A lot of talk of ceasefire between israel and hamas, but certainly not happening. The two sides going in opposite directions launching a series of strikes at each other. Well get a live update from gaza in just a moment. And then the question so many have been asking in the wake of this sex scandal involving david petraeus, what about his wife . Holly petraeus very accomplished in her own right. She has made a number of sacrifices throughout the years for her husband. Coming up, well take a closer look at his wife of nearly four decades. Also ahead, black friday right around the corner. Or black thursday. Get this, some people already lined up for big postthanksgiving sales. Well see what retailers are doing to get you to open your wallet nice and wide and even stand in line like that. On a sunday. And we all know, youre always up for a big challenge, jenna. Indeed. This morning, perhaps your biggest one of all as you take on broadway. Jenna is performing on stage with Matthew Broderick. Can she come through when the curtain comes up . I dont think there was any doubt in our minds. I did until there was singing. In the rehearsals, they kiboshed it for whatever reason. They cut it from the show . Lets not go crazy and use the word cut. It was so much fun. Well reflect on our favorite thanksgiving memories and dylan and i will do a little showdown, a little bakeoff, like who is the best thanksgiving baker. I whipped up a delicious wonderful apple berry cobbler. Dylam made something, as well. And well find out which you made up. I didnt know there were berries involved. I mean yours is apple, right . I think you cheated. I thought it was apple cobbler, apple crisp. You throw berries in there tweeting pictures of your puppy. Its a whole long thing. Well have that coming up a bit later on. An important distinction. Looking forward to that. We do begin with escalating violence in the middle east. The latest from gaza this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning, erica. To say the 1. 5 Million People of the gaza strip are really held hostage by the circumstances all around them is an understatement, a few hundred miles south of here negotiations are under way for a truce. A few hundred miles north of here, the Israeli Government is meeting to decide what it should do. Meanwhile for the people here, though, it was another deadly night of strikes overnight. Gazas nighttime sky lit up by israeli air strikes. More than 50 palestinians killed in the four days of unrelenting israeli assault. Overnight, two more children killed by israeli fire and hundreds more wounded, including this woman, trapped under the rubble of her home. Workers desperately trying to rescue her. Israel claims to be targeting hamass location with precision, but in this densely populated enclave, the ordinary citizens are being caught in the middle. And now it is being if felt by foreign and local journalists working out of this building that was also broadcasting a hamas affiliated news channel. Were inside one of the media buildings that was struck by the israeli air force. You can see the destruction and the damage that the missile has caused. One journalist was injured. A trail of blood and debris list litters the stairwell. From where the journalist managed to escape. This was not a strike on hamas but an attempt to silence the media, this worker tells me. And despite the setbacks israel claims to have inflicted, hamas is still firing back, firing hundreds of rockets into israel. Israels antirocket shield called iron dome intercepted many, but its not enough for the countrys leadership. Israel has amassed thousands of soldiers on the border ready for a possible ground invasion. We are expect ago heavy price from hamas and the terrorist organizeds. The Israeli Defense forces have prepared for a significant expansion of the operation. Now as the civilians here brace themselves for a possible ground invasion, egyptian officials are working to try and broker a truce within the next 48 hours. But if that fails, both sides, israel and the palestinian factions, say they are prepared to fight a war that could be averted. Back to you, erica. Thank you. Now here is lester. Erica, thanks. As the violence rages in the middle east, president obama is overseas himself on a historic threeday tour of southeast asia. Chief White House Correspondent chuck todd is traveling with the president. Hes in bangkok, thailand, this morning. Chuck, whats happening there . Well, lester, while the president is at a joint press conference with the Prime Minister here in thailand, and among the questions that the president got was about the violence in gaza. And as you will hear in this answer to one of the questions, he fully defended israels right to defend themselves. Take a listen. Theres no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders. So we are fully supportive of israels right to defend itself from missiles landing on peoples homes. The president went on to say hes been in talks constantly with Prime Minister netanyahu, president morsi of egypt is also the Prime Minister of turkey. He said the goal is nothing can be done until the missiles stop coming onto israels soil. Once that stops, then a deescalation of this violence, he hopes, can happen. By the way, as you pointed out, lester, there is a historical nature to the president s trip here. The First American president to visit myanmar, formerly known as burma and cambodia and he heads there in about 12 hours after he overnight here in bangkok. All right, chuck todd, thank you. David gregory is moderator of meet the press. Good to see you. President obama has not really inserted himself in the mideast Peace Process to the extent that his predecessors have. Given this current explosion of violence with hamas, given the changes in the arab world weve seen over the last two years, will he have to become more involved . I think he probably will. And whether he pursues what a lot of president s pursue in its second term and that is mideast peace between