Joining us tonight im tim seaman Jenna Rehnstrom has the night off. We are less than two days away from christmas, and siouxland churches are preparing for big crowds on christmas day. But in a time of declining faith, are numbers of church goers dwindling during the holiday celebrating the birth of christ . Tim according to a Pew Research Center poll, 41 percent of baby boomers and generation xers y they dont attend religious servises on either Christmas Eve or christmas day, just under half of millenials polled reported the same. Tim for others, the tradition of going to church on christmas is tradition. Even if folks might not make other services during the rest of the year. Celebrating the birth of the new born king just seems to be more important. But we wondered d why . Our lukas voss met with religous leaders today and has more. Lukas thanks tim. Somehow that walk to our local brisk winter night has something special. The christmaservice. Fomany its a time to bring the whole family toghether. Stop for a moment. And remember why so many celebrate this day in december. But why is it that some of us only stop. For that service. On that december day. Well you might count all of the above. Natpop pastoror speaking vovo its father brent lingles Spanish Speaking mass before christmas. Its catholic and what a lot of peole would typically associate with the word church. That bears special meaning as many people find their way to their local to celebrate christmas. Even if they havent done so rest of the year. Even for those who at mass every sunday doesnt feel the same unless you have gone to mass and celebrated that tradition. A christmas story that has stayed the same for the past 2000 years. And so has the tradition. To lingle thats a big part why people attend services on christmas more to then they do so throughout the year. For family and how its always been. Sot t wware not looking for innovations we are not looking for changes or new kind of flashy for us as catholics its returning to the families coming together and worshiping and if for a long time its a good opportunity. Nats concert talk about flashy. Sunnybrook Church Approach with their musical and modern services on Christmas Eve. Partly because the an opportunity to reconnect. Sot than ever. People get reconnected with that. People feel a little bit safe to be able to come and to celebrate. If they feel far from god. Maybe this is the time where i can come near to god. And while both have a different approach on what their mass looks like. They both want the same thing a Merry Christmas and the celberation of jesus christ. Lukas and if you are interested in seeing sunnybrooks Christmas Eve service you can do so tomorrow at 2, 4 adn 6pm at the sioux city orpheum theater. For more information on when the Siouxland Catholic parishes are holding mass just click on this story on siouxlandmatters. Com. Reporting live in studio. Lukas voss. Abc9 news. Every Christmas Eve service. Here are services for three other churches. Redeemer lutheran has Traditional Candlelight Service at 11 307 and 11 tomorrow with a new Celebration Service at 5pm first United Methodist will meet at 5 tomorrow afternoon at 11pm Christmas Eve with central baptist meeting at 4 and 10pm tomorrow here in sioux city. Tim family freinds and fellow firefighters came together this morning to lay sioux citys first woman fire fighter was laid to rest. A funeral mass celebrating the lili of Jeanne Vakulskas wasas held at st. Josephs Catholic Church in sioux city. She died at home on sunday. A sioux city firefighter for 22 years before retiring. Friends and coworkers say vakulskas was a hard working mother who cared passionately about her job and her family. Tim folks in madrid iowa gathered to mourn the loss of well known h hh School Football coach randy hinkel students, family, colleagues and longtime friends orange, madrids School Colors came together today at the high schools gymnasium. Hinkel coached for 29 years, amassing over 300 wins, taking his team to the plploffs 25 times and winning one state championship. The way he connects with his players, is, theres nothing like it. The amount of care he has for each of us is insane he doesnt care about the wins or losses, he cares about what he can teach you, how he can prepare you for the future. The schools football field lights remain on until 11 tonight in coach hinkels honor. Tim an anonymous donor is calling thier generous donation moms final gift. The person dropping an envelopecontainini a letter and a wedding ring into a sioux falls red kettle the major of the Salvation Army there says these types of unique donations put a new sense of joy into the heart of bell ringers. Here in sioux city, the Salvation Army hopes to hit a goal of 180 thousand dollars ends tomorrow afternoon. Tim a local hospital has a new tool to cut down on the number of times Heart Patients may end up back in the hospital. Its only the size of a quarter, but to one family, its providing comfort during an uncertain time. Jenna has more in tonights your health matters. Jenna rehnstrom a sioux citytyouple says a new device for Heart Patients is giving them peace of mind. And giving them their life back. George davis is struggling with heart problems, but hes excited about this new tool to keep him out of the hospital. Heres more in your health matters. Linda davis says, he could just not wake up one day. cries im sorry. Linda davis fights back tears when n e talks s out the healththomplications her family lives with everyday. Her husband, george, has congestive heart failure, and over the past few years, theyve been in and out of the hospital with scares and