At this hour, the big story is a long awaited holiday morning. Well take you to West Palm Beach where one family has turned their own christmas tradition into one that impacts an entire community. Also this morning, the message on war in The Middle East as the fighting continues inside gaza. Hostages remain and terrorist captivity, and israels Prime Minister vows to finish the job of ending hamass reign. Former president Donald Trumps top challengers are scrambling for socalled hail mary as we officially hit three weeks until the iowa caucuses. New polls leave little to the imagination. The verdict is it on the most popular, most widely watched viral videos of 2023. The stories that caught just about everyones attention. But we begin with the forecast that is disappointing parts of the country this morning, and worrying manys. Lets get right to meteorologist who has been tracking the weather ahead. Michelle, tell us who has a White Christmas and who has more snow than they need right now. Hi there, so good to see. Mary, Merry Christmas. We are looking at a very White Christmas in portions of the northern plains, also the central plains. Were looking at the 22 inches of snow in some spots. In addition will add winds, thatll be 55 miles an hour. Blizzard warnings in spots. You can see where the storm is on the map. Its a large storm. The whole side, there is snow falling, on the warmer side were looking at rain from the midwest all the way down to the southeast. Soggy, soggy conditions. Especially in the southeast where were looking at a chance for some Flash Flooding as well. Someone in the middle, you see the pink, purple, that is icy conditions there are portions of the upper midwest. The pacific northwest, youre going to be what to. We have a storm moving onshore, that is bringing a wintry mess as well. Lower elevation, rain Higher Elevation snow. Were dry in the northeast, more dry in the South Central states. Were actually really above normal in portions, or warm, i should, say of the northeast. This is what the storm looks like on the radar. Where the blue. As that is snowfall. The lighter blue is the heaviest snow. Throughout portions of south dakota, nebraska, thats where were going to see the heaviest snowfall. And generally, 6 to 12 inches of snow, but we could see up to nearly two feet of snow in some spots. Now you see all of that green, there that is the rain falling throughout the midwest into the ohio valy. This isinfringing on the ohio vaey into the tennessee valley. So, the southeast. Those bright terms, the reds, oranges, yellows, thats where were seeing the heaviest rain falling. Thats going to make four tricky travel there as we head throughout this christmas day. Alerts are in place, we have Winter Weather advisories, winter storm watches, and even blizzard warnings. It is going to be a blustery day, there with heavy snow falling. Its going to be tough visibility as we head out. Now the snowfall, were looking generally at 6 to 12inch. As we can see anywhere from eight, even 22 inches in some spots. That is where you see the pink, purples on the. Map some parts of nebraska into south dakota. That is the warm side, were looking at that rain falling, andwere looking at heavy rain, ly ithe southeast. When you see those brighter colors, the reds, oranges, yellows, some portions of the southeast, that is where were looking at a chance for some really heavy rain. Heavy snowfall and throughout the northern plains, central high plains, also looking at a rainy christmas from the southeast. Summer white, what, summer looking warm as we look throughout this christmas day. Tomorrow, were looking at nearly impossible travel Across The Plains due to blizzard conditions. Also scattered rain showers. That system is going to move into the east as we head throughout tuesday. This is what tuesday looks like, well and it, here comes we look at the storm system moving a little farther to the. Isa now were talking about portions of the interior parts of the northeast, then, wednesday, the midatlantic all the way to new england. Back to you. All, right michelle, thank you. Right, now lets go to West Palm Beach florida where preparations are underway for a christmas tradition that takes gift given to a whole new level. Nbc news Foreign Correspondent melissa barr is there this morning. What is happening behind you . Well, good morning. I think the most remarkable part of whats happening behind me is what you cant see. As the attention to detail. This is not the place that is giving up food yearround. This is actually the home of a Brother And Sister duo. Theyve been doing this for 12 years. Were talking about giving out food to hundreds of people in the area. For christmas day. This is something that they take a lot of pride. And there is a lot of attention to detail. There is so much time port into this. Whats remarkable is the prep that goes into it. So much earlier than even today. They spent weeks getting the word out. Whether its putting fliers a lowincome neighborhoods, whether its going to encampments, People Living in tents, people who dont have homes. People who dont have access to food on a regular basis. The other thing that i found really interesting is that when i was asking them about people who show, up people who are going to be showing up here in the next couple of hours, its not just people who dont have access to food, is not just people without homes, some people do have access to those things. They just may not have a family. They may be lonely during christmas. There is a wide range of people who show up, young, old, people with their kids. Its people that either want to warm christmas, meal or maybe just want to feel the warmth on christmas day. They dont want to be alone. What i also found interesting it is they have, and you can see them setting up behind me, enough food to feed hundreds of families. Its a combination of donations from the community, but also some of them, the volunteers themselves, pain out of pocket. They of course to rely on some donations from Companies Like and they have been up since three in the morning preparing some of these meals that you see behind me. I asked the brother sister duo, what is their favorite part . 