Transcripts For WRC Today 20101225 : vimarsana.com

ristmas day see the stree lights see the stop lights blinking bright red and green and the shoppers rush home with their treures hr the kids say this is sants bigcene and above all you ll hear silver bells silver bells sver bells silverells it s christmastime in the city ring-a-ling ring-a-lin hear them sing hear them si soon it will be christmas d y oon it will be christmas day hat a great i wld to start ur christmas morning. great music, and boy, great smiles. that was the award winning chorus from p.s. 22 here in new york cy. silver bells. our thanks to them for joini us on this christmasmorning. inside studio 1a i m lester holt with amy robach. merry christmas. merry christmas t you,o. i love this oup. a little ove a week ago anne hathaway was co-hosting e osca, invited the to appear, p.s. 22. they re going to perform at the oscars. i lov all their animated faces, they were just really into . i felt very much the christmas irit just wching them. like you re an american idol. re judging them now. we re so happy you re he. chstmas morning, what happens typically? well, first of all, it usually starts at about 40 a. because my oest daughter wakeshe entire house up and there s no getting anyone bk to sleep. is she trying to d it subtly? there s nhing subtle about her. we e up opening all the gts and the sun still hasn t risen. hoabout you? we re kind of anmpty nester. one home from college and the other one is working. for the second christmas in a row,ind of skype moment of virtua you know, and you re opening thpresents. but, it sll the same. it s all good. all good. re happy youe all here to join us. it is a tradition he at todayto sta our christmas morninwith you. and we have a loto get to including what s being called a magical garden and how is brging people tother on this christmas day. re going to show you how families across the country a celebrating th joyous hoday. plus tis the season for regifting. you ve never done that before, have y? no. of course not. what are the rule it s not always ey giving a presenthat w for you to meone else. so how and when suld you do it? we ll show you, andheuestion is, can you g awayith it? the favorite holiday films of all time. it s a wonderful life, a a christmas story. we re going to look at the most popular and also share with you our own personal favorites. that and much more on chris christmas morning. first let set a che of the 207tories with per dan ter at the news desk. good morning to you. goodorning to you at home. and merry christmas. we begin wit midnight mass at e vatican. po benedict xvi celebrated christmas eve at st. peter s basilica. the pope led mass with a prayer for peace around the world. the traditional vatican midnight seice waheld amid heightened security following lt week s postal bomngs in rome. and in bethlehem, worshippers gathered to mk this holy day. tens of thousands of people filling the streets ouide the church of nativity. the site where chriswas beeved to haveeen born. officials say a record cro made the pilgrimage thiear for what was one of th most peacef cebrations for christmain bethlehem inecent memory. a dferent scenen pakistan wherehristm arrived with mor violence and bloodshed. authories there say suicide bomber kille at least 38 peop, injuring dozens re. this attackappened as crowds wereaitingor foo in an aid distribuon center. reports say t suicide bomr was a man. ose reportsrove true, it will be the rst ti a woman has cried out a suicide attack in the tribal region of that country. > now back here at home, many americans are wakingp to a ite cistmas this morning. e snow was falng in st. louis and toughout partsf the midwest and southeast. may be pretty but the wther is also causing lot of pain at airports. hundre of flights have already been canceled. there are more canllatio expected tod as a massive storm movesacross thecountry. the wintry weather has not slowed down the holiday shoing frenzy ough. you ve certainly sn it in stores. crowds h the malls in stores in droves this ason. all good news for retaers, and for the nation s economy. businesses are on pace to tally the best shopping sean in at least three years. the national retail federation id spending could reachore than $450 billion thisear. now while the roker family enjoys a quiethristmas togeth, the storm syste will bring snow to the south. in t mid-atlanc more rain and snow expectedn the northwes bew normal temperatures in the northeast, andhe pacic northwest. that seattle and rtland. should be in the 40s. that is a look at the national forecast. now here a look at weather in your area. that s the new and for one day only the weather, too. let s head bk over to amy. eter, thank you. e business of running t country doesn t stop on christmas, and as alwa, there s plenty of politics to ta about. cnbc chief washington correspondent john harwo joi us from washington. johngood morning and merry christmas. merry christmas, amy. let start with president obama. he signed health care reform into law. he wanted tax cuts but he took whate called a sheacking in the polls and on the international front he fired genel stanley mcchrystal and was dealing with the fallou from the wikileaks scandal. how would you sum up the presidt s year? well, legislatively, he got a lot done this year, andut that together with 2009, but politically, he took an awful lot of lumps this year of course, you c point to the ate of the economy, unemployment near 10%, what s interesting, though,s that the esident has closed this year on a very strong note,espite that shellacking in the election. you gethe tax cut deal with republicans. each sid gave something. but eachide also showed to the country that they were prepared to gover and not jus fightnd bicker, whh is one of the things that americans said in the results o the 2000 electio they wanted. all right, les turn to republicans and democts in congress who, of course, will play music cirs at the first ofhe year. how would you sump the highs and lows of 2010? we, republicans kep s very disciplin opposition to th president, and i paid off fothem politically. it start from the very beginning of barack obama term in office. they held togher on the packe right through in solid opposition through the health care bill. d through allf 10, as they ran up to november. but republicans also now have got to share responsibility with is president for governing the country, and one of the challenges, one o the dramas that we re gng to see play out in 2011 is to what degree do they want to continue t confront this presint and his agenda? very unpopular on the be of the repuican party, a to whatextent do they want to show independence? you ow, obviously we have the republican party and the democratic part but this year we hea an awful lot about the tea party, and the impact it had onhe november election the dterm elections. at was their ultimate pact on the political conrsatio in this country? well, the certainly turbo charnlgd the republican turnout in the ection. ey firmed u republin opposition to thi president a put the issuef deficits and spending squarely on the table. which was annteresting diveence in this lame duck session ofongres that we just experienced. yes, they got aax cut deal through bu the decrats effort to pass a b spending billt the end ofhe year, that collapsed, and it shows that one place where republica want to draw the line is on spendi. now president obama says he nts to cut spenng, as he looks forward to 2011, 2012, deal withhose long-term deficits. we ll see whetr they can come to t. a lot of contentious, particular issues when you get to specific programs. and quickly, we can t not mention sarah palinhen we talk abt 2010. she had a reality seri, a new book, th list goes on and on. was she laying the groundwork, that s the b question, for possible presidential run? well, certainly she s ting to keep herptions open, and shs going to hav a big impact on the republican campaign, whetheshe runs or not. some of the things that she s done, the reality show, even the prominen of her daughter bristol on dancing with the stars are things that you wouldn t normally associe with a presidential candidate. could be problematicor her if she gets into the race and ies t appear presidentl alongside some of her republican riva. but, sarah pal has kept rself in t national conversation. she s made a lot of mone she has become a celebrity of the first order. politically, and otherwise. and i think you have to say she had a pretty successful 2010. all right, john, thanks. oncegain, merry christmas. you, to now here s lest. amy, thanks it was exactly one yr ago that passenger