Transcripts For WRC Today 20101212 : vimarsana.com

good morning, everyo. welcome to today on a sunday. i i m lester holt. and i m jenna wolf. we saw those photoaphs all over the london newspapers. it s nice to see them happy. they are a great-looking couple. this is a break from royal tradition. this is a casual look, they are affectionate. we ll show you more coming up. so spontaneous, too. weren t posing at all. then we switch gears and head to washington where president obama is under fire from his own party after reaching a deal with republicans on those tax cuts. many democrats are blasting the compromise sing the president caved into the gop. we ll talk more with david gregory in a moment. also, look who s camping together. sarah lin and kate gosselin. they are two of the biggest reality stars on tv. tonight they appear in the same episode. y will see they have plenty in common and they are armed. there is a big bear there. lots more coming up. plus, it s theinal installment of the today teen idol series. for me it was michael j. fox. do you think? wasn t justy idol. this guy was my heart throb, the one i thought i would one day marry. didn t work out for me, but i m stila fan. those are all mine. that s actually not my apartment now, just in case anybody when i see that many clippings it looks like the beginning of a hostage note. one restraining order and you re crazy. labeled for life. we want to start with the weather. it s affecting a lot of folks. started with a blizzd in the midwest, b the worst is yet to come. michelle franzen starts us off. rorter: whiteouts and wipeouts as a wintry blast barrelled across the upper midwest and plain this is weekend. in minneapolis, many snowbound ivers ended up spinning their wheels. for the twin cities, it is the snowiest december day on record. nearly 14 inches and still counting. early on, transportation officials urged residents to stay home, and many stocked up on food and supplies before getting snowed in. i don t think we re going to leave the house. reporter: blowing snow closed airports and slowed the new york giants travel plans to the twin cities for sunday s game against the vikings. pat hanlon posted a twitter picture showing players stuck in kansas city for the night. this major storm is expected to leave its mark as it moves east, the latest sign winter is here in a big way. in maryland on friday, snowy conditions triggered a crash on i-70 injuring 7 including children. in the pacific northwest, a massive snowstorm in washington state closed parts of i-90 as snow plows tried to keep up. for toy, michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. as you just saw, minneapolis took a direct hit from this storm. scott wilams from the weather channel joins us. scott, good morning. reporter: well, good morning, jenna. we are dealing with a bone-chilling cold here in the twin cities. the air temperature is zero degrees. when you factor in the wind it feels like 22 degrees bel zero. the snowfall accumulation s about 17 inches in the minneapolis area. of course, that made for treacherous driving conditions. about 80 crashes. hundreds of spinouts yesterday and inclement weather s, of course, postponedhe game between the minnesota vikings and the new york giants. right behind me at the metrodome, snow was on the roof yesterday making it unsafeor crews to try to clear the snow. that game will take place tomorrow evening. that s the latest from a bitter cold here in the twin cities. back to you, jenna. all right, scott. thank you very much for being out there with us this morning. so where is the storm headed and how long will the deep freeze last? we ll bring in meteorologist mike bettes for that and more. good morning. good morning, jenna. the numbers don t lie. it s frigid out there. look at the temperatures and wind chills. factor in the wind in a place like international falls, 37 degrees belowero. the cold blast works its way into the deep south. places like memphis at 32, chicago, minneapolis, atlanta tomorrow. not even in the freezing mark. tuesday into wednesday it s all on the march eastbound as we stay cold in the northeast as well. another look at the forecast coming up in a few minutes. now back to you. all right, mike. thanks. now here s lester. jenna, thanks. now to the suicide of bere madoff s son. his body was found o the second anniversary of his father s arrest for that massive ponzi scheme. cnbc s scott cohen joins us with more. good morning. good morning. mark madoff was facing growing pressure over his father s crimes. saturday, he took his own life. sources say 46-year-old mark madoff was increasingly distraught as the two-year anniversary of the scandal proached. early saturday morning his father-in-law found madoff hanged with a dog leash in his new york city apartment. madoff s 2-year-old son was sleeping in the next room. mark madoff was found hanging from a pipe in the livinroom of the apartment. reporter: