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X-Mas in Baghdad; Pilgrims Flock to Bethlehem; Baby Jesus Statue Replaced

Aired December 24, 2007 - 10:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Santa, come on. Not Santa.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: More like a Grinch.

HOLMES: Yes. I hope kids aren't watching. They're going to be messed up for years now.

All right. You're with CNN, folks, and you are informed about all the bad things people are doing out there, including those Santas -- no. I'm T.J. Holmes. Tony Harris is off today.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Heidi Collins. We have got developments that continue to come in to the CNN NEWSROOM on this December 24th, Christmas Eve. Here is what's on the run down right now. Treacherous travel. A Midwest storm blows past, leaving roads slick and homes dark. We've got the latest conditions from the weather center.

HOLMES: Also, a little town getting bigger. Pilgrims once again flock to Bethlehem after years of staying away.

KEILAR: Plus, Iowans fed up with all the cards and calls this holiday. Campaign season's greetings in the NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: Well, over the river, through the woods, it's supposed to lead you, what, to grandma's house. But right now it's leading folks straight into harm's way. You hear that? It's the sound of a weekend snowstorm that's wreaking havoc from the Texas Panhandle to Wisconsin. At least 14 deaths blamed on the weather. The storm has loosened its stranglehold a bit, but driving still remains dangerous in many states. And for many, staying home not exactly a good option either. Thousands of homes and businesses are without power from the Plains to the Great Lakes. Hundreds of canceled flights also creating long waits today for those holiday travelers.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, the weekend storm made for treacherous driving in much of the nation's midsection. In Missouri, look at this, this is the scene on Interstate 29. Whiteout conditions triggered a pileup of dozens of cars. At least three semis involved there and several people were in fact injured. A similar mess on the roads in Kansas. Thirty cars entangled in the pileup on I-70 west of Topeka. That shut down a 40-mile stretch for hours. And a massive chain reaction wreck in the Texas Panhandle. At least one person was killed in this melee. More than a dozen were injured, the pileup shut down Interstate 40 for quite some time.

And a reminder here for you, if the news is happening where you are, we appreciate it if you send us your video and your photo. You can go to cnn.com and, click on I-Report or type ireport@cnn.com into your cell phone. We appreciate all those pictures, but please, stay safe as you collect them.

KEILAR: This holiday season we're remembering the troops overseas and our Alphonso Van Marsh is at Camp Stryker in Baghdad.

Alphonso, what's it like there for the troops this time of year?

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, I can tell you that it's a little bit of happiness and a little bit of sadness. Of course, a lot of these men and women would probably rather be at home with their sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, cousins, uncles, and aunts, family members this time of year, yet they are here, they are here together, and amongst them is Santa Claus. A little earlier we had some time to -- spend time with the Santa who is packing heat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAN MARSH (voice-over): At the U.S. Army's Camp Stryker in Baghdad, Santa Claus has a bag of goodies for the troops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just want to see the troops, hand out some candy canes and make them smile.

VAN MARSH: And a necessary extra.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of weapon is Santa carrying today?

VAN MARSH: Carrying a pistol. His stuffed belly concealing a bullet-resistant armor. This Santa is an Army major who travels by Black Hawk helicopter instead of reindeer and sleigh. This Santa's visits to U.S. troops comes just once a year, but for many soldiers, it can seem like just another day at work.

PFC. DARRYELL RASH, U.S. ARMY: I think it's more difficult for my family.

VAN MARSH: This is Darryell Rash's first Christmas in a war zone, first Christmas away from home. But he says his adopted family, his military platoon, is helping him get through it.

RASH: We act like brothers and sisters, so it's like I am away from home, but I'm not.

VAN MARSH: Soldiers like Corporal Patrick Baird take comfort in seasons greetings sent by total strangers.

CPL. PATRICK BAIRD, U.S. ARMY: Lots of Chapsticks, always get happier just because it's so dry here.