allegedly tried t blow up a pla heading to the u.s. it was billed as an attempted terrorttack that had a major imct on l of us. as umararouk an due mu tal a waits in federal prison the prosecutn is showing up its case against the alleg christmas day bomber. two more cnts were recently added to the indictmentgainst him, bringg the total to eight. the charges include conspiry to commit an acof terrorism. attemptedurder of 281 airline passengers a 11 crew members. and attemptedse of a weaponf mass destruction. if convict abdulmutallab cld face life inpron. one ye ago on northwest flight 253 fm amsterdam to detroi shtly before landing passenge heard an explosion. iaw the smoke coming out of his body. and you were the first to stand up and yell fire? yes, i was the first one t rert the fire. and the other passengers then stooup and started jumpi over, and within a minut or so, we saw big flames coming o higher than his face court documents say abdulmutallab detoned an explosive device containinpetn hidden in his underwear. he was subed b fellow passengers and flight attendants. his father, a prominent nigian banker, had wned u. offials about his son s extreme islamic vis. and though he w on a low-level terrorist watch list he was never put oa no-fly list. ratr an a failu to collect or share intelligence, this was a failure t connect and understand the intligence that we already had. so, what have we learned from the christmas day bombing attempt? let s brg in terrorism analyst. good morning and merry chstmas. merry christmas to yo i think and y must think how the wor would be mu different this christmas if that attempt had been succesul last year. well, absolutely. omar farouk abdulmutallab came very closeo blowing up that plane. and we tnk what type of aviation security measus wou have been put in place after that? and you loo at that and think of all the consternation over the n enhanced pat june, and imaging devices at airpos and that would probably b a differen argument tod, wouldn t it? what ironic is some of the things that were put in place i novemberere a direct result of flight 253 and it took that long to come up wh procedures t actually do something that ty thought made sense. but you think of all the debate and all 9 argumt over what haened last novemb,nd that would palen comparison if ight 253 you loo at these newaging things. are we better off now with something like what farouk had had be detecte under the new procedures? iwould ve increased the ances of detecting it. the ait equipment, as its called, mit havedentified omar farouk abduutallab. no guarantee, butt speaks to a bigg point, there s no silver bullet here. s all about layered defee. we saw the suspicious package of a cargo planendhat led to thought that these are dry runs. is all of this a reminder that th terrorist elements continue to favor aviation as their target of oice? appears to be the case. i mean that is still the brass ringor them. they were so successful on9/11. they continue to go after that sector of the transptation area buyou ve got to keep in mind at there are so many difrent plots that have bn uncovered over t past year by al qaeda central, by the affiliates like in yemen, and by iividua like we ve seen in thenited states, that it s very difficult to point in one specifi direction about where the threat s coming from. nd we dodgednother bullet with the attem in times square here i new york. again, it wasn t any surity procedures that prevented it it was just tha the bomb didn t work. so what does that tell us about our ability to prevent these things? ou ve got toave a little luck. you ways he to have luck in counterterrorism. you think out the three big plots over e past year, flight 253, the times sque plot and then targo plane plot. two of those came out of yemen and the other one was a result of paktani taliban. so is not been bin laden per se, it s everydy else involved. historicall our direction, ou fus has been the war in afghanista the threat i pakistan. but thin have changed a lot sinc 2001, haven t they, in terms of where this threat s coming from there s been aremends evolion. we ve seen the threat has evolved. it adapted. we ve seen indivuals bng self-radicalized now over the internet witho ties to bin laden and nowry bei to develop thecapability we ve seen the affiates like in yemen whore far more operationally active who would have thoughtn al qaeda affilte i yemen could twice try to attack t u.s. meland and yet we still have bin laden at large inside pakian. he s plotting and pnning a well. so it s aull plate that unterterrorism officials have deal th. what do they alwaysay? the terrorists only have to be lucky oncend we ve goto be cky all the time. that mantr still holds true after all these year thanks so much. good to haveou here. nohere s amy. lester, thank you. let s switch gears no to the upcomingoyal wedding of prince lliam d kate middleton. s major news in itain, but ishe monarchy even aigger deal for americans? nbc s lee cowan reports. reporter: is a quintesstially englishs the royals themselves. a pa the bottom of whi some claim to have found love. pub love, anyway. so a pub seemed a fitting place to test public opinion about the royal wedding. it s way morexciting than anything that wee doing. so why not be obsessed with it, right? reporter: here at the old kings head pub the fairy tale of william d kate is like cinderla on steroids. was so excited, because followed the royal family. and i remembe where i was when diana was wed. nothing s going to be bigger than this wedding. it everygirl s dream. reporter: this pub isn t in england. it s nealos angeles. a walk from the beac but this is the tale of tw pu. and the reaction to the wedng we got at thi one, the king s head pub inhe heart of london, was far different. it s great we ve got day off. is too much like a celebrity wedding now, you know. repter: how is i that we in the colonies are more royally rapturedhan britons thselves? i think americans love buying e dream or kate middleton and prce william. reporter: we re fascinated the royals in movies. love and will read any royal inigue. diana was on our cover of people magazine for more than 100 times. 0 times. reporter: we re a proven royal market, just days after the couple announced their engageme air and hotel packages popped up. americans mayhell o more an $100 million this year o tourism lated to the marchy li visiting buckgham palace. truth is they are le our distant relatives, only with a accent that makes them snd a lot smaer and a lot better mannered. but when i comes to the royal wedding itself perhaps the absence of a monarchy just makes the heart grow fonder. i think if the america had a royalamily they might think fairly differently about it. reporter: so happilyver after as crles and diana were supped to enjoy never came. and many aretill bitter. i think the americaneople are probably a little bit mor reistic about hum nature than the sti upper-lipped brit. reporr: in fact, my brits are opposed to theonarchy altogeer. and see a lavish wding in a bad economy as royally out of touch. it s hard to see taxpayers ney being thrown on the wedding. reporter: we have our version of royalty, too. the glow of paris hilto or david hasselhof may have long faded here, but in europe they remain as bright as ever. maybe an americaulture obsessed with thark side of celebrity, the rals offer something hopeful. no matter where youe from love. reporter: not pub love, but the real thin for today, lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. so tt wedding is in the spring. maybby then i ll have all the chstmas songs out of my head. do you keep humming them? it s the most wonderf time anyway, we have got a holiday playist to sing along with. take aook. jingle bells jingle bell rock wonderful classic pnist. my favorite things. whitney houston does aendition of joy to the world. it s not just joy to the world it s the gospelversn. i mean it s a get uand clap and, you know, praise the lord in church kind of so. are y listening alwa ring are you istening i m jewish iove the hanukkah song. i could sing tha 5 different ways. i like those old school holiday songs that new age artists have recreated. likeruce springsteen when he went czy. that one. i ally enjoy the mariah car carey all i want for christmas is you i can t sing, but she can. all i want fochristmas is you jingleells jing bls ngle all the way oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh hey! anyime i hear the alvin and theipmunks, because i member as a ki that was, you know, o of myfavorites. nothing says christmas. alvi joy to the world thlord is come i like james taylor. i like some jazz