There will be areas of light snow in western portions of the state. Light accumulation is expected. Temperatures will start to warm later today and even tonight. There is a chance for light showers after midnight. More light rain tomorrow morning and then colder and windy conditions set in for the end of the weekend. We are watching a stronger storm as it moves off the pacific coast. This will arrive in iowa by monday. Heavy snow and gusty wind will be possible with this system. Expect measurable snow monday through early tuesday. Gusty wind and colder temperatures are expected travel could be difficult late monday to tuesday. Next week stays much cooler. There will a few more chances for snow. But not as potent as after a busy day of Car Accidents caused by slick roads yesterday. Today was much quieter for Police Officers and tow truck drivers. The fog was heavy in Downtown Des Moines today. And across the state. Making for Poor Visibility on the roads. People going on interstate 80, however, did not seem to mind last 50 miles maybe, a little heavy. Downhill, not so bad on the top of the hills. Fine so far. Been kinda foggy, thats about it. Travelers today heading for places like kansas city and denver, didnt seen to mind the fog much. We got stranded after yesterdays weather left a blanket of new snow across western and central iowa. The metro may be pretty quiet this christmas night. But not every place is closed for the holiday. If youre looking for someone else to do the cooking. Here are some places still open today. In altoona. Ajs steakhouse, triple crown in clive. Granite city in west des moines. Two rivers grille. And saints pub is opening up for some end of the night spirits. Theyll be open beginning at nine tonight. For a full list of restaurants open tonight, visit our website. Whotv dotcom elsewhere volunteers had their hands full pumping out free meals to homes across the metro. 14 25 2630 we think its more than just nourishment for the body, its nourishment for the soul. Hope Ministries spent the noon hour going door to door today delivering 22hundred hot holiday meals. They come free to any impoverished, elderly or homebound member of the community. Todays delivery marked the end yesterday volunteers worked through the day getting everything ready to go out. Ministry members say its something that wouldnt be possible without the communitys generous donations. One of them. Comes from the same family every year. 14 22 49 were blessed to have very many generous families who donate to us on an ongoing basis, and one example would be the olinger family, who has made it part of their family tradition. They contact us prior to each holiday and discuss as a family how many brownies they think they can make, theyve done it many times for us this year the olingers donated 13hundred brownies for todays meals. Kicking gift boxes to the curb trouble tomorrow. Its always a good idea not to take high end items, the boxes and lay them out at the end of the driveway for criminals to potentially see what you got for christmas and possibly break into your house and take them. Sergeant herzog from the Clive Police Department says those empty Christmas Gift boxes serve as an advertisement to burglars avoid losing your newest belongings. Police suggest breaking the boxes down completely and covering them week before taking them out to the leaving your home for long periods of time over christmas or new years. Be sure to communicate with your neighbors. Let them know when you are going to be gone and they can come over. Maybe pay a neighbor kid to come shovel your driveway, always leave a light or tv on, make it appear like someones home. Recent fbi data shows the average Home Invasion during the Christmas Holiday results in over 16 hundred dollars in lost items. Urbandale police are investigating some grinchlike behavior this holiday. Someone stole this grinch decoration from webspec design. Thats on meredith drive in urbandale. Owners were able to get a picture of what they think is the theifs car. If you have any information, contact urbandale police. Johnstons police force is looking for a new leader tonight. Longtime police chief bill vaughn originally stepped down eight years ago but came back when the force needed an interim chief. In his time, the force grew. Million dollar Public Safety building. And became one of the first Police Departments to sport body cameras. Hell step down in march. A university of iowa student is breaking gender barriers in the Iowa National guard. 20yearold megan reaska , enlisted earlier this week. Shell be the first female to enlist in the iowa guard as a combat engineer. Thats thanks to a recent change in position openings. This month the secretary of defense announced all military occupations and positions will be open to women, without exception. Before that about 10 percent of military positions were closed to women including infantry, armor, reconnaissance, and some special operations units. The change takes affect at the start of the year. Iowa is handing a cuba native his first season of snowy semi driving. Challenge. He says he finds it cute the snow isnt comfortable, to drive in but its cute mdash; its pretty everything is white. Joshua fernandez of chicago is hauling u. S. Mail from chicago to oregon. For the cuba native, this is his first christmas away from his family. But being on the phone with them and getting photos of their celebration. Is bringing him home for the holidays in a nontraditional way. She say we are wishing you a merry christmas. They sent me a picture, and they say youre not here, a chair is here waiting for you. Fernandez has two more days of driving before he gets to his family in oregon. Some quad cities chefs are putting a scifi mix on the holiday. Washington High School Students taking part in a gourmet