VAN MARSH: Baird snows only too well, this is his second Christmas in Iraq. BAIRD: This one is a lot easier I think than the last one. My wife misses me a lot, and everyone is very supportive though. Everyone has been very supportive.

VAN MARSH: Troops assigned to mail room duties say they're doing their best to get holiday greetings to more soldiers faster.

(on camera): This is the final delivery of mail to some of the troops here in Baghdad before Christmas Day. Whether if it's cards, gifts, or letters, many of these containers will be full of three times the amount of mail that would ordinarily be carried on a regular road convoy.

(voice-over): It is a tough road ahead for many of these troops, with the military dispatching these men and women on 15-month deployments, many of them know there's a good chance they won't be home for Christmas next year either.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAN MARSH: Now we're here with the 101st Airborne, more popularly known as the Screaming Eagles. If you talk to any of the service members here, they cannot overemphasize just how much it means to get these gifts, many times from complete strangers, how much it means to them. If you take a look at this letter here, it is from the Center Presbyterian Church in Royal Center, Indiana, wishing you the best gifts (ph) of Christmas, peace, love, and joy. It's actually signed -- if you take a closer look here, it's signed by many of the church members, Norman (ph) and Carol Rhodes (ph), Lonnie Franklin (ph), Charles (ph) and Judy Settlemeier (ph).

Apologies to Charles and Judy if I'm pronouncing that incorrectly. But the point is, they want to let the troops know being so far away from home, there are people thinking of them, especially when you think about how many of these men and women come Christmas Day will not be with their family members when they get to open those gifts or be by the tree. I want to introduce you to one of the service members. This is Sergeant First Class Kerensa Hardy.

This is not your first Christmas away from home, is it?

SGT. 1ST CLASS KERENSA HARDY, U.S. ARMY: No, this is my second. I was away in 2005 from my daughter.

VAN MARSH: Well, let us try to open up the communication a little bit here on CNN. If you had a moment to speak to your daughter, if you could look right into the camera, what would you tell her?

HARDY: I would say hi, Mia (ph), merry Christmas, I miss you, and I can't wait to see you. I will be home soon for your fifth birthday and we're going to do something really special. I love you, and remember, I love you most and everything I do is for you.

VAN MARSH: And that's the sentiment we're hearing from a lot of service members here, a lot of love for their friends and families, friends and families who, again, will be opening those gifts and perhaps sitting down for a holiday meal knowing that their friend, son, or daughter is serving here in the war zone. Not exactly a fun place to be, but a lot of these people here are saying it's an important place to be. Back to you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Alphonso, thanks so much. What a wonderful moment. Make sure you thank Kerensa for her service. We really appreciate it.

And here is your chance to reach out to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all over the world. Just go to cnn.com to our blog section, and you can send your very own salute to the troops. So make sure you are not shy and you go ahead and do that.

HOLMES: All right, folks, you're just about out of time. This is your last day if you are one of those procrastinators. You have got to grab the last minute Christmas gifts, you've got to do it today. And you know what, the retailers would appreciate it because sales so far have been a bit mediocre. CNN's Jim Acosta is at Macy's in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This Macy's department store has been open for 24 hours a day for the last couple of days. Just to show you how chaotic things have been here, we talked to a Macy's manager earlier this morning who told us that there were actually shoppers inside the store at 2:30 in the morning with their children.

And so that is just an example of just how far shoppers are willing to go to get those last-minute bargains for their loved ones for this holiday season. It's also indicative of just how this holiday shopping season is shaping up. Retailers are nervous about skittish American consumers. They know that the economy is on the ropes right now. They know that people are worried about not only gas prices, but the housing prices, and so they are trying to pull out all the stops to try to get as much as they can out of consumers, whether that be staying open 24 hours a day, like this Macy's department store.

Other retailers are staying open until 10:00 tonight here on Christmas Eve. Everybody, you name it, is offering steep discounts on their merchandise, trying to get those last-minute procrastinators into the stores. And it's not just what's happening here in the department stores that will tell us how well this holiday shopping season (INAUDIBLE), as we all know, a lot of people are doing their shopping online. But even those online retailers are saying they're seeing a slight dip.

