saturday morning for christmas eve. i'm t.j. holmes. thanks for spending a part of your day with us. are you going to be one of those? are you going to be out there, the day before christmas, with you last-minute shoppers, it never fails. that retail rush is on. allison, they opened three hours ago, that mall where you are. things have steadily started to pick up. what are you seeing now, a rush to ship? >> it's -- you know, the rush is slowly moving forward here. you can see it's getting more crowded here now. a lot of procrastinators out. but they're also bargain hunting. this is a great time to find a really good deal. although it's been a relatively strong shopping season so far, the reality is retailers are stuck with a lot of merchandise. they're offering really big discountes and deep discounts because they don't want to be stuck with a lot of merchandise on their shelves. they're trying to move this merchandise. once christmas happens, after christmas, they have to mark down these items even more. so yes, you're going to get some really good deals today. that means if you're a shopper, it's a shopper's paradise. even if you're a pro craft na procrastinator, a lot of these procrastinators are men. if you're scurrying around, i have some tips for you. the top four best last-minute gift ideas, yes, the gift card. you can put any amount on it. cold, hard cash doesn't hurt, either. the other top two last-minute gifts, food and wine and linker. there you go, all the necessities you ever want. grab that last-minute gift for your loved one. >> wine and liquor always works. and most importantly, how much time do people have? are the stores staying open a lot later tonight? >> you know what? you think about the entire holiday shopping season, these stores have been staying open almost round the clock. all these stores are closing earlier. this mall in particular is closing at o'clock. so it's new port center here in jersey city, new jersey. check those times, come out earlier than you expect. they're shutting the doors, getting ready for the holidays. >> thank you. we'll keep checking in. and analysts out there expect holiday sales to be even better when they first thought. but retailers are weary because retailers are taking back stuff that they bought. we'll tell you how returns may impact holiday sales. also, shopping frenzy, look at this. new release of the newest air jordan shoes. it's really the release of an old shoe. but look at this. this was the theme at one particular mall, one particular store. this was in indianapolis, but malls all over the country had these themes, kansas city, as well, crowds going nuts over these shoes. trampleling each other. in one case, police had to use pepper spray to get people under control. arrests were made. but, again, this is all over a pair of $180 shoes for a guy who hasn't made a jump shot in the nba in nine years. a shooting outside a florida mall left one person dead there. an unknown number of assailants opened fire on a man with a high powered rifle. more than 100 shell casings found at the scene. police are searching for the suspects who were seen leaving in a gray four-door vehicle. the taliban taking credit for a suicide bombing. in pakistan, it killed at least six-pack stanny soldiers. the taliban spokesperson called the blast revenge for fighters, into a house used by troops in the northwestern city of banu. the bombing comes and claims by the prime minister that the military is plotting to topple the government. the military, though, denies that. a scene in moscow, tens of thousands of protesters are seen there protesting what they feel are rigged elections. security is tight. russian media reporting bulls loads of riot police lining up along the streets. similar protests are taking place not just in moscow, but in several cities around the country. and britain's prince fill lip will have to spend christmas in the hospital. he had a procedure yesterday to unblock a coronary artery. he is 90 years old. and we're getting some big and some bad election news out of virginia. bad news for at least a couple of candidates. the state republican party says newt gingerich and rick perry have not collected enough valid signatures to appear on the state's primary ballot. our athe theethena jones is her. this sounds like a pretty big oops. >> it is a pretty big oops. we're hearing from campaigns this morning. let me tell you quickly what perry said. they're going to be looking closely and reviewing the facts and the law to determine whether an appeal or challenge is warranted. a challenge to this decision to keep them off the ballot. let's listen to what newt gingerich had to say. his campaign called virginia's system a failed system, said voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates, and they say they're going to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign. that's interesting, of course, because the latest poll shows gingerich is in the lead in virginia with a five-point lead over