complications. George says, i couldnt breathe, i had to sit up to breath, i couldnt lay down, and it was just like my lungs were collapsing. And they took 19 some liters of fluid off of me. When things get bad, george expereinces terrible pressure and shortness of breath from the fluid that builds up in his system. Has been a ray of hope for the couple. George is the first patient at sioux citys Mercy Medical center to use a new tool to allow his doctor to monitor his health from home. And keep him out of the hopsital. Its a little device, about the size of a quarter, called a cardiomems. Dr. Jerome pierson says, we place this device in the pulmonary artery and it sends a signal to one of the receivers that will tell us an estimate of the pressure inside the lungs. And when we use this device, we become proactive and were able to treat patients, some times up to 30 days before their start havivi symptoms. Dr. Jerome pierson and his nurse, lynett, are able to keep a close eye on georges fluid levels through the information transmitted directly to their computers. The idea is that, through this data, increased pressure on the pulmonary artery can be spotted even before weight and blood pressurerehanges appear, which are often used as indirect measures s worsening heart failure. Dr. Piersok says, weve been able to make some changes just based upon our numbers that i think prevented george from ending up in the hospital again. For george and linda, this adjustment in his care means a bit of normalcy has returned to their lives. And thats been lifechanging. Proably going to be for the rest of my life, but its going to be easier im not going to sit there and wait until i fill up with fluid, says george. Linda says, just the fact that we can catch the fluid buildup early, is just a weight lifted off of my shoulders. Theyve actually really given me my husband back. With your health matters, alongside chief photograher johnathan mack, Jenna Rehnstrom abc9 news. Tim christmas is a time of giving. Tim christmas is a time of giving. And for one local teenager. His life. While at the same time helping him prepare for college. Lawton bronson senior henry haafke spenttoday working at the American Legion in sergeant bluff. To earn a 750 Dollar College scholarship. By asking his friends and family to donate blood. His goal, 50 donors before the end of the day. Henry says although the extra money for school offered by lifeserve blood center. Could help. Its also about giving. It makes me feel like ive done something to accomplish it. Its always good for money for college too, said haafke. Our Scholarship Program is something that we just love to have because not only does it help us meet r needs for the community. The communitys blood supple needs, but its also giving College School students like henri a chance to get experience in event planning, leadership, recruitment. Just so many things, said deroine. The blood drive ended at 6 this evening and good news, henry was able to hit his target goal getetng 52 and donate tim today was the busiest travel day on the roads and skies for the holiday season. And with extreme weather battering much of the country, timing couldnt be worse 68 million americans from new orleans to chicago are in the path of possible ,snow flooding and even tornados gusty winds were actually to blame for an tracktor trailer in cedar rapids this evening. And with the treacheous conditions, its never a bad time to practice some good driving habits. And here are a few Winter Travel safety tips just in case. Bule up. Make sure your tire pressure is good. Have at least a half a tank of gas to help prevent gas line freezeup. Never use Cruise Control on icy roads. Watch abc9 weather reports and let others know your route in case something happens. And its a good idea to keep a Winter Weather kit in your vehicle. Make sure it includes things like a shovel, flashlight, blankets, water and a first aid kit. Still to come. Desperate to avoid getting on the naughty list. Going so far as dailing 911 for help. That story when we return. fred we have rain and snow chances in your chirstmas forecast. Next week will be cooler. Your forecast is next many children can relate to calling 911 trying desperately to stay off santas naughty list after her elf fell off the shelf. Heres abcs ron claiborne. With her story twas a week before christmas in and seven year old Izzy Laperuta was playing in her familys living room. Sot i was doing this and then it hit the elf. One of the two elves on their shelf his name is buddy jingles was knocked out ofis stocking onto to the floor natsot izzy i went ahhhh makes a face from a popular book based on an old tradition . That has become a viral phenomenon . An elf is supposed to left alone to observe whos naughty or nice. And report back to santa. An adult can touch the elf, but a child absolutely not so when izzys elf plopped out she called 911. A few minutes later natsotknock,knock. She opens the door hello . It was a policeman come to check it out sot he said where you mom . Momy there is a man at the door. Sotmom so i said, can i help you . And he said. Your daughter called 911 it all worked out for the best. With little izzy learning a valuable lesson izzy dont call 911 unless its an emergency. Dont call it for not emergencies merry Christmas Everybody Merry Christmas kids the end. Rc abc news old branch, new w rsey tim fred, theres a lot going on. fred that is for sure 2 line super fred hexom fhexom kcautv. C sioux city saw 0. 