While their sales will increase -- there will be a growth in sales for this holiday shopping season, it's just not as good as it has been in years' past. And the same goes for the retail stores. The stores are saying that they're predicting sales growth somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 percent. That's a percentage point less than it should be this time of year.

But it will be after the holiday shopping season is well over before we know just how well the season did. It will be a tallying of not only what happens in the retail stores and online, but also those gift cards. As we know, this is the big trend in gift-giving. So be -- after the holidays are way over that we'll find out just how much people spent with those gift cards.

And so if people are watching at home right now, wondering how much time they have left, I can tell you right now, if I just listen over my shoulder right now, I think I hear Santa's sleigh warming up, so you're running out of time.

Jim Acosta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And we know that sleigh is warming up because Santa told us. He was here in the studio and he said they're packing up the presents, getting ready to go.

HOLMES: Getting ready to roll.

KEILAR: That's right. All right. We have another remarkable story, a remarkable recovery for Buffalo Bill Kevin Everett. He's back at his home field for Sunday's football game against the New York Giants. He was there to see his teammates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRENT EDWARDS, BILLS QUARTERBACK: We're looking at him, making sure that's the same Kevin Everett that we heard all about, and him being in the hospital and all those stories and all those updates. But it's pretty inspirational to see a guy work so hard and work through so much emotionally, physically, and mentally, that he's providing so a lot for this team.

ROBERT ROYAL, BILLS TIGHT END: It meant a lot, you know, because some things are more important than football. And obviously to see him be able to get up and walk around and have fun in the locker room and still have the enthusiasm about life is wonderful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You'll probably remember that Everett was temporarily paralyzed on a play in the first game of the season in early September, and now amazingly he's walking on his own.

HOLMES: Well, stay here, we have got a special delivery for some special soldiers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL HALL, AMERICAN RED CROSS: "Dear Soldiers, I'm sorry you got hurt in the war. Thank you for keeping us safe and our country safe."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Wounded troops getting an extra helping of Christmas cheer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm Staff Sergeant Feliz (ph) from Camp Taji (ph), Iraq. I want to say hello to my mom, dad, sister, brother, Richard (ph) and Sandra (ph), and also to all my friends in (INAUDIBLE) Beach, Florida. Happy holidays.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We've lost focus apparently here in the NEWSROOM. Santa is behind you guys. Santa is behind you guys -- Santa Claus is behind you. And they're working on the tree.

KEILAR: There are some with candy canes.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness.

KEILAR: Santa is here to deliver, and they are looking for their presents.

HOLMES: Yes. I guess they're under the tree thinking they are there. But no, Santa has them out back actually.

KEILAR: So this is really amazing because we saw earlier in a story that Santa was in Baghdad.

HOLMES: Please explain.

KEILAR: Well, because that was shot earlier. So Santa was there in Baghdad for that story, and that is the magic of Santa Claus. Here just hours later, he is right here in Atlanta.

HOLMES: I think magic is a good word.

KEILAR: Pretty amazing.

HOLMES: Well, Santa, can you hear us now? We were having problems talking to you earlier (INAUDIBLE).

SANTA CLAUS: As long as they are good comments, T.J.

(CROSSTALK)

SANTA: Positive thinking.

HOLMES: Positive thinking, yes, sir.

KEILAR: No naughty children, only nice children, right, Santa?

SANTA: Right.

HOLMES: So do you have all the wishes? What are they wanting over there? SANTA: Well, some of then want me to ignore them, so I don't have much to do with them in that way. They remain fairly quiet. Some of the others want to share some of their wishes with me, and so I'm hearing quite a few things. But this young man here on my knee is very pleasant at this point, really surprised.

HOLMES: At this point, huh?

SANTA: Yes. Now, there are young ladies down here, I understand, who have some special connection with you, don't they, T.J.?

HOLMES: Those two? I don't know -- who are those two?