stuff. and i like chrisas cars a lot. onof my all-time favites is actually the nutcracker. dreidel dreidel dreidel. you made it ouof clay. i love all of those old school christmas sos, with these de, raspy ices. some of my favoris, chestnuts roasting on an open re. i ll be home for christmas. and then o course rudolphhe red nosed reindeer. rudph the red ned reindeer reindeer had very shiny nose now i m forgeing wt it is. like a light bulb yeah, like light bulb. my personal favorit little drummer boy, bing osby featuring vid bowie. a newbo king to see pa rum paump pump it s christstime rudmc. it s christmastime in queens, mom cooking chicke and collard greens. we want toay mer christmas and happy new ye. love that he remember that. tt s the best part. so what is it like a light bu? you don evennow it? the pressure s on. anjust pops into your head. thas what we do for a living. still to come on ts christmas morng from holiday music to movies, at s your choice? we ll tellou ou. but first, this is today n c. still to come on day, planning on regifting a present youpened up this morning? we re going to tl you plusoliday trip rgains. where to find the best dls you re planning to get aw this hoday season. but first these messages. no, don tew. i wasn t inking. i just thought, i want toive these little girls something. reporter: the first nightn a church basement, s women ma just four dress. but word of mouth spread, and communy groups got involved. then wt happened next, rachel o neil says she could never have imagined in a million years. boxe of dresses started showing up on her doorstep. dozens, then hundreds. montana. reporter: montana? anotherississippi. maine. reporte more than 100,000 dresses so far. ery few weeks, vunteer sort, iron and pack the dresses. and of course, w. eve dress we me is special. i ma it like if itere for my ownittlegirl. reporter: drees for girls, and now pants for boys, have been mailed to 16 different countrs, including the u.s. three years after scrbling in her jonal, rhel o neil looks around, and is amazed. it kind of makes me want t cr th s how i feel i really do feel nnected to these women. w are you? reporter: a jouey back to africa, it s a connection tha idges thousands of miles. lighting the eyes and the smiles of thousds of little children. chs jansing,bc news, trenton, michigan. a sdow of the wind the children know the children snow this that he will me to them to love snowngels snow angels he ll make aay and he will stay for a time for a time in the dk a shadow of a wing the childr know ts the childn know is hat he will come to them to let to let snow angel snow angel snow angel make a way and he will stay for a time at sime ande re back on this christmas mornin december 25th, 2010. how is that for a wonderful way to start the day? the chorus fro s. 22 rht here in new yor with sno angel. what a great group of kids. their brig smiles. their moves. makes y wt to sta doing that song. wan to thank mem. back inside, studio 1a i m amy robach along with lester holt. merry christmas to all o you. we re glad you re shang part of it with us. if you re under the tree right now i don t want to cause any problems butre youure the gift you re openingasn t been around before? we re talking about regiftg. it s a question a lot of folks, probably are wondering about. some folks are comfortle with the idea. others are not. and if you re gng to be regiing we ve got some essentialips you should kn. how not to get caught. plus,iz the season to travel, whether on the road o in the air. millions o americans will be on vacation in the next few weeks, if you have not booked your trip or if u re looking for a great st-mine deal we have both of those. how does my gift work? if you recved a new i somethg, digal camera, phone, something with aemory card, d you re probably a littfrustrated, how does it work? we re going t walk you thrgh it. that lks complicated right there. first les get a check of the top stori with peter alender who is at the news desk. good morning. amy, thanks. that does lk complicated. weegin with an oceanfront christmas for president obama. the preside and first family are celebrating this day wit friends and family in hawaii. mr. ama and his daughters ao spent time together friy relaxing at the beach. elsewhere, the brutal winter weather that s cripple trave in europe is easinghis morning. at s the good news. flight schedules are slowly turning to normal after ndreds of delays and cancellations left tralers stranded. snow and freezing rain brought airports across europ to a standstill for days. finally, bringing some christmas joy to american heroes on the front lines. this was the scene in kabul, afghanistan, wre american troops celebrated the holiday. they sang carols, lit candles. even got a visit fm santa claus himsf. an eimated 9000 americans are currently serving in afghanistan. here s wishi them and all of our men and women in uniform a very happy a safe holiday season. now here s a look at the national forecast. the storm system wlive atlanta its first whi christmas in a ntury. expect below normal temperares in the miest, the northeast, icago will reach a high of2 degrees withmostly cloudy skies and a chance for some snowfall. now here s the forast in your neighborhood. that is the ns and weather. now back to lester. all right, ter, thanks very much. this morning the story of christmas magi and how it is bringi two strangers together. here s nbc sichelle kosinski. take my hammer. all right. reporte the world of isi zagar is one partisan to s workshop and 14 yearsf unbridled work. i studied paintin and graphics, and it all is here reporter: in theeart of philadphia, on land once neglected it is like a universe game. rorter: now filled with bits thatere also andoned. watch your head. eporter: piles of glass from arou the world, discarded figures, things that isiah finds a million ltle homes for. so wt about tile and mosaic inires y? feelinghat tiles have been through the fire. and now will be around forever less they dispear into landfills. reporter: and that s where the world o r.j. bond colles. at lowe s in new jersey, oe he laid eyes on isiah s wk which has grown intohe landmark mac garden and isiah urals aroundheity featuring unsung heroes like this plumber. i said wow, someone could take all this discarded material and turn it int sometng that oked aming. reporter: heas inspired. realized how many pieces of potential are town aw every dafrom his store and others. we have, you know, broken mosaic mats, porcelain, to naral slate tiles. reporter: s he created a plan toive all thisrasho e one person who calls it treasure. if it wasn t for seein what could be doneith it, i never would have had the idea. receiving the gift i want to ke it valuable again. it s a win-win situation. we don t have to throw out any tile and put kt the landfill. if y stand in one place long enough you get tile. can you tur to the camer like that? wow! just loo at what s around you and s where it can go. reporter: from a local big box, a unique christmas present to thelace where broken is beautiful. the brokenness of it, my gosh is what its strength is. reporter: for today, michelle kosinski, nbc news, philadelphia. looks like a palace i know it s beautifu still to come this mornin regiftg 101. what to do befe you rewrap it. and sma wonder, miniature museumooms decorated for the holidays. but first ese messages. crapin [piano keys banging] [scraping] [horns hking] with dosits in yr engine, it can fl like something s holding your carack. let me guess, 16. 