12 years later, what keeps them going . Heres what they had to say. I would say seeing the Smiling Faces that come through the line. For me, sharing gods love. Providing supplemental food to children and families who may not otherwise have that nutritional nil at home. Thats what i look forward to. One of my favorite parts about this is when i asked the sister what started this, all she said is that it started as the typical mother response. She wanted to teach her daughters the act in the art of giving back to the community. Particularly on a day that is centered around exactly that. When you see behind me are the props for what they expect to be roughly anywhere between three and 400 people. Just in case they have enough plates for 600 people. Were going to be live all day, seen how the turnout is, talking to people who are showing up, really capturing the spirit of giving today. It is such as selfless, beautiful thing to do any day, especially christmas day. Alyssa bharara, thank you. Now to a Christmas Blessing from pope francis this morning, in a short while, ago greeting crowds in st. Peters square for his blessing, his main message was pleading for peace around the world. He specifically named a few conflicts in armenia, asha barr, john sudan, and ukraine. By far the strongest message was to israel. Saying he looks to baby chases his birthplace with sorrow and silence. He is asking for peace. The what israels Prime Ministers promise sane as World Leaders call for relief in the war with hamas. Plus, what happened to alexei navalny. He was just found in russia after going missing for weeks. The will tell you what 2024 republican hopefuls are planning in the new year to close the gap in the polls with donald trump. Dont go away, were back in 60 seconds. 6 seconds. If theres pain when you try to poo intensifying operations in and going sometimes feels like you pushed through a pineapple or two colace is the brand you need to soften stools, were all agreed 2 should be easy to do trust colace to soften stools with no stimulants fok, someone just didf. Laundry. No, i add downy light so the freshness really lasts. Yeah, most scented stuff gives me a headache, but this is just right. And i dont like anything. But i like this. Get a light scent that lasts with no heavy perfumes or dyes. israel this morning. That is the message from Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu. He says israel has no choice but to continue to fight. That is despite growing calls for scaled back operations. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says that saw a q tongue or in gaza, as the humanitarian crisis in the region remains graham. Lets bring in nbc news correspondent, jay gray. Good morning. Tell us what is the latest inside gaza right now. Yes, jessica, you can hear the prayer just over my shoulder. This is outside the old city here. We know the Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu visited troops on the north end of the gaza trip today. Telling them, as you said earlier, this fight is nowhere near over. They will continue until hamas is eliminated. That is intensified on the southern edge of gaza. Troops are uncovering to trying to exploit command and control centers for hamas. Working to expose the Tunnel Network there as well. We know that there has been at least 72 according to the hamas run Palestinian Health ministry in one of the Refugee Camps to the south. The idf says that they are reviewing reports of an incident in that area. Jay, we know netanyahus wife, sarah, sent letters to the pope and other leaders around the world over the weekends. She is asking for help on Hostage Negotiations. Where do things there stand this morning . Well, unfortunately, it appears that the talks have completely fallen apart their. There is no Bargaining Table at this point, according to who are serving as the metoo ureys in all of the discussions. The u. S. Is pushing for both sides to come to the table, but hamas is said, until there is a cease to the fighting, until the firing stops, they will not return to the table. They will not talk about releasing hostages while israel has said repeatedly that they wont stop fighting until all of the hostages are released. That back and forth has left 129 hostages still inside of gaza on this christmas day. Theres a lot of people on the outside pushing for their release. A lot of desperate families around the situation. Jay gray, thank you. I want to bring in former cia officer, paul opera. Smart, good morning. What needs to happen for another pause in fighting to make way for those negotiations . Good morning, jess. Well somethings happened over the last several days. I think this does give room for optimism. The Hostage Negotiations have shifted from the qataris to the egyptians. That is significant. The egyptians put forth a proposal. It looks like its been rejected by hamas. It is the idea of israels oldest arab ally, egypt, who they trust much more so than the batteries. The egyptians, of course, have direct contact inside gaza, with the hamas military. When in some sense, that kind of ground of Hostage Negotiations