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness.

KEILAR: So cute.

HOLMES: Are those Eddy's (ph) two girls right there? No, I'm sorry. Nobody is claiming those kids. Whose girls are those?

SANTA: Look at the camera.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness gracious.

SANTA: There you are. Can you smile?

HOLMES: OK. Somebody tell me whose two girls those are? Nobody is claiming those kids. Santa?

KEILAR: They're pretty cute.

HOLMES: That was a sweet moment. Spread the love, Santa.

SANTA: Thank you very much, and after all that is the most important word, all about Christmas, is love. It's love for your family and for friends and people worldwide, and especially all of those military personnel on duty in Afghanistan, Korea, other places. So it has been a pleasure to have a chance to visit with you folks, brief as it is.

HOLMES: We certainly appreciate you, and before we go, we're about to talk politics here, so I mean I'm sure you keep up. You get newspapers at the North Pole as well. But have the politicians been naughty or nice this season, Santa?

SANTA: Marginal.

HOLMES: Marginal.

KEILAR: Marginal. He's very politically correct.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: That's better than usual with the politicians though. Marginal is good.

SANTA: Well, you know, we all have to get along together.

KEILAR: And this is what we've learned about Santa. He is a positive thinker. He's a very positive thinker, and we're going to let you go now because we know that the sleigh is warming up. The presents are being loaded. You have a heck of a lot of work ahead of you.

SANTA: Well, if it wasn't for Mrs. Claus and the elves and all the aunts, uncles, grandparents and others helping me out, I couldn't accomplish it.

HOLMES: Well, absolutely. Sir, we appreciate you. We appreciate you coming in. And we did find out those were Eddy Williams' (ph) girls there. But we appreciate you, sir. Thank you so much and good luck this evening. We'll be looking for you.

SANTA: Bye-bye. Ho, ho, ho, merry Christmas.

HOLMES: All right. Yes, the caucus countdown now. These politicians that are, as we just heard Santa say, behaving in a marginal fashion this time of year. Just 10 days to go until Iowa voters have their say on how naughty or nice these politicians have been. The undecideds are feeling a lot of pressure right, even around Christmas time.

CNN's Dana Bash on the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Christmas lights are up, wreath is hung, the tree stands proudly in the living room with an angel above, presents below. A classic Christmas scene that could be anywhere in America, until you see all the mail from presidential hopefuls on the table. This is Iowa.

(on camera): I don't even know if you can count how many are here. How many pieces here, probably 20 pieces here?

MAYOR CHAZ ALLEN, NEWTON, OHIO: Oh yes.

BASH (voice-over): That came in just two days to the Allen household, and with Christmas approaching, it's barely read.

ALLEN: The biggest thing is, a lot of it gets ignored right now because we are focusing on the Christmas cards, on the refrigerator. We put all these cards up there, and then this gets just shuffled, paper that we usually get rid of.

BASH: It's not just the mail, it's the phone.

ALLEN: Sixty calls since December 1st.

BASH (on camera): Sixty calls.

ALLEN: And that's just the campaign calls...

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: And it goes, unknown name, unknown name, unknown name, but you know who these are.

ALLEN: Yes. For the most part, we know that it's campaigns calling.

BASH (voice-over): Chaz Allen isn't just any undecided Iowa voter, he's the mayor of Newton, Iowa, an independent. He gets special calls.

TERRY MCAULIFFE, CHAIRMAN, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Hello, Chaz, this is Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Clinton campaign. If you could please give me a call at 703...

ALLEN: I would explain to him that, you know, I have just seen Huckabee and I just talked to Edwards and Obama and things like that.

BASH: Allen says he won't decide who to vote for until after the holidays.

ALLEN: Oh, she's not in right now, can I take a message?

BASH: One of many hawkeyes not thrilled that the deluge of calls, mail, and TV ads that come with their proud political tradition is colliding with holiday tradition.

ALLEN: It is such an incredible process that we should all be a part of, maybe the parties should think about what's going on around the times they do this.