madoff and his younger brother andrew turned their father in to authorities after he confessed, but the sons were never able to escape suspicion that they, too, were in on the scam, which they denied. a year ago the bankruptcy trustee in the case sued, demanding mark madoff return some $67 million in illegal payments to the victims saying maff knew, should have known about or deliberately disregarded the fraud. then just days ago the trustee filed another suit naming madoff s wife, ex-wife and their two children. while mark madoff was never charged with criminal wrongdoing, speculation continued to grow, including a wall street journal article posted online friday night. overnight, madoff began sending e-mails to his wife who was vacationing with their 4-year-old daughter in florida saying he loved her and asking her to take care of the children. the last e-mail came around 4:00 a.m. nni sue ambracino who lost $1.7 million in the fraud says the death is sad. when everything that you have worked for is taken away from you like that, it s very on top of the financial loss it s really frustrating to not know who, how, why, how long and in two years the victims haven t heard any of those answers. reporter: the death comes on the final day to file claims in the case he s facing pressures on all sides civil arena and the criminal side. obviously it s not easy having the last nam madoff. ruth madoff, reportedly living in florida is said to be heartbroken over her son s death. bernard madoff serving a 150-year sentence at a prison in north carolina was notified of the death saturday morning. his attorney would not say whether maff would seek to attend his son sfuneral. mark madoff s attorney calls his client an innocent victim of his father s crime. in fact, markis the third linked to the scandal. an investor and a british soldier who lost his savings both took their own lives. whahappened after? has there been any relationship? not with th father. we are told the last time mark madoff spoke to his father was that day, december 10, 2008, the da bernie madoff confessed to his sons. after that, both for legal reasons and for obvious reasons there was no contact. good to have you here. thank you very much. now here s jenna. now we ar switchi to politics and the big week ahead for president obama and the fight over tax cuts. david gregory is the moderator of meet the press. y, dad. ood morning, jenna. let s get to the proposed tax package. the senate is expected to take a vote tomorrow. the house sayshey are not ready to vote until things change. might the house be missing an opportunity to get a little bit of what they want before? well, the house democrats i speato in leadership say they are going oh attempt to change this deal somewhat. the poison pill here for a lot of house democrats is the revisions being made on the estate tax. they think it is patently unfair. so pelosi and others will try to introduce amendments. how much the bill will change, whether it will go back in a different form to the senate, this is going to be the process that grinds on this week. then the is also in-fighting among democrats. the president s base says he compromised too quickly on this issue, that he should have fought harder for what democts wanted. obama, on the other hand, said, i did all i could. in fact, he met with former president bill clinton who agreed with obama on this. if the deal passes because democrats didn t havehe leverage to make those changes, will this sort of vindicate the president in some way? well, look, the president s been clear. this is not the deal he necessarily wanted, but he felt it was a deal that had to happen because the alternative was too potentially costly to the economy. even preside clinton who was at the white house on friday said, look, you could have had the stand-off liberals wanted to push the issue with republicans. in the end you could have had more uncertainty in the economy, more jobs lost, higher unemployment rate and the president felt and articulat that, look, i m not in a position tdo that. the economy is too precarious for that kind of political brinksmanship and we can t afford it now. there was the issue of the deficit, a big issue for voters in the election last month as part of the reason the gop did as well as they did. here you have the republicans supporting a deal that wod almost add a trillion dollars to the debt. how is that going to sit with republican voters? well, probably not t well. there have been republican critics who said it s going to make it difficult for them to say, no, no, we get it. we re fiscally responsible. but they got the extension of the tax cuts. that was important. something they campaigned on. second, it is an important point. whether or not you can have this kind of package that is stimulus, that s a trillion dollars in new spending and, you know, the tax cuts but things like payroll tax deductions and extension of unemployment benefits, how you do tha and signal that you are serious about dealing with long-term debt because in two years in an election year do you think any politician won t vote to extend the tax cuts again? it become as question of what they will do to take on the debt. david gregory, tha you. thanks. we want to check on some of the other headlines of the morning. for that we say good morning to richard louis. good morning. we begin with theinal good-byes for elizabeth edwards who lost her battle with breast cancer last week. hundreds came to funeral services sunday in raleigh, north carolina. 