back the egypt, it is something significant. There was a lot of these negotiations that remain to be seen in terms of both sides not been please. I think there is some. Hope again, lets just go back to the basic foundations. There is enormous pressure on the israeli government, from the hostages families, from the israeli people to get the hostages. Back that is something that sacrosanct to israelis. There might be some help down the line on this issue. On that note, mark. Netanyahu, we know, is intensify Military Operations despite these growing calls to scale things back. How do you see this Playing Out On The World stage . This is a problem. So ultimately, the United States has a deal with israel. That were going to give the israeli room to keep going. To continue in their efforts. Were going to give them this runway. In return, it is well as to do two things. Open quarters for humanitarian aid. Looks like they did that with the new border open. The second parties to adjust tactics and not helped the United States is called indiscriminate bombings. These rallies dont like that. Ultimately, to change their tactics. What happened today with reports of over 70 cult is going to cause some consternation within the u. S. Administration as we are trying to get israel to buy more time. The events of today with pretty significant loss of civilian life. Thats not going to be helpful. Mark, we know the idf yesterday said that it has just demolished a hamas Tunnel Network. Talk about the scale of this tunnel under gaza, this picture of what this means. Sure, this is the target of the idf right now. The Tunnel Network is with the hamas leadership, its believed to be in hiding in the south near khan younis. Its also were hostages are located. This is the lifeblood of hamas. So the israelis really are focusing on this. You, know i think that that ultimately, whats going to come out after this, you, know after they report is that a Tunnel Network of hundreds of miles that, you know, the israelis have a point, here this cost probably millions for hamas to build. A lot of that money could have been, obviously, gone to helping the people of gaza prewar. Hamas used it to construct this Tunnel Networks. This is the focus that the Idf Military Activity across the gaza strip, certainly on the south. Do we know how many tunnels there are like this . Sure, there are apparently hundreds of Kilometers Worth of tunnels. The idf has selectively been releasing to the media footage, what the their forces going down, drones, they have the specialized units that they have dogs going in tunnels. The paradox, the conundrum they face his they want to destroy the Tunnel Networks, but they have to be very careful that to not kill the remaining hostages who are bleak to be located there. That relies on solid intelligence, operations uncovering intelligence, to go to certain areas, but ultimately, this is their focus. I think that youre going to see this, particularly in the days and weeks to come as the u. S. Calls for more targeted raids, tackles, strikes. Such a delicate process. Thank you so much. Turning now to russia where Vladimir Putins number one critic, alexei navalny, has been located up to 20 days off the grid. Lets bring in nbc news Foreign Correspondent, ali arouzi. Ali, good, morning what can you tell us about this . Good morning. According to navalny spokes man, he has been found, hes alive. Hes in a penal colony and northern russia. Navalny went missing early in december, the six to december, and his team, his lawyers, and activists that support him and had absolutely no contact with him until this morning. They were fearing the worst, but they say that he is now showing up in this penal colony. Its in the north of russia. They say that its no coincidence that navalny went missing in early december. Right, a few days after he went missing, Vladimir Putin gave his intentions to run in the upcoming elections. Navalny supporters say that putin, the kremlins inner circle, they just dont want such an outspoken critic of the kremlin having a voice when he wants to run in another election. So navalnys people are saying that he is now in the eye cat three penal colony. That is the north most penal colony in russia, in the siberia. Its known for an extraordinarily harsh conditions. Thats a very difficult place to get to. Its very difficult for people to come and see him there. Communication at that penal colony is also very difficult. Apparently its a place where no letters can even be sense. Theyre saying that this is intentional. They say that this is how the kremlin silences its critics. It sends them to very remote places where they cant have contact with their supporters, or other people. Where they have to live under extraordinarily harsh conditions. At least theyre saying that he has been found alive, and that hes doing well. Jess. Ali, is there any reaction from the kremlin on this this morning . No, the kremlin has stayed quiet on this issue. In fact, the russian Supreme Court, up until we were going up has still been saying that they know about his whereabouts. They added attention to this. I have to add, its not uncommon for prisoners in russia, when theyre being transferred from one penal colony to another, to have total radio silence, its a very long process and people lose contact with them once theyve gone from one person to another. That seems to be the case with navalny. Aly rousey, reporting live for, us ali, thank you. Coming up, the latest on the shrinking president ial primary field. Looming questions about gop loyalty to donald trump. D trump. A better plan is verizon. 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