BASH: For the next couple of days, it's family time. Mail from candidates may be on the table, but the focus is Christmas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Dana Bash with the CNN Election Express in Des Moines. I figured you all would have the day off. Nobody is campaigning today and tomorrow, are they, Dana?

BASH: They're not. That's a great idea, T.J. They're not, actually. They are giving -- the candidates for the most part of giving voters a break for about 24 to 36 hours. Most candidates are not campaigning today or tomorrow. On the Democratic side, Chris Dodd, who has moved here with his family, he is probably going to have a campaign event later today and maybe even tomorrow.

We just found out actually that Rudy Giuliani -- call this a campaign event, look, anytime a candidate is in public, it's a campaign event, let's face it, he is going to go in New York City to bring some gifts to children and read to them. So we are going to see two candidates out in public, but for the most part it is going to be, give the voters a break day. HOLMES: Give the voters a break day. That's what we'll name it. I'm sure they could use a break right about now. I mean, everybody was big into -- we had a lot of endorsements -- newspaper endorsements happening in the past week or so, coming fast and furious.

We're used to seeing those. Everybody wants the endorsement, but an anti-endorsement from a New Hampshire newspaper against Mitt Romney, huh?

BASH: That's right, I mean, the headline could have been "bah humbug" if you are Mitt Romney looking at The Concord Monitor. This is really probably pretty much unprecedented. The had a headline -- the real headline was "Romney should not be the next president." It was an anti-endorsement. It came out yesterday, and it was pretty blistering.

Said that they essentially think he's a phony, that he has flip- flopped on several issues from abortion to stem cell research to taxes. You name your issue. It's pretty unusual to have something like that. Now this is something that's not a good thing for Mitt Romney given the state of play right now.

Again, nobody is campaigning for a day or two, but starting December 26th, it is going to be down to the wire. If you look at Mitt Romney for example, he is competing in this state of Iowa. He's now lost his lead here according to the recent polls. He also is losing his lead -- or at least now is in a statistical dead heat according to a Boston Globe poll that came out over the weekend.

John McCain is hot on his heels. That's why you saw Mitt Romney going after him all weekend. And there is another dynamic that we're going to be watching for very, very closely as the candidates get back up to speed, and that is Rudy Giuliani, T.J. He's somebody who was flying high in the national polls for months and months, throughout really the past year or so, now according to that same Boston Globe poll, he's a distant third behind Mitt Romney and John McCain, and he's not doing as well in national polls as well.

He has got an interesting strategy. He's very much focused on the later primaries, the February 5th primaries and Florida right before that. It's pretty much a dicey scenario for him because if he really doesn't -- does pretty poorly in these early states, it's going to be tough for him to come back, but he's rolling the dice. But it is going to be interesting to watch him over the next couple weeks.

HOLMES: Well, we shall see. It will be interesting. And you know we had Santa here. Can I put in a Christmas wish for you?

BASH: Sure. How about best wishes to all of our colleagues who are working on this day and tomorrow. How about that?

HOLMES: All right. I'll be there with you.

BASH: We're not giving -- we know it's give voters a break day, but it's not give the audience a break day. We're going to keep them informed no matter what's going on -- or not going on. HOLMES: No matter what. Or not going on, we did catch that, Dana. Dana Bash in Des Moines for us. We'll see you soon.

KEILAR: Desperate families refusing to give up, sending a message to their loved ones taken hostage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Celebrating Christmas in Bethlehem. There are bigger crowds this year. Thousands of tourists are in the holy city to celebrate the traditional birth of Jesus. And CNN's Ben Wedeman is joining us live from Bethlehem.

Hi, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. Yes, it has been a very festive Christmas Eve here in Bethlehem. The festivities have been going on since midmorning. Right now what we're listening to is a joint musical performance by the Orchestra of Ramallah in the Palestinian territories and an American choir that goes by the name of Progress Forward 2007.

