on christmas morning. Windy out there this morning. The rain has stopped falling overnight. Well, thats not true as we see in this live picture from logan square. But it will taper off. If youre getting a kite for christmas, a good day to fly it. Aca1 to tell you about. Happy Apple Company says r. Theremay an connection between its apples and a listeria outbreak. The recall covers 31 states including pennsylvania. Apples were not sold this in new jersey other delaware. Avoid commercially produce caramel apples for now. The old is new again. One of the hottest selling gift this is christmas is a brand of footwear that has been around for decade. The manufacture cant fill orders fast enough. Were talking about duck boots ll bean has been may aeeen maki 1912. Theyre trying to keep up with the lumber jack trend. Some customers wont get their boots until spring. If you cant wait, there is always ebay where the boots are going for, get this, double the retail price. Wow. If youre up for a movie on christmas, some new ones are hitting the big screen. A couple dramas, unbroken an big eyes. And also into the woods. And in a very limited release, the comedy that is annoying north korea, the interview. The economy seems to be ending the year on an upswing. There are signs of recovery everywhere from gas pumps to stores and to wall street where the dow set another record will week. Brian mooar reports from washington. Reporter not christmas bells, but close enough as the dow reached another record above 18,000. Just one sign of u. S. Economy is on a roll. The key point really comes down to the job market. When we started this year, we just werent adding nearly as many jobs per month as we are now. As jobs, wages, incomes, house prices, confidence. Reporter and dont forget plummeting pump prices. National average down 90 cents gallon. Going to be paying less at the pump and youll be paying less for heating bills in the winter. Reporter and that leaves more money for shopping. Definitely shopping. Reporter after several lean years, per chaptmerchants are fe rebound. This has baeen the busiest Holiday Season that weve ever had. Reporter encouraging news as 2014 comes to a close. So have yourself a merry Little Christmas now reporter and there is more good news. Analysts say they dont expect oil prices to rise anytime soon providing an economic tail wind for 2015. Brian mooar, nbc news, washington. We still have a few lingering showers throughout our area. Light rain, but it is moving out. Wont be like what we saw yesterday nonstop rain on your Christmas Day. Windy conditions are expected and then cooling temperatures as we head into the afternoon. Ill have the full forecast coming up. Caming cae i taking care of heros. Jesse gary is looking in to the local Services Available to our veterans this christmas. Reporter thats right. A helping hand for those veterans who are homeless by veterans who are being cared for by a nonprofit. Ill tell you about it coming up after the break. Were following the developments in a house fire that sent one person to the hospital. And it is christmas morning. For christians across the area, a day to worship and morning to celebrate with family and friends. And its not looking like christmas outside. Its a wet and warm start to your christmas holiday. But changes are on the way. Is this ca this is cape may. You can see the wet road and the winds are picking up. Merry christmas. Welcome to nbc 10 newu s tews t. 51 degrees. Santa needed the rain gear, but the rain is tapering off. We will see cooler air moving in, so the temperatures will fall. There is a festive look at boathouse row. Temperature it is s in the mid philadelphia. 49 in allentown. There is a look at the remainder of the light rain that is widespread and right over our area, but you can see that its almost done. So as it continues to track to the east, we are going to see clearing skies. Closer to 8 00, 9 00. So here is how your day