israelis and palestinians, i think is an open question based on conditions on the ground. And what were seeing now is part of that. Is there a reasonable basis to begin those negotiations . Right now hes got perhaps an even more difficult job, which is to make sure countries like egypt dont throw their weight behind hamas against israel, that egypt acts as a kind of restraining partner, which is what its typically done with militants in the area, and thats why the president s conversations with egypt are so important right now. And speaking of the middle east, the investigation into the early characterizations of the september 11th attack on the consulate in benghazi took a new turn this past week. As you know david petraeus, the former cia director, testifying that they were aware this was a terrorist attack from the getgo. Did his testimony leave the white house any plausible deniability about how it characterized that attack . It may have, because at the time of the attack in the immediate aftermath, the Intelligence Community was saying something very similar to what susan rice said on meet the press and other programs five days later. And this is the key question, which is, did they fail to call it what it was . And that is a terror attack on an anniversary of 9 11 . And if so, why . I think resolving that is still the key question, but it only gets us to the bigger question, lester, which is what about americas footprint on the ground in a country like libya that needs so much rebuilding at a time when the United States does not want to be responsible for all of that security and all of that rebuilding . And were all mindful the president leaves hoping to get a deal to avert the fiscal cliff some time after the thanksgiving break. Is that Wishful Thinking or has the climate changed to the point this may happen . I think there are good vibrations and that amounts to something between republicans and democrats right now, between republicans and the white house most importantly. The president clearly seems like a president who wants to fight on the issue of taxes on the wealthy, but hes signaling compromise there. I think thats where all this starts. They may try to break all of this up, pursue tax reform later. I dont know were going to get it all done before the end of the year but enough to avoid the fiscal cliff. I think the appetite right now is to avoid brinksmanship, certainly as we get towards the holidays. And what do you have coming up on meet the press this morning . Well talk about the petraeus affair. Well talk about benghazi. We have the intelligence chairs, feinstein and rodgers and also Lindsay Graham is leading the fight against susan rice. So a lot of this these issues rattling the National Security scene right now. David, thanks very much. Thanks, lester. It is time now for a check of the mornings other top stories. Jenna wolfe, good morning. Hey, guys. Good morning to you. One worker is still missing following a fire friday on an oil rig. The other missing man was found saturday by private divers who had been called in to inspect the rig. Four other workers were severely burned. Federal investigators in west texas say a parade float filled with wounded veterans began crossing Railroad Tracks 20 seconds after Warning Signals went off. The float was hit by a Freight Train killing four deck rated veterans of the iraq and afghanistan wars. Upsets reign supreme. Two teams vying for a bcs title might have played themselves right out of consideration. Number one oregon, number two kansas state were upset. Literally, they were so upset. The highscoring ducks offense was stifled by 14th ranked stanford, 1714 in overtime. Thats a big loss. Baylor literally ran over the wildcats, 5224, which leads notre dame as the only remaining eligible Unbeaten Team left in the bcs battle. Notre dame was like, that was easy. Well take it. And finally, new jerseys governor christie may get a surprise dropin on snl with seth myers last night. Christie thanked the red cross for all its help, and then he thanked his fleece for all its help. The same blue fleece hes been wearing just about every day since hurricane sandy. I also give a special thanks to my lovely wife, Mary Pat Christie who is here tonight who put up with a husband who has smelled like a wet fleece for the past three weeks. You have been wearing that fleece a lot. Its used to my skin at this point. I have seen you wearing suits. I wear them over the fleece. Im going to die in this fleece. A couple things here. The fleece is no longer on the governor. Thank you, said the fleece. As you might expect, fleece has its the own twitter handle. 23 followers, 46,900 less than lester has. Still growing oh, so strong. But who is counting . He has great comedic timing. I think we can get the numbers up to 27 with the four of us. Yeah. And a little bakeoff. I think another couple and he should be good to go. Were almost there. Jenna, thanks. Dylan dreyer with a check of the weather. Hey, dylan. Good morning. The weather in the eastern half of the country still looking okay, but we do have a lot of storms hitting the west coast. Storm after storm. And theyre only going to get stronger as we head into early next week. In fact, by monday and tuesday we could see wind gusts up to 70 to 90 miles an hour. Were looking at one to two feet of snow up in the mountains and three to five inches of rain possible. Heres a look at the bay bridge this morning. Mainly dry. Scattered showers down into the south bay heading off to the north and east and that will be the trend today. A few lingering showers south of san jose near morgan hill for the first half of the day. Increasing clouds but without the increase in raindrops for the afternoon. High today upper 50s to low 60s. Well see a trend for a few north bay showers early in the workweek and the raindrops south again by wednesday. And thats your latest forecast. Erica . Dylan, thanks. In the past week, weve heard a lot about david petraeus, the retired four star general embroiled