But as I said, this is just the latest performance by a long string of groups of Palestinian marching bands, by others. This is, according to local officials, the best attendance for the Christmas Eve festivities in Bethlehem since 2000 -- the year 2000.

According to the mayor, they expect more than 65,000 people to come here. That's double the number of tourists who came to Bethlehem just last year. And what makes it all the more amazing is this scene behind me, Manger Square, was just a few years ago the scene of intense fighting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): The Christmas lights are going up, the decorations are out, along with a few local twists to the Yuletide scene. And Santa Claus -- there he is, hovers over Manger Square.

Bethlehem lies still this year, unlike years not long past when the second Palestinian uprising was raging. As the memory of violence fades, tourists are beginning to venture back to Bethlehem.

JOAN SCHAFER-TIPMORE, TOURIST FROM INDIANA: We felt like maybe it was just time, that things maybe had settled more, and that we would not encounter anti-American feelings.

JANE MCCAFERY, TOURIST FROM CONNECTICUT: The feeling is when people know that we're coming, it must be very dangerous and we say, no, we don't feel any danger here. We're happy to be here.

WEDEMAN: And Bethlehem's residents are happy, too.

HATIM MABROUK, VENDOR: If there is no tourist there is no job, so we hope tourist come again and visit us. WEDEMAN (on camera): More tourists are coming to Bethlehem this holiday season than they have in seven years. The only problem is, the tourists come, the tourists go, and they don't spend any money.

(voice-over): Most come to the Church of the Nativity, the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, to take a few snapshots, then leave. It's past noon and John Shaheen has yet to make his first sale.

He worries Bethlehem's recent past has made tourists wary of wandering.

JOHN SHAHEEN, BETHLEHEM STORE OWNER: It's more safety than a city like in London, because we don't have big crime. We don't have crime. We don't have drug dealers. You know, we don't have prostitutes.

WEDEMAN: His neighbor, Adnan, says it doesn't help that the town is surrounded on three sides by a towering green concrete wall, built by Israel to stop Palestinian suicide bombers.

ADNAN SUBH, BETHLEHEM STORE OWNER: Because of the wall, you see the wall around the city, many tourists fear to come to the city, they think they're going to Falluja, Iraq, not to Bethlehem.

WEDEMAN: And this is a town eager to put the past behind and have a merry and profitable Christmas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And the festivities here are going to be going on until midnight, and, of course, there's going to be midnight Mass that will be attended by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. He is Muslim, but, of course, his attendance at that Mass will be a symbol for many Palestinians of unity between Muslims and Christians -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Very interesting story there. Ben Wedeman, thank you very much for that report.

Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Brianna Keilar in for Heidi Collins.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Tony Harris. We can get this out of the way.

KEILAR: Our Christmas presents.

HOLMES: Yes. We've got Christmas presents.

KEILAR: Cluttering the desk.

HOLMES: Yes. Santa dropped them off for us. And you know, a lot of people are dreaming of a white Christmas, but this is just a Christmas nightmare in some ways, because a major storm has pounded the midsection of this country from Texas to Michigan. This was the view yesterday in Grand Rapids, 50-mile-an-hour winds knocking down trees, knocking out power. All across this region, tens of thousands of homes and businesses still without electricity right now.

This is the mess in Texas. Snow didn't last that long, but the travel nightmare went on and on and on. At least one person died in this massive pileup on Interstate 40 in Amarillo. The storm is blamed for at least 11 deaths across the country.

Also, weather causing problems in the air. Hundreds of flights canceled yesterday. That's going to mean headaches for those folks that are trying to get home today.

KEILAR: A group of friends out for a morning jog, interrupted by a pack of wolves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're so big and so many, and they started howling, and we thought they were circling us. And it got us really panicked, but we just kept screaming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Three women attacked by wolves more than a mile from safety.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Oh, yes, all the cute little kids we have here at CNN today, and it's also time to take a look at some of the most clicked on videos on cnn.com. Three joggers and their dog were surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves. Now, they got away by using pepper spray and yelling at the wolves.