cooking class made every Gingerbread House variety you could think of. From an auto body stop to the prison from the tv show the walking dead the only rule all of their Building Materials had to be some made trees out of ice cream cones and others used oreo cookies to make tables. Teachers say the kids enjoyed creating their houses. Its a fun project they get to be creative they get to pick their groups, so its a project they can really take control of, be creative but still have to read a recipe to bake something. So the kids enjoy it. The kids will have to wait to going to be announced next week. A waukee familys Christmas Card is getting some extra attention this year. The video message to friends and family. Outlines their love for iowa. 45 1 04 getting an opportunity to get my family back to iowa. Where we wanted to be. So when we moved here that was probably the highlight you know cecilia and blaine moyer were living in minnesota with their year. When they packed everything up and headed back to the hawkeye state. The move was so special to them, that they decided to make it the theme of their Christmas Card. The video follows the family of six as they cut down and decorate their christmas tree. And includes clips of family members discussing their return to iowa. The moyers who both grew up in iowa moved back to be closer to family. They say they love waukee. Because of the people, the schools and the community. Still ahead. Its touch down time in pasedena. At least at the airport. Hear from the hawks as they embark on a dream trip 25 years in the making. And things arent quite turning up roses for this guy. Well tell you why Fred Hoibergs nba debut may not be going as planned behind closed doors. And what his players have to say about the locker room feud. And later. Carving christmas. He taught woodworking to his students for years. But now. Hes the one whittling wooden creations. Meet the man who spends hours every year turning his home workshop into that would want to be in our shoes and play on this stage all hawkeye fans are wishing for but theyll have to wait another week to see if their wish comes true. Yesterday though. It was wheels up for team. Heading to pasadena. A Christmas Eve trip to the west coast, 25 years in the making. For players. Its a dream a long time in the making. Tons 394730 22 1 12 sot beathard it has always been a dream of mine to play in the game and now im getting the opportunity to do it. Ferentz. Or it can really add to it this is stanfords 15th rose bowl. The hawkeyes have made the trip five other times. More than any other bowl. But new years day will be the first time that the hawks and cardinals have ever played each other on the gridiron. Kickoff is 4 10 our time. On espn. This is stanfords 15th rose bowl. The hawkeyes have made the trip five other times. More than any other bowl. But new years day will be the first time that the hawks and played each other on the gridiron. Kickoff is 4 10 our time. On espn. Keith, andy, john and michael will be there for it all. Team coverage starts monday. Fred hoiberg isnt taking any time off this christmas. The newly appointed bulls coach took his team into a christmas clash with oklahoma city. They just wrapped up a win. 105 to 96. Behind the scenes though. Things may not be so peachy. 25games into his first nba season, hoiberg is dealing with a divided lockerroom. Bulls star jimmy butler says hoiberg is great coach, but hes too say going public with the issues. Isnt the best approach. Tomorrow, hoibergs Chicago Bulls take on the dallas tip off is at 7 30. There will be areas of light snow in western portions of the state. Light tip off is at 7 30. There will be areas of light snow in western portions of the state. Light accumulation is expected. Temperatures will start to warm later hear why he does it every this illinois man every year. Building toys for kids. The modern day santa claus is spreading the holiday spirit to kids who might otherwise not have presents this time of year. Amy rutledge has the story. 5. 15 it all starts with wheels. If i make 100 wheeled toys thats 400 wheels. And they all gotta get it is crunch time for peter legrand. The final week in his workshop to get all his toys cut. Nats and sanded. Nats 8. 49 its like a mantra. Youve got 400 wheels and you stand in front of the sanding machine and you just get into a rhythm and youre mind just wanders and you can sort of drift away and see lots of little kids and their faces and all the Amazing Things youre doing. Making kids happy is the focus of this former chicago shop teacher. Each fall he steps into his workshop and starts making toys. Wooden ones. In the last 12 years there have been thousands. Anywhere from 150 to 250 each Holiday Season. 4. 58 we have a very simple menu that hasnt changed much over the years we make little cars we make little boats we make little airplanes we make little doll cradles. Over the years. Peter has gotten a lot of help. Today its his youngest son cody. Once all the pieces are cut and group with frends mily and food. The toys are then donated. To churches, daycares, foopantres. Pter send up to hoursn ths toy shop ch eason t make sue kids whdon havemuch dont gowithout. 4. 36 i think these kinds of things can make us call time out for a moment were so busy doing and doing and doing some more that i think its nice to be able to take that pause and look at those types of simple things and remember whats important about ourselves. 24. 18 he really lights up. Deal for him. Gabby rowdil is peters girlfriend. And although he brings a lot of dust home on workdays. He also brings home the true spirit of the holidays. 24. 33 there is so much in giving you give you make a difference so much gratitude one i think to be able to what a wonderful thing to have a gift to do something for somebody else and all the gratitude everything that you get to see. 2. 