28-year-old daughter kate called her mom comforting and courageous to the end. whe she could barely speak anymore, my dad and i sat at her bedside a held her hands. she just kept looking at us back and forth saying, i m okay, i m okay. edwards was buried next to her oldest son wade who was killed in a car acciden14 years ago. two explosions in stockholm are being investigated as possible acts of terrorism. one person died and two injured in an apparent suicide bombing. a swedish news agency reports receiving an e-mail threat before the blasts referring to sweden s involvement in afghanistan. veteran diplomat richard holbrooke is in critical condition after surgery to fix a tear inis aorta. he collapsed during a meeting with secretary of state hillary clinton. president obama said he and the first lady are praying for his recovery. and the drama was thick. few doubted cam newton winning the heisman, but the ncaa say his dad wanted pay for play and that cast a shadow. cam di t want to let go of mom as they hugged here. newton got the fourth most votes in heisman hisry. finally, oprah winfrey conquering her fear of heights down under seen scaling sydney s harbor bridge today with fans all dressed up. she gave theudience an all expense paid trip to australia where she s taping two shows there. just like oprah she probably has a few surprises up her sleeve. lester, jenna and mike, probably big surprises. we are taking our entire audience to 49th street in the rain today. you get to go to 49th street! you get to go whoo! and if you are lucky, 48. let s not get cry. field trip. that s going to be fun. we ll need umbrellas unfortunately. and a good sunday morning. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. it s cloudy and wet outside in the nation s capital this morning. temperatures 42 down town but 54 at andrews air force base and 54 at leonard town. 33 in martinsbu, west virginia. there is still a chance for light freezing rain across the blue ridge and shenandoah vall and then all rain for the rest of the day. turning windy and much colder tomorrow. watch out for potential ice on monday morning. and that s a look at your weather. now here s lester and jenna. thanks. up next, fighting to free her son held in iran for 0 days. josh fatell s mother ins us live after this. have you tried honey bunches of oats with real strawberries? wow. it s seriously strawberry. they re everywhere. it s in the bunches, on the flakes, even real strawberries in the mix. can i have some more? honey bunches of oats with real strawberries. it s delicis. nobody does it quite like us. 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[ snickering ] for holiday tips and recipe go to eanspray.com. it was in july 2009 that iran seized three young american hikers, one of them, sarah shourd was freed in september, but shane bauer and josh fattal have been held prisoners for 500 days. laura is josh s mother and joins us. thanks for being with us. good morning. shane s mom cindy was going to be here but she was snowe in in minnesota. both of you got good news this past month. you get calls on thanksgiving. yes, we did. cindy and i are soul mates. our sons have been detained for 17 months, so we are very much together. though cindy is not next to me this ment, we are together in this urgent plea to have shane and josh released. we were very relieved to g the phone calls november 27th. last time you saw them was may. you made the trip to iran. did you know the call was coming? we were hopeful that around thanksgiving we d get a phone call, yes. tell me about the conversation with your son. for both of us, it was two separate calls for cindy and shane and myself and josh. in my home, my husband was home, my oldest son alex and sarah was visiting us that weekend. so we all got to tell josh how we were hoping and praying for him to be released and then gave him great hope. i know cindy and her family did it also. just a five-minute conversation. did you get a sense of conditions, how he s doing physically andemotionally? the phone call haunts us. we found they are more isolated. we are happy about sarah s release, but it s one less person for them to talk to. you probably thought this would be over within days or weeks. we are at 500 days now. the trial has been delayed. it was supposed to start last month. where does it stand? it was delayed to