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( chirping ) > some of you may be waking up th morning, unwrapping gifts that may not necessarily be to your liking. instead throwing it in the back of your closet to ner b thought of again you may want to think about regifting it. eporter: well didn t he regifthe label make possibly. well, if he can regift, why didn t you he can gi? the present you unwrapped this morning could just be the gift thateeps on giving. i regifted toys books, ttle toiletries, and just makeup. reporter: polls show that a least a quarter of america have no problem regifting. regiing, oh, yeah. if you really can t use it, why not give it to somebody else? i wouldn t regift food. or, u know, anythi personal. but other than that, you know, ifou can u it, then i woul t feel one bit guilty ging it to somebody else. regifting? regifting. reporte what tops the regifting list? industry insiders saywines, ndles, and even candy are easy giveways. i tnk it s perfect great to regift it. joining us now with some regifting dos and don ts is lifestyle expert robin lono. good morning. goomorning. so in terms ofregiing etiquee, do some items make better regifts than others? yes, everyone hasifts they could regift,ike wine they id is very common. candles, as you can see, cholate, board games, ods, home pliances. the thing is if you hav the things y might not need them bu people wouldnjoy them and regifting becomes cycling. yeah,t s green. exactly. there are some items you say you should probably avoid regifting. what arethey? nything that personalized, monogrammed. yeah, that wld be a dead giveaway. unless someoneas the sam initials as you. if themade something for you, ve you a blant, or brought something back from travel that s just in bad taste. not sothing that seen broken or oped. sort of pay attention before you stuff it in a bag. you ve got to make sure you don t give it to theerson who gave it to you. that s sort of, you know, you di t enjoy inhe first place, you might think this person enjoys this, nowe s okay. you also say an important part o regifting is to take it out of the orinal packaging, and me it your own. well the thing i it s all abt peonalization. regiftg, people think it s a bad rd. but it isn t necessarily. it s just having a little thout like, you know, if y love the color, youknow take it ou personalize it, that s going to become, have some meaning. you say there are se things you can do, some tricks that if you nt to make the gift look more like you really put some thought into it, even if you are refting, what are some ideas for that if you don t have time to buy a gift, spend some time gift wrapping. like wine we said is very common. rather than put it in a bag, have a little thought to it, always have vintage scarves around my hoe. so what i do is get a vintage scarf, and then, you ow, there wego, and just tie it. that s rely two gifts in e at that pot. it is. because thecarf on top of the wine. if you re a guy and you had a vintagbow tie that could be a really good idea, as well. like that. give it a lite personization. if someone s crafty, little buttons you have aroun your house. recle ornaments. by tomorw you re not gng to be using tm anyway. spend me time with the gif wrappi, and thenhat regift has so much more aning. bottom line when it comes to regifting wh are some of the h. i got you thisor christmas. n uper cool friend. oh. i m notuying it. so i just saw how about that? all right. good one, lister. if you re looking to regift. again, it s all about personalation. it comes with a littl thoht and some gd gift wrapping. thregift has become the best gift they received this holiday season. super coolfriend. i love that. it s not flying. all right, robin, thanks . and merry christmas. coming up next, ba in time, a special exhibi on christmas in america. with the capital one venture card we get double miles on every purchase. so we earned a holiday trip to the bigpple twice as fast! dinner! [ garth ]e get uble miles every time we use our card andince double miles add up fast, we can bring the wle gang! it s hard to beat doub miles! i want maze, a sword, a. oww! [ male announcer ] get the venture rd from capital one d earn doubleiles on every purchase, every day. go to capitalone.com. i wonder what it coulbe?! what s in ur walt? [ younger brother ] oh, do you wt it? yeah. ok, we ll lit it. female announc ] made fresh, so light. .buttery and aky. this is half that i not half. ys i have more. [ female announcer ] do you havenoughrescen? and the life y want to live. with rheumatd arthritis, there s the life you live. ys i have more. fortunately ere s enbrel, the #1ost door-prescribed biologic medicine r ra. enbrel c help lieve pain, stiffness, fatigue, and stop joint dame. because brel suppresse your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infecons. serious,ometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, and other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorderhave occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctoshould test you for tuberculosis k youroctor if you live or have lived in aarea where certn fungal infecons are common. don t start enbrel if you have an infecon like the flu. tell your doctor if you re prone to infectis, have cuts or sores, have had hepitis b, have been trted for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, yoexperience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, palens. k your rheumatogist if enbrel is right for you and help bridge the gap betwn the life you live. and the life you want to live. the art institute of chicago, a small holiday tre is leaving a pretty big pressi. the muum s famed thorn miniature rooms, showcasing american furnishings for centuries are being decated for christmas and as john yang reports, i is a sight to e. reporter: at the ar institute of chicago they ve deckedhe hal for the holidays. but these roomseasure no more than two feet square. miniures painstakingly constructed in the 1930s on a scale of one ih to a foot. they depicturnishgs from the te 13th century to 1940s. this is the first tim they ve been alter since going on display nearly 70 years ag lindsay mccann morgan oversees the collection every morninge haveo clean the wiowpains of the room, because people smush their noses up to peerll around the rooms, and we welcome that. rorter: morganresearched the decoratio to make sure they re historically accute. the detail s remarkable. this is the col owian williamsburg room. there s ow onhe floor as if someonhas come in and stomped their boots off. exactly, extly. they re in a rush. they ve perhaps missed their hat and run in to grab it reporter:ecorations were crafted from arod theworld, ys from germany, hiday treats fromtaly and a wreath and misetoe fm south africa. rgan made others. probay one of the harde thgs i constructed was a pair of wooden clogs for the french room. i think the shoes probay took mebout eight hours, or two, thre nights of carving. reporter: holdi the items in the room also tooktime. garla going up the bannister took man hour as wells this room happenedo be summerti outside. so we had make it winter. o cool. rorter: morganas her favorites, too. i have to admithat i love the little dolls. reporter: only six of the 68 ros have been decoted. the mistletoe hgingthere. repter: in the fure the muse wants to add more each ar, creating a new holiday traditio h, my goodness. reporter: monique walrs first brought her children years ago. m daughter s always enjoyed it immensely, and now i m getting to comback with my grandchildren. reporter: a favorite holid stop for visitors ofll ages. for today, john yang, nbc ws, chicago. and we ll be back on this christmas morning. but first, thiis today on nbc. stil to come ontoday, thanks, grea gifts. how does itwork? frompad to your newaptop we ll show you how they work. plu holiday movies. what s your favorite? we rgoing to tell you ours. it s your fat. naurally, blame the mucus. ll, ian t breathe. did you tr blowinyour nose? of course. [ both ] and nothing came out. instead of blaming me, try new adl congestion rief. what you probably have is swelling due to nasal inammation, not mucus. and this can hp? it treats t real oblem of your sinus symptoms, ducing swelli due to nasal inflammation. so i can bathe. [ mucus new ail congestion relief. the right sinus medicine for the real problem. it s that chocolate it s that whipped cream it s th caramel, d espresso you mix in [ male announcer ] your two favoritelavors together. ew mccafé caramel mocha. you n do this. get the ba. get the ball, girl. hmmm, you can t do that. buyou can do this. it s the mple things. scientifically formulated bengay pairelief + massage with penetrating nubs gives yo the target relief of a massage plus the powerful, long-lasting pain relief of bengay. bengay pn reli + massage. visit bengay.com/relief foa $3.00 coupon ve the nubs! visit bengay.com/relief foa $3.00 coupon shake it up, shake up the hainess. (ho ho ho). wake it up, wake up thhappiness. (hoo ho) c moya ll.. it s christmas time ho ho hooooooo. rforming for children. you don t see african-american chiren playing the cello nodays. reporter: the williams cousins have been together six years rehearsing beten mic lesss, concerts, and, of course, mework. on thisay at chicags overton elementary, a surprise. a classical medley of michael jason tunes. reporter:nd words simply cat describe the reaction. you werereally enjoying yourself during that. yes. i was. i think it was really good. i never saw it. only on tv. ion t think i can pick that up reporter: but of course, that s exactly what the sugar strings wanthese kids to do. pick upn instrument. i think it was absolutely fabulous. itllows my students to say, you know what, all things are possle? he music was