22 of rain today. The hd radar shows quiet conditions. The southeastern United States still has an enhanced risk of severe storms tonight. The National Satellite and radar shows active weather from eastern iowa, where we find a rain snow mix, to the gulf of mexico. There is asevere Weather Threat from eastern iowa to the gulf of mexico, anantornado watches are in effect in the orange shaded areas. Heres a look at National Storm reports today. Wow. 238 reports, including 150 wind damage reports and 24 tornado reports, including more than one in illinois. Heres a picture of a tornado on the ground in a picture of some tornado damage in tennessee. Heres the Port Neal Welding Company skycam hd from the Ho Chunk Centre in sioux city. 39 was the high and 32 the low today, both above normal. Local temperatures are in the 20s and 30s. The satellite and radar shows more snow to the west associated with the disturbance that will affect us tomorrow. A winter storm watch will be e in effect late friday and into saturday for North Central nebraska and South Central south dakota. The stormcast hd shows another round of snow tomorrow, and 12 of snow is expected in the south and east. Less than 1 in the n nth and west. Your forecast f r tonight is for breezy winds and a will be 31 with h ow accumulating 14. The 7day forecast shows a good chance of rain and snow in the evening friday, then a chance of rain and snow saturday. Well cool to only 19 sunday before another chance of snow moves in monday. tim thanks, fred. fred you bet. Still to come after the break Northern Iowa hawaii this week to play in the diamond head classic. Stay tuned for highlights from their opener against the host school. Tim plus. Iowa continues its preparation for the rose bowl. Hear from the calibound in nine days, the hawkeyes will take on stanford in the rose bowl. Until then, iowa continues preparation for of them all. The hawkeyes held media availability on tuesday as they get set to fly out to california. A primetime bowl game has been the goal of this team all season long and the opportunity has arrived. With all of the pe surrounding e rose bowl, this group knows just how important this game really is. I mean its a bigtime game. They keep saying its the grandaddy of them all. It will be an amazing experience for all of us and just a great opportunity. Its exciting. We have been preparing these last two weeks. And just playing in the rose bowl is a huge accomplishment for us. Its going to present a great challenge in playing a great team in stanford. We will have continued coverage of the road to the rose bowl leading up to january 1st. On new years eve, we will have a 30 minute rose bowl special called dream season right here on abc9. Too tide you over. Lets check out the poinsettia bowl. Boise state squaring off with Northern Illinois. Not even one minute into the game. Jeremy mcnichols takes it 29 yards to the house. Broncos take t t early 70 lead. And they would the pedal. Mcnichols on third and goal yes sir 140 boise state. They led 210 after the first. Second quarter now. Brett rypien. Fires a strike to Chaz Anderson from 16 yards out. 317 at the break. Boise state outgains Northern Illinois 65433. Broncos win big 557. Alex nine wins. Three losses. Pretty solid non Conference Performance for the iowa hoops team. In last nights prebig ten finale. The hawkeyes took care of tennesse tech. For their second straight win. After a sluggish start, the hawkeyes put things in motion. Four iowa players scored in double figures, led by peter jok. The junior scored 21 points, fueled by a careerhigh five three pointers. Big ten fresman of the week Nicholas Baer scored a careerhigh 19 and. Mike geseel dished out 9 9 assists. A great tuneup before conference play begins i think were in a pretty good place. You always look at, could we run our could our defense get more consecutive stops . Were taking care of the ball, i think our shot selections good, our Ball Movement is good. We got a lot of different guys producing. I think that, ultimately, i feel pretty good. Iowa begins big ten play next tuesday at home against top rankededichigan state. E. Hey follow thahawith a road test at fourteenth ranked purdue. Fran . Your thoughts. You got to play those people at some point. You play them early, you play them late, you play them in the middle, you space it out better. Does it really matter . Youre still playing 18 really tough games against really good teams. Those two are particularlytalented. If you look at where t tyre ranked and so forth. But i think any time you enter into conference play, you recognize a challenge and well do everything we can to get everybody ready. Next tuesdays big ten opener against the spartans is set for an 8 00 tip in iowa city. Wes washpun scored 28 points in unis upset win over iowa state, earning him conference player of the week honors. With the big four classic in the rear view mirror, the panthers took a flight to hawaii to play in the diamond head classic. Northern iowa in action late last night on the islands. Playing the host school. Lets just say things didnt go as planned. Isaac fleming. Steal and the layup. Warriors up fourteen. It would get worse. Flemingth e steal ane one. The home crowd d ing bonkers in honoluu. They ll the shocker 6852. The lone bright spot for uni was matt bohannon. The senior hit a pair of threes in the loss. Breaking unis career three point record with 204 made triples. Thprevious record was 203 set by ben jacobson in the mid 2000s. With the loss,s,ni ves to the consolation bracket t the diamond head classic. E panthers will play Washington State in just about ten minutes. That game can be seen over on espnu. On the ladies side, what a night it was for south dakota freshman jaycee bradley. The norfolk high alum scored a careerhigh 17 points f