A Florida couple is accused of trying to sell their baby at a car wash fund-raiser. Police have charged them with child neglect.

And a minivan hit a Chicago TV studio while the anchorman was on the air live. There were no injuries and police are looking into what led to the crash.

HOLMES: Well, wounded soldiers are getting a special delivery this Christmas thanks to some dedicated volunteers. CNN's Gary Nurenberg is on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALL: Are you ready to open some mail?

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, yes. More than 100 volunteers in Washington Saturday.

HALL: We're anticipating three times the volunteers we had last weekend, which is good because we have three times the mail.

NURENBERG: About 180,000 cards and letters on this day alone addressed generically to American troops recovering from their wounds.

HALL: "Dear Soldiers, I'm sorry you got hurt in the war. Thank you for keeping us safe and our country safe."

NURENBERG: The government stopped delivering letters without a specific addressee because of fears they could include hazards like anthrax or insults. The Red Cross stepped in.

NEAL DENTON, AMERICAN RED CROSS: All of the mail has been screened for biohazards by Pitney Bowes.

Everything that we want to make sure that we send to the soldiers here is uplifting and a very positive message, and that's what we're screening to do here.

HALL: "Thank you for serving our country. Merry Christmas, and stay safe. Your friend, Amy."

NURENBERG: The cards and letters are boxed and sent to military hospitals worldwide. Colonel Dennis Doyle has been on the receiving end in Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

COL. DENNIS DOYLE, U.S. ARMY: It really does touch your heart when you see and you realize how many people support the soldiers, the sailors, the airmen, the Marines that are over there.

NURENBERG: It touches the volunteers, too. We caught the intense look on Preston Jacob's face as he read a card.

PRESTON JACOB, VOLUNTEER: It's a little kid talking about how they'd love to be a soldier but they don't know if they could deal with blasting and people dying around them.

NURENBERG: Fourteen-year-old Boy Scout Matthew Oclander is doing this is a Christmas present for his dad.

MATTHEW OCLANDER, BOY SCOTT: He's in Iraq right now. And it's just -- I think it's really special. It's the least I can do for him.

NURENBERG: The messages are often simple and heartfelt.

JACOB: "Come home safely, merry Christmas, happy New Year."

NURENBERG: Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And it's not too late to send your own Christmas message. Cards must be postmarked by today. Just send them to We Support You During Your Recovery, care of American Red Cross, P.O. Box 419, Savage, Maryland, 20763, and you see there, -0419. And don't worry if you don't have a pen handy, just go find the address on cnn.com.

KEILAR: "Rescuing Youssif." The little boy burned in Iraq, you helped him get life-altering surgery in America. We are going to preview a CNN special on his amazing journey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HOLMES: And check this out. We have got a house made of glass to show you. It's in Lithuania, made of empty bottles actually, roughly 20,000 of them. Took the owner about 10 years to build it. Almost finished. He's now thinking about adding on. The obvious question is, what's the point? Why? I mean, that's the part we're missing in that story is what is the point of that?

All right. Hala Gorani, please, do you have any reason for why this man would want to build...

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, actually, I have a very strong opinion about it. Those bottles don't end up in a landfill, T.J. Have you thought of that?

HOLMES: I did not think of that at all.

GORANI: Recycle, reuse.

HOLMES: Recycle. We were thinking more like Guinness Book of World Records-type something he was trying to do. But we didn't think about the environment.

GORANI: I'm just wondering, where was the liquid in all of those bottles? Where did that all end up?

HOLMES: We don't know if they were beer bottles.

GORANI: Right. All right. Brianna and T.J., merry Christmas Eve to you. We have a lot going on, on "YOUR WORLD TODAY," and it's all Christmas-related. We're going to take you around the world. First we are going to go live to Bethlehem. Our Ben Wedeman is there in Manger Square. He's going to tell us about the festivities and I believe those are live pictures there from Bethlehem. It's a spiritual but also a political location. We'll explain.

