Making this a devastating christmas for so many families. At least 24 reported tornadoes touched down. Across seven states. Including mississippi. Arkansas and tennessee. In Holly Springs mississippi a monster tornado left a 7yearold boy dead leaving residents scrambling for safety. Gwendolyn jones tornado survivor and we all closed the door and laid in the floor 11 30 46 it lasted we heard this great big whwho train, and en it was gone 11 30 55 and ititas over. A state of emergegey has been declared in both tennessee forecasters say tornadoes is heavy rain and continuing concern across southern alabama and northern georgia. Tim iowa got a bit of a dusting this morning, parts of central iowa seem to be getting it the worst, even prompting a closuer of interstate 8 8 locally we mayay have gotten less but down in omaha they werent so lucky. The omaha metro area got over a half a foot of the white stuff. The snow began falling before dawn this morning causing several fender benders and spinouts on roads. Tim of course Christmas Eve means time with the family. But some folks are enjoying a Family Tradition of another kind as well. A return to some sioux city classicscs abc 9s bria bell l caught up with folkat a couple of those holiday hot spots and is with us now. Bria once a siouxlander, always asiouxlander. Many people that are here in siouxland this Holiday Season arent just spending time with their families, but visiting places they loved growing up. If they didnt call it palmers candy, they would call it candy land, said christiansen. Palmers Candy Company is a fan favorite for both young and old customers. Some are visisng for the first time, while others have become gulars by bagging candy all year long. Every christmasas every easter, every holidadathat we have, we comto palmers toelebrate that, said koinzan. Miles inn is next on charlie boy tavern. Locals say ordering the top seller sandwhich and is another way they look to celebrate christmas with loved ones. I enjoy this bar because it has a warmth about it and coziness, especially around the holidays. They have great food, their charlie boys are amazing and i do it every year especially around the holidays, said kosiba. Last, but certainly not least, milwaukee wiener house is a packed around this time of year. And similar to the those that grew up children to expepeence milwaukees popular thiis a family started by my dad many, many years little girl. We use to do all of our Christmas ShoppingChristmas Eve day and we always came to milwaukee wiener, so when i got married and had kids its something that we continue to do, said denney. Bria it seems tradition runs strong in siouxland as many families carried runs strong in the same idea. Live in studio, bria bell abc 9 news. Tim crowds filled part of downtown sioux city today. The third of 3 services conducted at the orpheum by Sunnybrook Community church started just a few minutes ago. Thousands filled the theatre for two Afternoon Services as well. Pastor jeff moes says the church spreads its christmas message in a unique way with special lights and music. The pastor says the gospel will be presented through various acts and in front of people from all over. So we do it in a veve contemporaryfashion, theres going to be music, theres going to be drums. Guitars. Theres going to be skits that are kind of fun and funny and then theres a message based on the word of god, said pastor moes tim sunnybrook just over six thousand people as well as a high traffic through its online streaming service. Tim elsewhere, more than 51 hundred miles away, in vatican city, the pope carried on with a more traditional holy rmon this afteteoon. Po francis welcomed hundreds to Christmas Eve mass in st. Peters basilica tim some folks attend sermons for the season and others hold different festive gatherings to celebrate and then there are people who like putting up holiday lights. One of those people out of davenport,put up about 36 Thousand Lights and synced the whole deal together with music for all to enjoy aarik woods from our quad cities affiliate checked d it outut you have nine of the White Christmas trees, which only had 400 white lights on them. But i put 600 red lights on each one of the trees. When it comes to holiday decorating. Theres one Davenport House that stands out. Since im retired now, it took me to ten hour days. James peachee puh shay runs what he calls candy cane of lights. Likely cords. And one computer program. Its all defined over hand side. Tells me is, where itit at, and whwh it does. The result is a mix of nat together in harmony. Jenny schaumburg we