romney. but if you're not on the ballot, then you can't really compete, can you, t.j.? >> you can't. and, again, we're talking to our folks, trying to understand how big of a deal this is. it's embarrassing, yes, gingerich lives in virginia, but also, it just shows -- and turns some people off about wait a minute, you can't get your act together to get on the ballot? >> exactly. it's interesting because, you know, the deadline was thursday. gingerich was speaking at a breakfast in virginia to a bunch of republicans saying, we'll have the signatures we need. clearly they thought they had met other requirements of virginia. it's a pretty stringent state when it comes to the requirements for getting on the primary ballot. more stringent than other states. you need 10,000 signatures statewide, including 400 from each one of the state's congressional requirement. it's going to be a long, lard flog during this race. those that thought gingerich is soaring to the top of the polls, this shows them that maybe he doesn't. >> athena jones for us out of d.c., thank you so much. we're at seven minutes past the hour. let's turn now to the man everybody wants to hear from, reynolds wolf. >> when we talk about travel, a lot of people think of it going from one side of the country to the other. but a time of people are just trying to get to the loved ones for the holiday. not a care in the world in some places, we'll see a combination of rain, sleet and snow. full scoop, coming up. >> see you in just a second. reynolds, thank you so much. and a christmas parade like you've never seen before. we're headed to oregon where one with neighbor's gas powered twist on the traditional holiday float. hi. i'm corporal austin coming from camp hearing 2-8. shout out to my wife, lisa, my parents, the high schoooley kla. love you all, miss you all, see you soon. [♪...] >> male announcer: book now, save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. what are you going to say? come on. >> flight delays? >> it's kind of early. we haven't seen a whole lot of them yet. but by this afternoon, it's all going to be texas. dallas is a huge hub for a lot of people to come in. american is the big hub there. it will be tough there. >> chad myers, one of your fellow -- >> great man. bring it on. >> he said in one of the 12 years i've been here at cnn this is one of the best if not the best travel weekends for christmas that i've seen. he said people have it pretty good. no big issues. >> he's right. he really is. other than texas, there's nothing else people can't handle. >> i was trooith to get you to disagree. >> no. take a look at this. this is parts of -- this is albuquerque. look at the snow coming through. it's not just snowflakes. a lot of it is tiny rain drops when he hits the surface. obviously, someone was successful getting through there, but we have had a lot of accidents. we can see more of those. west texas is one of the places where you can have some trouble. perfect scenario where you are a large vehicle, big ee cono line van. still, really no contest. and you love this shot, don't you? >> well, the guy -- you said this usually doesn't work by gassing it on the ice, but it worked out for him this time. >> you think so? watch this. come on. boom, wow. long skinny pedal the on the right and you see how it spins like that? it's funny how that works. we're going to walk over here and show you all the weather that's beginning to unfold. as i said, it's all about texas. texas is just a mess in a lot of spots. the biggest place we're going to see one of the issues, you go towards austin. a little high range of hills you have near chadrock. just beautiful. if you were to make that drive back there, you would say that transformation. that transformation would take you from rain drop toes pure snow. if you're making that drive along 20, you're going to have the whipped. it's going to be roaring near amarillo and near midland. this is one of those days where it's not going to be families out there. you have a lot of truckers out there trying to make those last deliveries. it could be rough for them, to say the least. love field, of course, vfw, be prepared that's going to happen. but as t.j. mentioned, and chad did just yesterday, it's going to be a relatively quiet day around much of the nation. high pressure in the west, high pressure towards the east. not a whole lot in terms of precipitation. not a whole lot in terms of storms, strong winds, tranquil in those spots. the temperatures, we have 15 seconds to show you these. 42 degrees in kansas city. my producer is going to kill me. 45 in billings. 