in a sex scandal that cost him his job as cia director. But we havent heard much of his wife of nearly 40 years. Just who is Holly Petraeus . Kristen welker takes a look. Reporter she is an army wife, advocate for military families, and a mom. But now, after 38 years of marriage, Holly Petraeus is perhaps best known as the woman behind the fourstar general at the center of an unfolding scandal. I grew up in a military family, one that has a tradition of Service Going back to the revolutionary war, although im not that old. Reporter hollister notton was a senior visiting her father who was superintendent at west point when she was coked into a blind date with young cadet david petraeus. The best decision i ever made was replying, sure, happy to do it, when asked if i would escort a visiting coed to a football game. Reporter they married shortly after graduation and during her husbands rapid rise, holly moved more than 20 times in 38 years. Shes been mrs. Dad for the bulk of the past decade while i was deployed. Reporter inspired by their own mistakes as a young army couple, she began to counsel soldiers and their wives. All you have to do is this. So take the pledge. Start saving. Reporter earning high praise along the way. I want to thank someone who has made it her lifes mission to stand up for the Financial Security of you and your families, Holly Petraeus is in the house. I want you to give her a big round of applause. Reporter all the while she never expected to be caught in the media glare like these women. I apologize reporter or to share the headlines with these women holly is pretty clear about that she supported him and yet they have this wonderful marriage and pretty established children. Reporter 40yearold paula broadwell, her husbands biographer, who had an affair with general petraeus. She is now the target of an fbi probe. How are you doing . Jill, jill, its serena. Reporter or socialite jill kelley whose complaints about harassing emails led to the discovery of the petraeus affair. Recently kelley emailed tampas mayor over complaints shes been exploited by the media writing, my family has been put through the ringer and my kids are scared, and calling broadwell a criminal saying she stalked all of us. Meanwhile, Holly Petraeus friends say calling her furious is an understatement. We can see that there are healing opportunities. We have seen that with bill and hillary clinton. And then there are times its irreparable. Whether you plan to serve for just a few years or reporter still, she is determined, staying at her job and at least for now according to friends continuing to work on her marriage. For today, kristen welker, are nbc news, washington. Up next on today, the rush for the register. Why some people plan to skip that second helping on thanksgiving to indulge in holiday shopping. We were skipping stones and letting go [ female announcer ] Nature Valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. Perfect combinations of natures delicious ingredients, from Nature Valley. Nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious. Be the first to get great savings at the petsmart beat the rush sale. Save 30 on all petholiday™ by great choice® products and save 6 on purina one® and beneful® dog food. Friday through sunday only, at petsmart®. Fire bad just have to fire roast these tomatoes. This is going to give you a head start on your dinner. That seems easier [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. Five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazing homecooked meals. And eddy said the toys might not be ready eddy . The elf [ radio announcer ] todays forecast its snowing snowballs and snow bricks out there. Seven more days and its snowing snow bricks oh, well, be careful [ radio announcer ] only two days to go, and several of the elves were tossed around when they tried to wrap a pony. [ female announcer ] the keepsake countdown ornament. Build anticipation every day till christmas. Elves tried to wrap a pony if i thought you could wait until the day after thanksgiving to start if you thought you could wait until the day after thanksgiving to start your holiday shopping, get set to wind up in the back of the line. The hunt for the best bargains has already started. Reporter on the saturday before black friday, six days early, a few diehards set up camp, tents and all, outside a best buy in ft. Myers, florida. Hi, merry christmas. Reporter maybe theyre just keeping up with the early rush. Almost 50 have started their holiday shopping. Remember these scenes of Stores Opening insanely early friday or even thursday at midnight . This year, some of the big retailers, toys r us, sears, kmart, and walmart will open at 8 00 p. M. On thanksgiving. Just about the time many are sneaking leftovers. I think 8 00 is the perfect time because youre finished with dinner. You can go walk it off and then you go back home. Reporter the stores have a chance to get your dollars before someone else does. The problem is, if everybody does it, all youre really doing is pulling sales forward and making them happen earlier this year on thanksgiving day rather than waiting until the friday. Reporter and remember cyber monday, the Online Shopping day . Well, thats moving up, too. As customers try to dodge the black friday crowds, more are shopping from home or work that day. Retailers are making instore specials also available on the web. Last year someone was pepper sprayed. People see these headlines and say, well, im going to stay home because the online experience is so much better than you can get the same deals. Reporter and for those who love to see and touch before they buy, a number of malls are offering valet parking, package delivery, and some other white glove perks. Hi, can i help you . Reporter not everyone loves the fullcourt press on their pocketbooks. Starting earlier and earlier each holiday season. There should be some down time over the holidays. Theres plenty of time to get all the presents purchased between thanksgivi