early february. we want them home for the holiday season. we are yearning for them to be home for the holiday seas. we just hope a humanitarian release similar to the way sarah was released could happen now. the families would be so grateful. i know you heard aut ann curry s interview with a top iranian human rights official who suggested they may be open to the idea tt the young men are innocent. that hado buoy your strength. absolutely. we were very, very thrilled to hear this very imptant official from the islamic republic of iran speak about josh and shane. we are thrilled to believe that perhaps in the very near future both josh and shane can be home. 500 days is on monday. do you know anything about the evidence against them? no. our website, freethehikers.org documents what s been said about the case, but we know it is more than time. any investigations are over and we would be so grateful to have them released at this time. laura, thank you so much for coming. our thanks t cindy who wanted to be here as well. weather kept her home. we appreciate the time you have given us. oh, absolutely. i know cindy is just praying for shane to get home. the whole family is waiting for the holiday to be the most joyous holiday for us, too. thank you so much. we ll be right back with more after this. 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(greenery) who s the new guy? edible arrangements bouquets, beautiful like flowers, t unforgettably delicious, visit, call, or go to ediblearrangements.com i knew i needed to find a better way to support my daughter. [ male annouer ] at age forty, greg flowers went back to school. [ greg ] i got a job as a computer applications engineer. [ male announcer ] but now, some in washington want relations restricting access to career colleges and universities, denying opportunity to millions of people like greg, letting government decide who can go to college. it s my education, my job, it should be my choi. [ male announcer ] don t let washington get in the way. good rning. 8:26 on this sunday, december 12th. i m aaron gilchrist. we are following breaking news out of the district this morng where one person is dead after being hit by a car. police say the pedestrian was hit on south capital street near the exit for suitland parkway in southeast. 295 south at suitland parkway remains closed because of this accident. there s no word yet on whether the rain and slick roads played a role in the crash but police are warning drivers to be cautious because of possible slick areas. we will also have a li report from thecene of this accident coming up at 9:00. more than 100 animals were rescued from a burning kennel early this morning in hunting town, maryland. thisappened on neptune lane near wednesday avenue. firefighters say this when he arrived the roof was on fire. they put out the blaze in five minutes. unfortunately, four did die in the fire. the investigation is still ongoing. and one more traffic alert northbound 395 is closed due to an overturned vehicle. all traffic is being diverted to exit 1 at the 14th street bridge. forty years ago, he wasn t worried about retirement. he d yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn t focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investnts. to life insurance. to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. cl 877-242-usaa. welcome back. chuck, an ugly start to the day. yes, indeed, aaron. the one good thing temperatures are well botch the freezing mark around washington this morning. that s not going to be the case this time tomorrow morning when a lo of the puddles out there may have achance to refreeze so it s going to be a very important time frame late tonight, early tomorrow morning. for your sunday morning, though, clouds are inlace and more rain is on the way. temperatures are in the mid-30s across fairfax andanassas and also up to winchester. low 40s around town. mid-50s now for portions of southern maryland. more rain moving its way up through the roanoke valley all coming our way for later this morning and for this afternoon as well so clouds and rain moderate at times. milder than the last few days with highs well up into the 40s for a time today. tomorrow, though cloudy, much colder with a chance of some snow showers and snow flurries turning very windy and cold. a chance for a lot of frozen spots on the roads tomorrow morning even if the precip is done, aaron, a lot of puddles will refreeze. a full hour of local news and weather at 9:00. we re back on this sunday morning, decemr 12, 2010. s a soggy, soggy, soggy, rainy, rainy sunday morning, but it s all good. we re not complaining. who are we to complain? we thank everyone for braving the rain on the plaza. i m jenna wolfe along with lester holt. it must have just started. now you re complaining. i m sorry. i am. it s a soggy apple today. but it s n bad, right? we re having fun. still to come, sarah palin and kate gosselin united