very othing. reporter: one o the students said your music was very soothing. three young musicians, transfming the way children appreciate classicalusic. one beautiful note at a time. kevin tables, nbc news, chicago. silt o holy night the stars are brightlyhining its the night of the dear savior s birth til he appears and the soul felt its worth the till of hope the weary wld rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn fall on your knees oh, hear the angel voices o night divine o night en christ was rn night divine o night o night divi fall on your knees o hear t angel voices o nig divine night en christ was born o night divine o nig o night divine o holy night holy night divine that was beautiful. certainly puts youn the mood for the holida, doest it? the award winng brooklyn youth choi singing o holy nit. i know we didurlay list a little earlr. that s one of my favore songs. i love it. beautif song. our thks to them f joining us on this christmas morning. they ll be back a bit later with one more time. meantime i m lester ht along with amy robach and merry christmas. merry christmas toou ando everyone outthere. today show tradition is spending part of the morning wi you. and we have a lot to g t this morng, including holiday travel. it s theusiest time of the ye. but it may also bringou some great bargai. if you re putting o a vacation because ofigh prices, we may have some good new for you, so stay tuned. also th tug at the heart and make usaugh and cry. we re talng about the greatest liday films of all time. all of us have our own favorite from it s a wonderful life to frosty the snowma we ll tell you our chces. and what christmas d without a cistmas ast? coming up ed bwn joins us with twist on a delicious christmas y dinner. i can smell it already. i ve been eatin so my holiday cookies thatre stacked around t studio, i m not sure i m going to have the petite. looking at that i probably will. bere we t to all that let s begin this hal hour with traditions. what would christmas b without em? this morning we want to share our holiday traditions with you. so here s the deal, and here s why this is trky, not only am i jewish, so there w no tree, but i grew up inhe caribbean, so there was no snow. so around christmas every yr was 85 and sunny, t a cloud in the sky. christmas in the caribbe so we had this tradion where my parents would fly us up t new york because thas where my grandparents liv in the middle of winter a weould get in the car and we would drive up and down nghborhoods ande would justook athe lights. basically we moved off oth people s cistmas traditions. but it was real nice. and i was a k and i d beike look, daddy, dad ilights, lights! merry christmas time i spent chstmas, every chrimas, in michigan. and not just any place in michig, but lake-efct snow area michigan. all th cousins would go, we knew where all the bes hills were and we would sled all day long and that was such a great memory fome growing up. l it snow let it snow let it snow so i rember it was just lik the earliest bedti er christmas eve d my parents would come in and say, you can hear hoove o the rooftop, you better goo sleep now. we always hat thate had to goo bedxtra early on christmas eve. my parts just needed time to wrap the preses. we have aluminum christmas tr from sears and row buck and tradition every year was, you know o saturday we do bring the box with the christmas tree out ani used t sit there and my motr and i would screw in the branches. and i didn t discover that there were natal trees until much lar in life. walkinground t christmas tree have a happy holiday a w tration we started las year, becausey oldest son now is out of college and he s mov on and worki tside the new yo area, is skype. you know, last christmasas our first skype christmas morng. having him in his apartment via skype opening his present as we opened the psents he gave to us. my mom staed doing later in my lif andhen she s been doing it with my children, is the gingerbread house. she has been making gingerbread houses with them every year and that s been really funo watch. i am blessed to have spent the holidays with my faly, which is the mostmportant thing, as long as you re with family, it doesn t really matter where you are. all i want for christmas is you it s futo look back. you sa your kids are wakg you up early. my brother and i would make all these noise oh, li, be quie you might wak mom and dad. maybe we ll have to go open e presents. after about ahour it worked. min isn t even that subtle. mom, get up! it s 4:00 m. exactly. who isn tup we ve got moreeminiscing to do. we need to get another check of the top stories. peter alexander at th news desk. good morning. good morning to both of you. rry christmas to you at home. just short time ago,ope benedict xvi offered his christmas message to the world, delivering it from thealcony of st. peter s basilica. th thousds of worshippers in attendance theope prayed for pee in the middle east, a urged christians inhina tbe courageous. in pakistantoday, a suicide bomber killed dozens. least 38 people were killed, scores of others injured after a woman blew hersel up. this attac happened in a tribal region of that country. authorities sathe terror atck targetedeople waiting for food at a distribution cent. back home a man with a gun was arrested at miami international rport. police say acreener detted the gun in the passenger s fanny pack. that man, the suspect, a -year-d florida man, was on his y to cuba. he washarged with carrying a conceal apon. he s now being hd on $10,000 bond. > now,o holiday shopping, and for tailers, this has been a very good seas. whether looking for bargains or last-minute finds, americans ha been in the spendingmood. the nationalretail federation says sales are up 3.3% fro a year ago. and analysts predict it may b the best shopping season. in many years. in iraq, u.s. troops we eated to christmas mass this was the scenet the military base in northern baghdad. americans attending the service prayed for peace andoped that this would be theast christmas u.s. troops wld observe in iraq. all s. forces wer expected out of that countryy the end of 2011. nowere is the national weather forecast. the stor stem is givin atlanta its first white christmas in a century. more rain and snow eected in th northwest. you ll lk for below normal tempaturesn the northeast. the pacific rthwest, thereou can see the temperares in the 40s, 36 degre in spokane. now here s the forecast in your neighbhood. the roker family enjoying a good holiday to the. that s the news and weather. let s head back to lester. peter, thanks gadgets and gizmosontinue to be the hottest holiday gifts thisyear. receiving them is onething. getting themo work can b anotr. here to helps mark mccluey from wired magazine. good morni. merry christmas. merry chrimas, lester. how ar you? i m eat. people like to get technological gifts. sometimes that initial setup is difficul wee going to start off with, we ve got an ipad and an ipod touch. same principle, right? the first thing you reoing to need to do out o the b is get conneed to your couter using itunes. so they ll be on the screen sort of a thing thatays hey, plug me in they ll come with a cable. plug it in. anthat s where you do, you register the device and do sort of the inial syncing and setup and then you re ready to start. make sur you have a comter that s on the internet to g you going. exactly, i you don t have that, they don tort of work out of the box until they phone home to apple. a great pc laptop th is this is the hp np 14, terrific lapto that we really like at wired. but with any pc, couple of ings that i really want everyone to promise me they ll do, inall se anti-vir software ight away. before you start doi a lot of different tngs with it. we like a program called avant, a great free prram. download the windows updates. it s been sitting in t store for eve a few weeks it might t be up to date. t might not have allhe security updates that hav come out. you really wanto mak sure and you get prompted along. microft will certainly say, hey. but please do at. because we want you to b safe with your newcomputer. the digal cameras have gotten so good here. the s a lot to know about how to use them. and you just wanto get out of the bo and start shooting. nd actually, i kindf love just getting out of the box and stt shooting. that s one of the great things about digital, that there isn t that ct of ting pictures, you re justort of taking pictures. thiss a canon 7-d. astonishingly awesome camera. takes video, as well. just start playi with it. there s no st. you re not just developing pictures. and sort of commonsensehing