46 its not just love and kindness its simplicity. The toys dont plug in theyre not that sophisticated but what they represent and what they instill and what they allow you to remember throughout the year is i think what keeps our souls alive and what can promote other wonderful things in the world. This year legrand got help from residents at a Senior Center drilling holes, painting and putting the toys in bags to be donated. Still ahead. The stores may be quiet now. But tomorrow is a different story. Coming up, the return race is on. Well tell you why it all business for retailersspring. This christmas is bringing warm temps to communities across the nation. Well show you where they broke records. Return race. The tree is now barren. The gifts are all open. And the Customer Service line is about to get busy. Hear why even though returns may not please your relatives. Retailers love it. Plus fireworks fly. Undercover videos. Crowded campaign trails. And the moment Hillary Clinton labels a political witch hunt. We take a look back at a turbulent year of political faceoffs. News at four front door news at four front door im lynn melling in for dan and sonya. A recordbreaking christmas brought people across the country their warmest christmas in years. In philadelphia, people were in shorts and tshirts walking the dog and going for a run. Hundreds also took in the warm weather at d. C. s National Christmas tree. Even chicago experienced the warm front. At a mild 38degrees. Meanwhile new york is seeing its warmest december 25th on record. Todays High Temperature was 66degrees. In fact, the entire month has been a warm. The big apple is on pace to have the warmest december ever. That even has flowers blooming along city sidewalks. Pope francis led one of the globes biggest Christmas Eve masses. The roman catholics celebrated the traditional mass for about tenthousand people at saint peters basilica. He called on those quote intoxicated by possessions to return to the essential values of life. Meanwhile, christians in paris worshiped under tightened security. All Christian Churches there were asked to search bags and limit the number of opened doors. Due to concerns over france is still under a state of emergency following last months terrorist attacks. But government Officials Say there have been no specific threats. A wisconsin lawmaker is making waves with a religiouslaced holiday message. The freedom from Religion Foundation believes the state representative shouldnt have emailed and recorded his message using state equipment. But he says. His intention is peace. And hope. Bret lemoine has the story. hello everybody and happy lawmakers to send out Christmas Greetings to constituents in his Christmas Day, 2013 message, the president and first lady even directly reference their christ and live out what he taught us but its a video recorded by republican state representative scott allen of waukesha. merry christmas. . That some believe crosses a line. Not theme. But because of allens religious call to action. for those who may watch this who are not christians, i invite you to prince of peace. its just inappropriate. annie Laurie Gaylor, copresident of the madisonbased freedom from Religion Foundation, says her office has already received a complaint from one of allens constituents. In a letter sent out Christmas Eve, her group is also calling on Assembly Speaker robin vos to investigate the issue further. theyre not supposed to tell us what to believe and what church to go to and how to be saved. Laurie Gaylor also criticizes allen for recording and emailing the message using state equipment. do you see this at all as an issue of separation between church and state. well, im not quite sure. My church wasnt involved at all in the production of that video. allen says the reaction hes received from constituents has been positive. Fellow republicans Like Assembly majority leader jim steineke of kaukauna backed allen on social media. Allen didnt directly answer if his remarks are a call to convert non christians. But, he maintains his faith defines him as a person and leader. It is inseparable from me. If people of the 97th district dont like that, then they have a choice to make. So far the video has gotten about 450 views. Customer Service Workers are prepping for a busy day tomorrow. A survey by American Express shows eight percent of shoppers will hit the stores tomorrow to return the gifts they got today. And retailers say those gift returns are actually big business for them. They account for almost ten percent of all christmas sales. Some of it is thanks to last minute shoppers. Who didnt shop with the person who was getting the presents. And those returns have actually increased as more of us shop online. Retailers say thats because people place orders without ever seeing a product in person. Forcing a gamble on everything from the size to the style. And finally. Dialing the wrong phone number can be awkward. But when you dial the wrong number from outer space. It can be thats what happened to british astronaut tim peake. When he realized hed misdialed, peake tweeted his regret. He said id like to apologize to the lady i just called by mistake saying, hello, is this planet earth . not a prank call. Just a wrong number there will be areas of light snow in western portions of the state. Light accumulation is expected. Temperatures will start to warm later today and midnight. More light rain tomorrow morning and then colder and windy conditions set in for the end of the weekend. We are watching a stronger storm as it moves off the pacific coast. This will arrive in iowa by monday. Heavy snow and gusty wind will be possible with this system. Expect measurable snow monday through early tuesday. Gusty wind and colder temperat