together. a couple hug tv stars teaming up for an alaska adventure like you have never seen before. the strong ladies will be portrayed as polar opposites but they have plenty in common. it s an interesting pairing. we ll tell you about it coming up. i know we are not complaining but if you will allow me it s pouring. it is. no! i m sorry. i was just looking over there. not funny. i thought iwas funny. i didn t. candid portraits. we saw pictures earlier. official picturesf prince charles and kate middleton show two dierent sides of the royal couple. there is an interesting back story to the pictures, so we ll tell you about them in a few minutes. then we continue the series on my first teen idol and it s your turn. you did the partridge family and amy did duran duran. mine was an obvious choice. michael j. fo we remember family ties, and back to the future. he was my absolute teen idol which is putting it mildly. i turned my bedroom into a shrine to the actor. my friends and family will tell you perhaps i might have gone just a little too far. who, me? no, never. it will be interesting to see. [ coughs ] stalker! sorry. wise y today. i ll take the umbrella. first, today s toy drive is in full swing. this morning we are getting a special donation from remington hair products. joining us is celebrity hair stylist richard marin. i can only walk as fast as you. hey, how are you? good to see you. merry christmas. what do you have for us this. we have great items from remington. fashion printed flat straightener and blow dryers. we have carried these exclusively at target and target.com. were excited to donate these to toys for tots. you absolutely need that in this weather. you don t realize that, but it s okay. these are adorable. i haven t seen these before. this is your first time donating, right? it is. we specifically wanted to target the tween set. they are doing their ownhair, creating styles on their own. these are fantastic. they are reall just fun to look at and girls want to be inspired to create hair styles. thanks for taking part this year. thank you. we preach wait it. happy holidays. thanks for braving this. going to ask mike about the weather, but i think we know. let s turn this good sunday morning to you. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. it s cloudy and wet outside. temperatures have been steadily climb overnight. we re into the low and mid-40s around town. we re heading for the mid to upper 40s for a brief time this afternoon ahead of a very strong cold front. you can see there moreain already moving our way from southwestern virginia. pack the umbrellas and the raincoats for today. clouds and rain moderate at times. relatively mild today. temperatures in the 40s. but much colder and much more windy tomorrow and in the deep freeze for the early p of course it s sunday and we have saints fans here. whodat? let s get to the forecast. who are the saints playing today? st. louis. sunday night football in erica, we have the philadelphia eagles at dallas cowboys. 37 to 41 degrees for the temperature. you know they have a beautiful new stadium. should be comfortable inside. enjoy the games. now here s lester. mike, thanks. it s a reality tv perfect storm tonight as two of tvs hottest families llide. kate gosselin and her brood join sarah palin and her crew in alaska for an outdoor camping extravaganza that s ratings gold. lee cowan reports. oh, my goodnes gracious! reporter: you can probably guess how this turns out. a gun-toting sarah palin. that feels good. reporter: givinguburban mom kate gosselin a lesson in alaskan wild life. there s a bear on theoor. was the tongue removable before? it is now. reporter: the plot is predictable. i m freezing to the bone. i m hungry. come on. it wasn t that bad. reporter: they re not exactly the odd couple because as much as tonight s show tries to make them appear to be polar opposites, i some ways they are very much alike. you could not be any more ex-ploy tif of the media than these women. they understand the media. they use the media. reporter: for sarah palin, the media is actually what emphasizes her brand. how s that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you? this is her way o reinforcing the message that she s part o regular america, part of the real america. reporter: kate gosselin is about as real as reality tv gets. i don t think you would see her bringing m gosselin on for meet the press . reporter: she remains popular. the daily beast named her one o the highest earning reality sr this is year. whatever is worthy of my time, i give my all. every day they pop up. rorter: she s everywhere and like palin makes no apologies for putting the kids in front of the camera. it is in their best interest. it s wonderful for them. we would not be doing it if it wasn t. reporter: for palin the stakes are higher than the ratings. may not make her look presidential, but it gets atteion. gets people talking about her. we