is read the manual. there s a ton of information in the manuals. boring! kn, but especially there are a lot of stings and a lot of tngs youan do creatively the manufacturers are prett good at letting you know. understand the sd cards tt go the sd ohe memory cards, when you buy it, make sur you re gting the right kind because there are a couple of different standards out there. okay. let s talk about video games here. talk about, we re goi to put you to work here this is a new onehat a lot of people may have uerhe tree this moing, ces with the xbox and it s this control? that s the xbox kinect controller. kinect, okay. youe now the controller. it a camera. t me have you come over here. and s going to see you there and we re going to say, go ahead, you re going to jump. oh, okay. wee using our hands. we re usi our hands. all right. the game. i doesn t quite want to see me here yet. okay. i m here. move forward a step. move forward a step. , move backwards. it s tling me to move backwards. move over and hold that there. all right. andive it second. hit continue down below. right there. h, okay. now you re going to b on a raft d you re going to jump up to start thegame. you re? oh, wow. and there you go and jump to make t raft jump. oh,his is cool. there you go. this is way cool. it s really an amazing technology it s a series of web cameras and video cameras. what would you need to kw abou setting this up? obviously it will come with instructions on how to hook it into the actual box? yes, plugs right into the xbox. the software will walk you through the setup. it s prey darn easy. there you go. gothem all. cool. this is ve, very cool. so you gethe box and the you g the xbox and tha just plugs in toour tv, with usuay an hdmi cable and into the power and the kint just hook right into that. arehese sorts of things hooked intohe internet, as well fl these areooked into the internet. they re pretty sophisticated compers so you are going to wa an internetconnecti. if you get o o these under the tree, my bihday s just a few months. mark mccluskey, thanks. rry christmas. still to come, deals and discounts. the best trave betsor the holidays rightfter tse messages. if your rang thoughts keep you awake. sleep is here, on the wingsf lunea. d if you wake up often in the middle the night. rest is here, on the wings of lunea. lunesta helps you fall asleep and staysleep, so you can wake up feeling rested. when taking lunesta, don t drive or opera machinery until you feel fully awake. waing, eating, dving, or engaging in other activitie while asleep, without rembering it theext day, have been reported. abnormal behiors m include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinatns or confusio in depressed patients, worsening depression, including risk of suicide, may occu alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, ch as tgue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects m include unpleasant taste, headache, dizzins and morning drowsiness. ask youroctor if lunes is right for you. get lunesta for a co-paat lunesta.com. sleep well, on the wings of lunesta. cozy upspread joy. there s no ory without a cast of characters, and just like we mix and mingle, o do the delicus tastes and textures invery handful of chex mix. we r made to mix. pride. pizza. sas [ laughter ] [ woman ] i m feeling that! [ female anouncer ] the special k challenge begins janua 1st. free personalized plans atpecialcom. what will you gain when youose? i ll be home for christma > thi morning on today s travel, holay travel. believe it or not, there are last-minute bargain to the best destinations to ring in the new year. senior editor of travel view is here. gabe, good morning. good to be with you. we re going to get to hot destinations for 2011 but let s talk aut last-minute travel deals. the are procrastinators out there. it s goin to be a busy ason so if you re looking for last-minute booking, what you best advice? ick your days wisely. at this point we re deang with high demand. pricesre going to be high over the ne couple of days, couple of weeks. thbest,robably the best odds of getting cheaper airfare, wednesday, decber 28th. and then come ck on e 4th and 5thfanuary. all the other ds erybody else wants to fly. let s move to 2011. mexico s yatan peninsula, it is kind of sprising for some peop, is it considered a safer option in that country? people are concerned about fety in mexico. well, rtainly mexico s dealing with an image issue that it s tryg to rrect. i mean the is a travel warning mexico relegated pmarilyo bord towns. when you look at the yucatan peninsula, cancun, aya del caen, the number one safet spot in mexico. veryggresse deals. mexicana folded earlier ts year, a lotf arican carriers have increas the service to cancun. so some phenomena savings. the ritz-carlton cancun, one of the w five diamo resorts in all of mexico $429 a night. but with a daily $300redit so use onmeals, spa treatments, so it becomes extra affordable. absolute. all right the next hoticks actually a cold one. yes. iceland. why is that becoming sh a populardestination? you covered ts at length earlier this yearith the volcano erupting. it causes aightma globally. really put iceland on the map. after the volcano settled, september an uptick i bookings to iceland. there is 20% increase expected in tourism t iceland come2011. delta wi be starting service ouof new york i june. icelandir will be starting seice out of d.c. in may. ncreased air availability. grear competition. lower airfare. there packes by the way from eland, $499 for airfare, a weekend,our starhotel, brkfast and a blue lagoo tour which is a beautiful geothermal sp and lava field in western iceland. all right and if you re looking for truly warme waters yocan he to bermuda. why this one? this is great sex appeal with her mud toda cruise lines are increasing thei itineraries. rol caribbean repling their baltime to bermuda run with a larger shipater in 2011 an for the airre ont, we re seei increed competition. american united, jet blue, continenl, all offering one-way fares as little as $69 each y. air tran starting svice later in 2011 out of baltimore a atlanta to compete with delt so again, greater competition, cheaper to get there. and cheap as always it seems,as vegas. well, this w on our list for 2010. we wer talking abo ts destation last year. nce en, 9,000 new hotel rooms have opened on the strip than to brand-new resort including theosmopolitan earliethis mont you can expecgreateava availabili availability. we re looking prices as little as $19 a night. ve staresorts under$80 a night. and big shows, 30% to 50% off. you can do cirque du soliel two for one if you re vising sin ci. gabe, thanks so much for ining us, and merry christma coming up next, the hoest-selling christmas albums but first this is today on nbc. jingl bells you ll shoot your eou kid. you kw where that came from? a christmas story. favotes? christmas vacation, chevy chase trying to get theights up. we re gng to talk about our chstmas pics. findut what yours are, as well. anderving up a delicious liday meal. chef ed brown coming up. so i nt back to my doctor again. we chossymbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all daynd night. [ an ] symbicortmproves my lung function, starti within 15 mines. symbicort will not replace a rescue inher for sudden symptoms it is a combination of t medicines and should not be ken mo often than prescribed. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines likeormoterol increase the risk odeath from asthma problems, and children a adolescents may have an increased risk of being spitaled for asthma problems. syicort is not f people whose asthma is well controld with a long-term asthma controledicine ke inhaled corticosteroids. once your asta is well controlled, youdoctor will decide if you can stop symbirt without loss of control, a prescbe a long-term asthma control medicine. be sure to see your doctor if yoursthma es not improve or gets worse. symbicort is good choice to help control my asthma all day a night [ inhales ] [ exhales ] ask your doctor if symbicort is good cice for you. [ale announcer ] if you can t afford yr medication, astrazeneca may bable to help. [ale announcer ] if you can t afford yr medication, [ stir it up playing] stir up a smile th hershey s syrup. come on. isn t it time an auto insurer gave ito you straigh that s whyou should talk to state farm. bunot yet. first, talk to a one of the0 million drivers who already have ste farm. 40 million. yeah, that s more than geico and progreive combined. by a lot. 40 million drivers. mo savings. and discnts upo 40%. where else you gonna get dcounts like th? call an agent at 1-0-state-farm or go online. progresso. hi. we love your weight watchers dorsed soups but my husband looks the way he did 20 yes ago. well that s great. you haven t seen him. my other can is ringing. progresso. hey can yotell my wife to relax and enjoy the ew? (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. what would yr yard look like? a mess. reporter: for the volunteer it s become a belove tradition. e ve got chstmas, easter and we have rake a bake. reporter:he ookfield high school bobcats call it tea building. it like a family so we decided as a family we would help eveone out. repter: they all agree, pete brady s project strenhens their community. we ve, where everybody look out for eachother. reporter: ait turns out the handy dandy handyman would be the first to tell you he s not allhat handy at all. but wha he is is a good organizer. and he s beenringin people together for the last years. anit s not just king. brady s core of volunteers does carpentry, electrical work, anything the 500-plus families they ve hped might need. to know that the s someo there like him, and his organization, to help you out, gives you hope. it gives you fait reporter: as pete brady has learned i started with ten vol teeshs and two clits and here we are with or 1,000. it totally amazing. reporter: sometimes the biggest rewards come from offering a simple che. peter alexander, nbcews, brookfield, connecticut. you better watch out you better not cry youetter not pout we re back on thi christmas morning, december 25th, 2010, with a look at the rocfeller center christm tree. inside studio 1a i m amy robach, along with leste holt. merry christmato you. merry christmas. merry christmas to everyone. it s a very festive day and we re gl you re sharing part of it with us. christmastime for you? eating. yeah, eating. always good. really. it s the lastchan. and then after that it sike okay, enough. hithe gym. b one me big day of feasting. still to come, whas the holidaseason without good holiday movie? from whi christmas toow the grinch sle christmas. this mning wll look at some ofhe best and tell you our favorite nd then right up lester s alley the perfect feast for ristmas day dinner. ed brown i preparing a quick an ey christmas day meal that everybody s going tolove. plus a special holiday performance fm figure skating champion todd dredge. that s all coming up. but first let g a check of t top stories with peter alexander who is at the new desk. peter, good morning. good morning to both of you. merry christmas. it ishaping up to be a very white christmas for my people this mornin fresh layer of snow fell near dianapolis. and it is expected to blanket a t of the midwest and southeast by d s end. here s a ltle history this holida atnta could actually get i first major christmasay snowfa since 1881. the snow may beantedut it is not exact welcome news at airports acrosshe country. ainter storm islready creating chaos for holiday travel. delta has canced 300 flights scheduled for today out of atlanta alone. hundreds of more flights have been ground or delayed. overseas in england, queen elizabeth delired her traditnal holiday speech, wiing evyone a happy christmas. as for pnce william and kate middleton they are spend\ing christmas apart from each her this year. kate wl be home wit her family. william is away on military service. now hers aook at the national weather forecast. you can eect normal teeratur in the midwest and northeast. snowing santa in many aces. chicago, 32 degre withmostly cldy skies and chance of some snow. the southwest remains slightly above normal with tperatures in the 60s and 70s. that is the news and weather. we re double dipping today. lester, back to you. all right, peter thanks very as hollywood rolls out another bah of holiday movie we can t help looking bac at the most memorable christmas movies ever made and how thi time of year sply wouldn t b the same without them. look, daddy, eve time a ll rings an anl gets his wings. that s right. hands down, forite christmas movi a christmas vacation. the tree, and grana. when the turkey just gets comptely ruined. looks gorgeous. and he scks the fork in, and it just probay my all-time favite is a christmas story. one of the things that really makes me laugh in that movie is ey get a fla re. ralphie spis the hubcab full of lug nuts and in slow motio he lets out this expletive, and his ther looks at him, and h knows he s in trouble. and iemember a similar scene when i was a little kid, and i let out aexpletive andidn t realize mother w standing right ere behind me. and i got theame punishment. ver forget the taste of the zest. ioved elf. i loved elf lik it was going out of style. 10,000 funny les in scenes in that movie. we walked up to that dinky lile lik disgusting coffee shop and says worls greatest coffee. and he s like gratd lagss, you did it rld s best cup of ffee. great job, everybod i love that. he s working at a deptment store and he finds out tha santa s coming and of course, it s not theeal santa. and it s a hilarious scene where he exposing this guy. i love a christmas carol. i alws d. as every kid was the ghost of christmas to come. he s lewaaah. it rely messed me up on christmas eve, sotimes. love, actually i probably one of my all-time favorite movies, holiday or not holida my favorite scene was this scene ere this guy is in love with his best friend s wife and he comes up to her house ande knocks on the door and s swers. oh, hi. w is it? t s carol singers. and h moves this cardsnd on the car he basicallyays i m in love with you, il always be in love with u. she runs outse, and she runs to him and she just gives him a little kiss. l he cared about was making su she knew how he felt. enough now. would you be sta claus? miracle on 34th reet. my girl s have gone to the macy s parad almost everyear of their lis. it s a fun thing for them to watch becse it new york city. the santa claus, with tim alle that movie, because m oldest son at the tim was on th kind of the cusp of,o believe in santa, d i not believe insanta, and in that movie santa kind of viperizes to go up and down thehimney and i remember him saying something to the effect of ah, that sow he does it. that mie helped keep santa alive in his memory a lile longer. here s some great fil out there. you c watch them every year and s like you re watching them for t firsttime. i forgot about the squrel scene in cistmas vacation. how about whe she wrapsp the cat? the are a mlion great, great moments in that movie. s gooto have a laugh. the rest of christmas day, i m going toatch those movies. up next a christmas day feast from start to finish. first these meages. i had this idea. to make baby food the way mo would. happybaby strives to me the be organic baby od. in a business like ours, personal connections are so important. use our american express open gold card to further those connections. last yeawe took dozens of trips using membersh rewards pots to meet withhe farmers that grow our sweet potatoes anmerchants that sell our product. we ve go from ing in 5 stores to 7,500. booming issing points to make connections that grow your business. it s that chocolate it s at whipped cream it s that caramel, and espresso you m in [ me announcer ] your two favorite fvors together. n mccafé caramemocha. witcinnabon cinamon have sh a sweet and delicious aroma at my family c t wait to get their hands on th. enjoy cinnabon cinnan. now in all plsbury cinnamon rolls. 