love trans Siberian Orchestra and he does one of their songs and its just beautiful i mean its just breathtaking no mater how old you ar almost every year weve brought in laws and parents and our kids are in the back seat. The bright lights bring new visitors by as well. Anna gibney, davenport with daughter Audrey Gibney i belong to a moms stay at home mom and saw the posting. We were looking for something to do and show the kids right get them really excited. We thought wed drive by since and were pretty peachee puh shay says the whole production only raises his bill about 50 dollars during the month of december. A price he says is well worth it. Its the rction of really hooked me for basically forever. Because its the kids react. Woods the holidays are an excellent time to break out your best recipe for holiday drinks. Why you may want to pour some egg nog tonight. After the break. fred we have a warm chirstmas day coming up, and light rain and snow are possible. Cooler weather will follow next week. All that, plus the abc9 Santa Tracker, after the break fred hexom fhexom kcautv. C om fred radar shows that the snow is gone, shows that the heaviest snow fell in the south and the e east. Omaha had over conditions are but central iowa has ground. Stormy the east earli today. In the past 24 hours there have reports and 41 reports of wind damage, with 54 total reports. Heres a picture of tornado damage to a road mississippi meanwhile, there is widespread flooding in atlanta. Look at the melting snow on thport neal Welding Company skycamd from the Ho Chunk Centre in sioux city. The high today was 33 and the low 27. 32 is our sioux city temperature. Local temperatures are in the upper 20s and lower 30s. Wind have some teens and Single Digits in the east. The satellite and radar shows quiet weather to our west for now. But be aware that areas north and west of siouxland will have more snow tomorow and early saturday. Thats where we find Winter Weather advisories in light blue which includes lyon county in iowa, lincoln and turner counties in south dakota, and the sioux falls metro. Farther west is a winter storm warning in yellow. The stormcast hd shows the next round of snow, maybe mixed with some rain, mainly late tomorrow and into early saturday. Quiet weather is expected during the day saturday and into sunday. The snow forecast shows less than 0. 5 of accumulation for most of us, but 14 across the north. The low tonight will be 18 8 th clearing skies. Tomorrow, look for a high of 39 and a chchce of rain and snow with the highest north. The 7day shows breezy winds saturday and 37. Come next week with slight chance of monday. The Senior LivingSanta Tracker shows santa flying over well have updates through the evening. Jenna tim fred tim thanks tim thanks tim did you know its do you even know whats in eggnog . As a drink made of eggs, sugar, milk or cream thth may or may not include liquor. Its usually enjoyed in the us between the thanksgiving and christmas holidays. Tim most historians agree eggnogs forerunner was probably the early medieval britain drink called posset which is a hot, milky ale. Eggnog became tied to the holidays when it crossed the atlantic in the 17 hundreds. George washington was known for his famous recipe that included rum, sherry, brandy, d whiskey. You can look that recipe on our website siouxland matters dot com it may not exactly be a White Christmas but your dinner plate should have some white on it. Well look at the benefits of winter white fruits and vegetables. Experts are hoping for the same when it comes to the fruits and veggies on your plate. Holly firfir explains. We often hear, the more colorful your produce, the healthier. But winter whites fruits and vegetable that are pale in color are packed with healthy nutrients as well. Veggies such as white potatoes, cauliflower, turnips, onions, garlic and even parsnips which look a lot like a white carrot. marisa moore registered nutrients but they also have some compounds in them that help to fight cancer, fight Heart Disease as well as keep your blood presesre in check, as well as cholestetel levels. And though potatoes often get a bad rap, its what we put on them, not the vegetable itself thats an issue. marisa moore registered dietitian white potatoes are virtually fat free and they are also a good source of vitamin c and a great sourcef potassium which helps to lower Blood Pressure levels. Moore says garlic that has been shown to reduce the risk for prostatetend stomach cancer. And onions have nutrients that help th digestion. And when it comes to winter white fruits, top of the