re talking about her now. reporter: no doubt people will be talking and watching. t experts warn overexposu is a risk, too. for today, lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. reality paid off for the pair. for each episode palin earns $1 million while gosselin makes $250,000. here s jenna. thanks. this morning the officialhotos of prince william and kate middleton. they were taken just after the announcement of the royal engagement and they were shot by princess diana s favorite photographer. good morning. reporter: good morning, jenna. it s been a difficult week for the royal fily with the attack on prince charles and camilla captures and broadcast around the world. the week ended with aifferent set of images official engagement photos of william and kate. a couple in love, engaged to be married, snapped by celebrated photographer mario tostino, the fro tos were released last ght. stark contrast of the images of charle and camilla caught in a riot. after the surprise attack on the royals during a street protest, the questi now, does royal protection need to be stepped up? charles, how are you doing? the scriny the royals will be under after this event, everybody is now under scrutiny and how to protect our royal family. reporter: what will william andate make of this? william wanted the wedding to be a free-for-all celebration, inviting britain to party with them. they still want to plow ahead with making thishe people s wedding. that remains to be seen whether he gets his way or, of course, the royal family do. reporter: thealace want to avoid a wedding marked by protests and disruption,ut the royals aren t ones to hide away. the royal family want to be seen. this is pt of the success, what the british royal family is about. reporter: today, some question the timing of the release of the engagent photos, an attempto knock charles and camilla off the front pages. it almost did the job. ere are now long discussions in security and royal circles. the safety of the royal family and how to avoid scenes of this week are at the top of the agenda. jenna? thank yo up next, going to a holiday gathering? we ll tell you how to navigate the holiday party scene right after these messages. 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[ male announcer ] fidelity investments. turn here. you won t believe your taste buds. you won t believe it s fiber. benefiber. clear, taste-free, d dissolves completely. what a beautiful way to get fiber everyday. that s the beauty of benefiber. i m off to the post oice. ok. uh, a little help. oh! you know hipping is a lot easier with priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus, you can print and pay for postage online. and ian pick them up for free with package pickup. perfect! cause i m gonna need a lot of those. wow! i knew should have brought my sleigh. priity mail flat rate shipping starts at $4.90 only from the postal serve. a simpler way to ship. this mor on today we have holiday parties whether at the home or office there are certain guidelines to follow. from wt toring to when to leave we have experts with tips you need to know. first let s talk about the holiday house party. do you have to bring a bottle of wine? here with other ideas, style expert for thefine.com. allison, good morning. good morning. i have enough wine to open a bar with what people have brough you have an idea bring the wine opener. if you aren t going to bring two bottles one for the host, one for t party this is an electric winepener plus chiller for $30. comes together. it s fabulous. pull it out, put it on the wine, press a button zips it out. no finagling to get it out. you have an idea hereor coffee cake for after the party. bring the dessert for the next morning and when you look at dirty dishes in the si, it doesn t look that bad when you have a great breakfast. this is from mygrandma.com and also on qvc. the next morning she s ready to go. that s terrific. you don t feel like making a big breakfast the morning after. this is a great idea. this is available at jcpenney. it s fuss-free baking. the host says, can you bring dessert? so make the little cup cakes and bring the baby cakes as the gift additionally. it s a great gift. the george foreman. it s find your inner george foreman or panini maker for something sweet. if they want the chips and dips, crudite. nothing worse than bringing it, then she has to find serving trays and clean it. i found these from kohl s. $20. leave theerving trays as the gift. are these wasabi peas? i love those. games. don t rely on the host to do everything. bring the party with you. this is from knockknock.biz. this goes back to elementary school da. dysfunctional bingo, spit ball dart board. rate the wine or beer. and lastly, a variation on sweets. from etsy, everything is amazing there. i want to do somhing sweet. this is macaroon parlor. an homage to paris. bring it as a dessert for coffee. it s fun, whimsal and