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[ female announcer ] armin ultra stng. enjoy the go. and for an extra-clean finish, try charmin eshmat. this morningn day s holiday kitchen a christmas dinner fst tha you can enjoy any ti of the year. brown is chef and collaborator at ed s chowder house heren new york. also a senior vice presiden of restaurant associates. good moing, merry christmas. merry christmas to you. we ve got kind of a nontradition christmaseal but i think everyone decided because it lks amazing. it s festive food. i don t travel anywhere first of all, without my crab cakes or my shrimp fro chowder house. okay. great, boiled shrimp. crab cake it s a great way t start. our friends while we re preparing our nantucket-based scallops. this is the te for nantuckets. they re beautiful just off e coast of massachusetts. these are beautiful exampl. what ishis dish we re making? we re marining ts very ickly. i m squeezing fresh orange ow. those limes look really good, too. fre limes, if you have extra limes you can use them with your tequila. nictip, thanks for that. and then a little ust a lile sea salt this is kin of special kind. a slice of salt. so it s a little crunchy. like that and those ppers? jalanos. a little bit spicy ow. and if you cou start tearinme just some herbs. wha kind of herbs are these? i ve got mint and basil. d mint and basil are a great combination of herbs t use. you just sprinkle it on p. bare them, sprinkle itn top. asuch as you d like? there no rules? keep going. keep going. cover it s it keeps going. basically what s happening right now is that t citrus joyces are cooking that salt by a little qui cure. okay. we serve this in five minutes, it s ready t go. don t put this in- you just leave its its and let it marinate? just like this. leavet as it are. crab cakes easy to me? they e. crab meat, eg mayonnaise, old bay seasoning, mustard, salt and pper. that s it. coatedn corn flake umbs. and baked in the oven so they really tasteike warm mounds of crab meat, not fri or anything. okay. roasted salmon. anotherhowder house ecial, we roast the wholealmon,ut a nicepiece, servet with brussel sprouts. okay endive salad. very festive. this looks azing. you go pomegranates in there? endive, pomegranates and watercress. th for a main urse, duck meatballs with creamy polenta. that looks adventure. how toug is that? simple. you could make regar meatballs if you prefer. these are duck, por and ricotta cheese. creamy polen is simple to make and then for one of my favorit ways to end a gre holiday. yes. and i think i m going t like this one. think you re ing to like this one. drumroll plee chocolate uffle. look at that. wow. those are betiful. and again, i would think that that wou be way out of my league. here comes one lester come wow! sue fl the crab cakes, i don t know where to start. and what are youutting pistachio ice cream. just let that ice cream ooz right in to there. oh, that looks good. we ve been smelling these a morning long. it s been reallyard to stay downtears. i ve been eating treats all morning. and still didn t have it this is a great way to celeate. it s good to be with you guy on the holiday. what s the trick from keeng it from falling. it s so perfectly positioned. get your white nice and rm, stiff peaks. butter your sugar andolds evenly andook them a little bit slower thanou think. usuallthey cook 400, 425, we cook them at 350, 375 and the come up nice and gentle and if they ce up gentle they ll set as they re cooking how about if we taste this? oh, they r so warm. m. i m sorr am i blocking you? sorry. so we re celebrating our one-year anniversary at chowder use. hope everybody comes tvisit. also startg a brand-ne program at the wright, our new restaurant at th gugen heil museum. congratations. ed brown, thanks for joining us coming u next a holid treat on ice. firsthis is todayon nbc. forty years ago,e wasnt worried about retirement. hd yet to hear of mutual funds iras, or annuties. back then, he hadsomething more important to do. he wasn t focused on h future but fortunately, omebody else w. at usaa we pvide retireme solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments.. life insurance. to health care options. learn more with our free aa retement guide. call 877-242-usaa. his morning on today, it s a special holiday performae. ter today on nbc some of the be skaters in the world wl showcase their talts on the caesar s trite special, including six-time u.s. natial champion todd eledge. toddgood morning. great to have you here. thanks. you ve got a lot of talent in this show. what mes this one so special? well, mean, youpent so many different generations wh this show. it s amazing. from dick button all the way to evan lysacek from the 40s to now, that s, you kn, it s amazing to have all tha talent in one plac you come down to thi rin on any givenay around the holidays it is fille with people. why kating so synonymous with the holidays? t s o of those thgs. all the different norma rockwell pictures and erything you see skaters out there. you know, it s a fun activity for families when they get together, they can go a do and have a goo time this particular shows called a tribute to golden age of skatin is this in fact the golden age? i think so. you ow, withhat show there were s many different national world,olympic, gold medalists there that i really has been the golden age of skatin so it s been great toe a part of it. i moing to let you head out and set up for your routi re. i want to remind folks tt y can watch todd and his sting buddieon the caesar s tribute specialhat airs today at 4:00 right heren nbc. ladies and gentlemen, here s todd. jgle bells jile bells jingle all the way o what fun it is to re in a one hor sleigh jingle bells ngle jingle a the way oh, what fun it is riden a one-horse sleigh dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh ver thfields we go laughing all the way bells on bobtail ring making spirits bright what fun it is to ride a sing a sleighing sg tonight oh, jingle bells jingle jingle jingl all the w oh, what fun its to ride in that chevrolet jingle bells jingle jingle jingle all the way oh, what funt is to ride in a one-horse open slei dashing through the snow in a o-horse open slgh o er the fields we go ughing all the way bells on bob-tail rg maki spiri bright wt fun it is ride and sing a sleighg song tonight o jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way! oh what fun it is to de a one-horse open sleigh! jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way! oh what fun it is to ride in one-horse opesleigh! todd dredge ngratulations. wonderful merry chrimas. we ll be right back. but fit, the messages. believe again. shakit up, shake u the happiness. (ho ho ho) wake it up, wake up the happess. (ho ho ho) c mon ya ll.. it s christmas time ho ho hooooooo.. pre. pizazz. sass! [ laughter ] [ woman ] i m feeling at! [ female announcer ] the special k challeng gins january 1st. free psonalized plan at specialk.com. what will you gain when you los art with cook dough. add sugar. then hersh s kisses milk chocolates. [ n giggles ] [ female announcer ] n. easy. [ child ] wow. female announc ] at pillsbury.com. [ pony ] she had a fever yesterd. [ elephant ] well, her pediatrian recommended new taminic fever reducer syrup. [ dog ] so she ll feeletter! [ fale announcer with the #1 octor recommended ingredient to help bring down children sever.. trt in triaminic. to help bring down children sever.. ah, it s stinging a ltle bit mo than usual! ye, you ll get used to it. the nger you keep your high mileage car, the more it pays you back. get castrol gtx high mileage. it hps engines las longer by fighting the main causes of enge failure. i think a dime went up my nose. yeah, happens. don t change your car. change your oil to castrol gtx high mileage. itmore than just oil. it s liquid engeering. th does it for us on this christmas morning. we want to wish you all a very merry christmas. lester, what s on the christmas menu today? i m not cooking. i just eating. you re just showing up for dinner? it will be something great. i m sure it will. my wife s areat cook. i won t even a you about your w year s resolution. we ll wait till next week we re going to leave you with one more song fro therooklyn youth chorus singing a christmas medley. merry chstmas everyone. have a terrific day. e-bye. ding dong chrisas bells are rinng christmas bells e ringg snoend glori in el celsiugloria gloria glo througall thearth glory gloria gria the christmas a new creatio sing on christm night christmas creatn sing glor christmas gloria christmas somebody will feed you, help you find a job, we found thatf we give the a car, all of a sudden they go out andet a those thgs for themselves. repter: out here it s easy toee how car is anythinbut a luxury. wi almost no publi transportation opons, is a lifeline. franz makes it his business. onis website, in a bar that seess his office. even o a friend s radio show. welcome to the show. reporter: toulfill as many of the 20,000equests he recees every year he can. oh, my gosh. thank you, thank you, thank you! reporter: o of those requestsame fm john starks her father jesse one of the growing number of veterans needg help with transportation. jesse starks serve with the marines in vietnam. with nocar, he was totally dependent on hishildrefor rides. but no more. it s alyours. reporter: and for marine corporal todd cely, a quadruple amputeefterraq and afghanistan i ll give you that. reporter: the gift of a v with wheelchair li means independence. a little thing that i can do by myself i eoy doing it. ou canee the relief on their face when they ve got that car, now i cano to the store. d nobo s winning the lotry with me. there s no gold bars out there. just an old car we f up. rorter: but when it s from the car nta, it s a lot more than that. claire duffy, nbc news, kansas.