list are such as apples and pears. marisa moore registered some studies to can help lower the we can get most but when we buy tastes better. Firfer. We often hear, the more colorful your produce, the healthier. But winter pale in color are packed with healthy nutrients as well. Veggies such as white potatoes, cauliflower, turnips, onions, garlic and even parsnips which look a lot like a white carrot. marisa nutrients but they also have some compounds in them that help to fight cancererfight Heart Disease as well as pasadena for the rose bowl. Hear their thoughts on stanfords potent offense after the break. Plus. Northern iowa looked to bounce back at the diamond head invitiational against Washington State. On saturday in des moines. The panthers then flew to honolulu to face off withhawaii. The opener against the host school didnt go point loss. Uni had the chance to bounce back in the consolation bracket. Their next test came from the pac 12. Washington state and star forward josh hawkinson. Late second half. Game tied at 48. Mvc player of the week wes washpun goes iso. Hangs and hits panthers take the two point lead. Next wazzu possession. Grea t passing leads to an easy bucket from hawkinson. He had a double double. 14 points 13 boards. But back comes washpun. . . This kid is tremendous. Som ehow gets that floater to fall. The senior finished with 16 points. End. The cougars respond. Que johnson right on que Washington State takes the one point lead with four minutes to play. Uni would hit five free throws to take the four point lead. Then its junior longrus. And one cougs hanging around. But the panthers had no desire to lose two in a row. Paul jesperson. Dagg er from deep he had a game high 18 points. Uni survives and wins it 6359. They will face byu in the fifthplace game at 2 30 on christmas day. Alex after a nice and easy flight, the hawkeyes have arrived in southern california. On new years day, iowa will take on a very talented Stanford Team in the rose bowl. The cardinal won the pac12 championship this season. And they are led by heisman trophyhyunner up christian mccaffery. The sophomore rushed for nearly 1900 yards this seasas, adding 540 rereiving yards and ov 1000 yards on returns. Iowas defense knows they are in for a challenge. They are a very powerful running team. They have a big running back. They have a Great Quarterback so its going to present a huge challenge for us but as long as tough, physical iowa defense, we should be fine. Fantastic team, pac 12 champs, they do a lot of good things on defense. They have a fantastic offense, its going to be a good game, two teams that do some things pretty similar, t ty are going to run the ballllwe are going to run the ball, and d s going to be a smash mouth game. We will have coverage over the next week and a half leading up to the rose bowl. On new years eve, we will be airing a rose bowl special called dream season right here on abc9. Alex Matt Campbell has been the head coach at iowa state for 26 days. In that time frame, the former toledo head man has been on a mission. Locking up the current class, recruitng the future. And finalizing his coaching staff. Eli rasheed coached the toledo defensive line. He will work in a similar role at iowa state. Under rasheeds leadership this season, the rockets led the mac in scoring defense. And they rushing defense. Also of note. Rudy wade has been named iowa states director of strength and conditioning. 2015 was an incredible year for athletes in siouxland. Dont believevme . Check out tomorrows abab top plays of the year. I sat down this week and compiled the best of the best. The hardest hits. Circusact touchdowns. Ga mewinning goals. You name it. Tune in tomorrow night at 10 20 to relive the year that was. Its time to announce our abc9 rising star. Congrats to colton rohlk from holstein, iowa. The 6yearold is a stud baseball player and we hope to see him on the plays of the year one day. Colton will receive a tshirt,a framed photo, and two passes to kings pointe courtesy of the education station todays picture comes from. Former reporter allison warrne. Now working at our sister statioj in rochester new york. She went to work prepared for christmas today. If youre like to submit a facebook fan photo, just post it on our abc9 facebook page. Later tonight. Jenna tim chris fred fred skies. Tomorrow, look for a high of 39 and a chance of rain and snow with the highest accumulations in the north. The 7day shows breezy winds saturday and 37. Cooler weather will come next week with highs in the 20s and a slight chance of snow late in the day comedy travel alerts