delicious. they come in so many flavors from caramel to peanut butter and chocolate. merry christmas. here s jenna. okay. thanks. now to holiday party manners and advice on proper etiquette. here we have a columnist from the new york times. philip, good morning. good morning to you. there are etiquette tips. if youre the host, having a party. maybe it sinter like now and it s gross outside. you come in. do i have it within me as a host to say, i think you should take your shoes off? can i do that? sorry neatniks, the shoes stay on. if we are talking about winter mud boots, sure. but people get gussied up for the party. if you have gone to the trouble to wear hot shoes. which i do. keep them on. you re going to have to vacuum the apartment in the morning anyway. what difference does it make? keep you guests comfortable. a lot of alcohol is usually served. everyone brings a bottle. is it my responsibility if i see someone drinking too much, is it myesponsibility as the host to say something? you d think that buying all the food and drink and decorating your house with all this stuff would be enough to be a host, but the other important responsibility of a host is to keep your guests safe. okay. it s a holiday time. pele have been to more than one. anyone can g drunk. if you see it, say something. it can be, jenna, slow down! no big deal. it can happen to anyone. as far as the perspective of the guts, we are invited to a lot of parties and we want to get to as many as possible. how long do we have to stay at each one if we have a number to hit is? for a big party, 40, 50 people, make sure the host and her best friend see you. in the morning they will talk. that s smart. if it s a little thing you have to stay 20, 30 minutes unless you are willing to use the babysitter exemptions. god, i just got a text. i have to leave. but you should probably have a babysitter a a baby. i have used that i don t have baby. i knew i was missing something. the other thing, do you have an idea of tips to talk about? you re in little soclly awkward convsation one topic that s safe to bring up? it s a hard thing to talk to new people. have a couple in your pocket if you re the nervous type. what gift does your baby really want this christmas? or what exactly do these kaashian sisters do? have something ready to go. thank you so much. pomy pleasure lester, back to you. now how to watch your weight. kerry, good morning. she s from women s health magazine. i went to four holiday parties last week. serious i m not sunoshing. how you stop it? t it s hard. have a ack. two slices of turkey or a handful of nuts before the party. you will cut hunger so you don t dive into the hors d ouvres. also bring a healthy dish so you can fill up on that. and choose three hors d oeuvres you absolutely cannot resist, eat them slowly in a conscious manner to avoid ndless eing. let s talk alcohol. in terms of choosing one that doesn t have a lot of calories, there is a lot of fancy cocktails out there thaare loaded. there are. if you can t see through it, don t drink it. eggnog has about 325 calories. a chocolate martini or irish coffee has 300. if you le liquor, couple it with club soda, lemon, lime, keep it simple and keep the calories to less than a hundred. if you know the bartender well by the end of the evening, ask the bartender to fill your drinks halfway. pros prosecco and champagne, they are bubbly. drink them slower and they are generally lower in calories. ge me tips for a host who wants to be kind to guests. you want them to come back the next year so it has to taste good but it s nice to cut calories. when you re baking pie crusts and cookies use half whole wheat flour and half pastry flour to add 12 grams of fiber. for cheecakes use part-skim ricotta instead of cream cheese. for cookies and baked goods use pumpkinuree instead of oil to save 900 calories for every half cup of oil. you like the idea of smaller plate spms people eat what s on their plates especiall in the holidays. give me a big plate, i will fill it up. 7 to 9-inch plates are better. also when people serve themselves they eat 56% more when they serve themselves out of a gallon dish versus a half gallon. benice. use smaller serving bowls and smaller flaglasses as well. great information. just ahead, michael j. fox, jenna s first teen idol. first, these messages. to the big apple twice as fast! dinner! [ garth ] we get double miles every time we use our card. and sin double miles add up fast, we can bring the whole gang! it s hard to beat double miles! i want a maze, a swor a. oww! [ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one and earn double miles on every purchase, every day. go to capitalone.com. i woer what it could be?! what s in your wallet? you won t believe your tastbuds. you won t believe it s fiber benefibr. clear, taste-free, and dissolves completely. what a beautiful way to get fiber everyday. that s the beauty of benefiber. my country tis of