62 in san francisco, 70 in los angeles, 46 in washington and 38 in new york and 31 in boston. you know, in television, we have these things called ifds. it's a wire connected to our ear. we have our producers that give me time cues. i always want my producer to know that i'm listening to them so i had to say her name, t.j. >> of course. he does that all the time, very good at it. they know you're listening and you still go over time. i love it. i love it, reynolds. >> i'm going to go cry for a little while. >> don't cry yet. i want you to see this. a christmas parade. check this one out. >> okay. >> does it look normal to you on first glance and to everybody looking? christmas parade, these are the folks in oregon. one particular neighborhood postponed what they do, though, they have their own oount unique parade. if you can't tell, these are golf carts and lawn mowers all decked out. creative or -- >> i would say it's creatively crazy. i say it's disturbingly beautiful. it is beautiful to see, but then when you realize they're on lawn mowers -- you know, i think the best way to look at it is they're celebrating the season and doing it the best way they know how. it's not like you're cutting grass this time of year, anyway. you're improvising, adapting and rocking with the season. >> tradition started with one guy three years ago. >> reynolds. >> thank you, buddy. first, you give the gifts p.m. tomorrow, you'll receive this, as well. then what do you do? you return a lot of that stuff. gift returns are going to have a huge impact on holiday sales. the picture for retailers, not so merry. also, the year of the celebrity scandal who came out winning and many others who did not. l bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. 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[ giggles ] many retailers hoping that the struggling economy will not hold back holiday shopping this year. so far, it has not. retail sales are up by 2.5% since november. that's according to one estimate. retailers are getting nervous about the high number of returns they are already seeing this year. christine romans with this for us. christine. >> t.j., americans shopped early and now they're returning gifts in record numbers. some even before the big morning under the tree. by the time it's all said and done, the national retail if he will federation says about $46 billion worth of gifts will be returned to stores this year. that's a new record. why so high? because of the regular reasons, like wrong size, wrong styles, just don't like it. but what's new this year is that so many people are returning gifts already because of that record shopping on black friday and cyber monday. they see a big markdown now, things have gotten cheaper and they return what they already bought. in some cases, analysts say it's good old buyer's remorse. a few days after that purchase on black friday weekend, flower theeg saying they can't afford it. but what if you decide to return that pea green sweater and santa tie you find under the tree? don't worry. 56% of gift givers didn't care if their gifts get returned. another survey found some 62% said they include a gift receipt for that very reason. t.j. >> thanks to our christine romans. just ahead, the one and only charlie sheen is winning ways. he'll have plenty to talk about this year. we'll recap some of the most memorable moments. >> this is washt officer 1 porsche grant on barram's airfield in afghanistan. i want to wish my mom and dad in lexington, kentucky, a happy holidays. i love you and miss you both. at least in his own mind. sxwrefr greet movement begins with one man. that's me. >> but his act was wearing thin when he brought it on the road. his tore peato of truth earned as many boos as cheers. >> in the fall, "two and a half men" killed off charlie's character, rebuilding the show around ashton kutcher. ashton kutcher soon found himself in the headlines, but for other reasons. the tabloid declared his marriage to demi moore was on the roox. sure enough, in november, she revealed the marriage was over. >> she just seemed so frail, so upset, so heart broken. >> the losing streak didn't end with ashton and demi. in august, kim kardashian tied the knot with kris humphries. it was a fairytale soon by millions. but just 72 days later, kardashian announced the marriage was over. >> people really do fooul feel duped and you can't blame them. >> lindsay lohan spent much of her year walking in and out of court. in january, she was accused of stealing a necklace from the jewelry store. she failed to keep up with court ordered community service. that earned her a stern review from a judge who ridiculed lohan from the bench. >> she is supposed to be an actress, from what i hear. >> but by year's end, lohan was back on track with her community service and she had even landed work in the pages of playboy. >> everybody wins. >> between the charlies, the lindseys, the kims and all the rest, it was a banner year for the famous sass maggie furlong. >> celebrities brought their game in 2011. can we get a break in 2012? >> and it's not just drama for celebrities this year. a lot of drama on the political front. newt gingerich, rick perry off the ballot in a key primary state. how in the world could something like this happen? stay with us, our political player is coming next. 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