thee sweet land of liberty of thee i sing [ laughs ] oh, land where my fathers died and of the pilgrims pride from every mountaiide let freedom ring ou make me feel like i m living a teenage dream we continue our series my first teen eidol. for me it was all about michael j. fox and it bordered on obssion. with the resumé that screams overachiever. how do i look? reporter: and with a face that will forever be boyishly charming, michael j. fox was and is all things perfect at least according to a passionate preteen who tught she would marry him. i tell any girl to assume all plans are soft until she gets confirmation 30 minutes beforehand. they find this romantic? i say it with charm. reporter: the canadian-born hollywood-bred pint-sized superstar has been busy. actor, author, comedian, producer and after being diagnosed with parkinsos disease in 1991, activist. before all of that, michael j. fox was a teen heart throb. i was the teen. he was the heart throb. if there was one person that jenna was definitely focused on was michael j. fox. rorter: mom would know. my bedroom walls were coved with poster after poster of you know who. this was in 1985. the first one i got. th was the episode where michael j. fox and the family ties cast and crew went to london. was he brawny? no. did he try to be? yes. 400 posters and lest we forget a scrapbook with just about every published picre all detailing my little crh on michael j. do you want to take some things home with you? i have a box? i m okay. i don t want people to think i m obsessed. even my high school best friend remembers activities. she dgged me to secrets of my success at least six times in the theater. every episode of family ties and don t get me started on teen wolf. you are an animal! [ howls ] were we all embarrassed for her in high school? yeah, a little bit. hey, i can hear you. i m right here. my mom, my best friend. even her daughter. mhael j. fox. that s all i ever hear about. when this story was assigned i thought i hit the jackpot. oh, i met michael j. fox but there was a hitch. this is such an honor for me to be sitting next to you just to meet you. it s amazing. why? wait, you are michael j. fox, right? i . he still has that boyish charm. can i get a quick picture with you? would that be okay? absolutely. without us sha-la-la-la i did it. i met michael j. fox. sort of. not the oh, you wanted that michael j. fox. we were approaching it but we backed off. i e-maile his publicist about ten times. i m not sure whether he ever got my request. but the request was put out there. let s put it that way. obviously from what you saw i can deviate from who my teen idol was. i think he s feeling the love. if not then he s not feeling anything. we ll be right back after these messages. you can t read. [ grandma ] twas the night before christmas, and all through the house. whoa, at s grandma. [ grandma ] .nothing was stirring, not kara, not maya. how does she do that? magic. [ grandma ] .grandma loves you. [ both ] gdnightgrandma. [ female announcer ] be there to read them a story every night. read it to me again. [ female announcer ] hallmark recordable storybooks. this christmas, make itonderful at your hallmark gold crown store. [ pony ] she had a fever yesterday. [ elephant ] well, her pediatrician recommended new triaminic fever rucer syrup. [ dog ] so she ll feel better! [ female announcer ] with the #1 doctor recommended ingredient to help ing down children s fever. trust in triaminic. to help ing down children s fever. have you tried honey bunches of oats with real strawberries? wow. it s seriously strawberry. they re evewhere. it s in the bunches, on the flakes, even real strawberries in the mix. can i have some more? honey bunches of oats with real strawberries. it s delicious. nobody does it quite like us. time for a check on what s coming up on meet the press. david, good morning. good morning, lester. coming up, the tax fight. will a deal pass congress and what will it do to create jobs? we ask the chair of the economic advisers austin goolsby and michael blumbg is here to discuss his political future. our political roundtable weighs in on meet the press. thanks, david. that s going to do it for us. mike bettes, thank you so much. comi up, last minute holiday gifts for the last week before christmas. we wait unt the very end. that s the best time for last minute gift shopping. and the radio city rockettes perform ve. i ll see you tonight breaking news. a driver hit and killed a person shutting down part of the businebusy highway and busy streets. welcome to news 4 today. i m aaron gilchrist. and i m kimberly gilchrist. it s sunday, dember 12, 2010. aquick check on our forecast with meteorologist chuck bell who joins us live in the udio to show us the soup. very soupoutside this morning. you can barely even see the white house hyped us on our camera shot out there and it s very soupy all across the area. a look at rond reagan national