Also, her majesty, the queen of England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, Queen Elizabeth II keeping up with the times and keeping up with 21st Century technology. She has her own YouTube channel, want to introduce you to that.

Also, Richard Quest has visited the Hallmark Card assembly line, the factory from initial conception to final product. Cynics say all our holidays are designed to sell things we don't know and designed to sell Hallmark cards. We're going to be looking at that. We will bring you all the other festivities from around the world on this Christmas Eve.

KEILAR: Nothing says Christmas Eve like Richard Quest, huh, Hala?

GORANI: Well, yes. Also, you are going to be interested in seeing the custom card they made for him. It's all very interesting, all very Hallmark. Yes, it's pretty cool. Hope you can join us, top of the hour. Back to you guys.

HOLMES: We sure will.

KEILAR: All right, 12:00 p.m. Eastern. Thanks, Hala.

Away in a manger, and far away from Miami, a good samaritan offers a great gift from across the country.

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HOLMES: We are listening to an international choir performance happening in Bethlehem right now, as we've been following this morning. Celebrations going on there. A lot of people going to visit there, the birthplace of Jesus. A very sacred spot to the Christians. And this is just one part of the festivities happening there, as people get ready for the Christmas celebrations across the world, really.

Well, we go from that to this. People keep stealing baby Jesus. Many happy returns in Miami, though, for at least one baby Jesus statue, snatched from a manger has now been replaced. Of course, the symbol of the season in more ways than one now.

Details from Reed Cowan of CNN affiliate WSVN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REED COWAN, WSVN REPORTER (voice-over): The Bal Harbor baby Jesus back where it belongs.

DINA CELLINI, OWNS STATUE: Well, about three weeks ago somebody came and stole baby Jesus. I got a knock on the door that he was gone. Obviously I was heartbroken.

COWAN: Heartbroken and in disbelief that someone would steal the statue in broad daylight off a busy Bal Harbor street.

CELLINI: I really was shocked. I guess I had thought when I originally put this up six years ago that it could happen, and that's why I decided to bolt the figures down.

COWAN: But bolts weren't enough to deter a thief. The manger empty, Mary and Joseph staring down at the hay when just before Christmas somewhat of a miracle happened.

CELLINI: We got this e-mail from Jeffrey Harris in Cincinnati.

COWAN: Jeffrey Harris, who heard about the stolen statue, saying something told him to step forward and pay for a new baby Jesus figure. Here is the catch, Harris is Jewish.

JEFFREY HARRIS, PURCHASED NEW STATUE: I thought it was even more important that I do it because I thought it was important that a Jewish person really stand behind, you know, the Christian community and do my part to really help make Christmas right for everyone.

COWAN: Jewish Jeffrey Harris made it right. He paid for the statue's replacement out of his own pocket, asking for nothing in return.

CELLINI: In Yiddish they say when somebody is good guy like that, they're a mensch, and that's what he is, he's a mensch.

COWAN: A mensch who made brotherly love a cinch, crossing a Bal Harbor road to replace a great gift to the manger, to make it right for his neighbors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. The baby Jesus statue is also getting a very special Christmas gift, a GPS system to track it down in case somebody decides they want to steal baby Jesus again. OK. In fact, all the statues there will be equipped with a GPS, also a Plexiglas security screen has also been fitted for the manger. Sad state of affairs here.

KEILAR: Indeed, indeed. Christmas in Bethlehem, a lull in violence there bringing large crowds to the holy city for the first time in years. You're looking at a live picture here from Bethlehem. "YOUR WORLD TODAY" begins in just minutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Greetings and merry Christmas from Kabul, Afghanistan. From Chicago to Philadelphia to New York to Hawaii to South Carolina, we want to wish our loved ones a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

GROUP: Merry Christmas!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Video, e-mails, podcasts, well, what about the old fashioned letter to Santa? Photojournalist Bob Crowley (ph) found a Massachusetts post office full of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The snowfall just really makes it seem like Christmas. The town, South Walpole (ph), is quaint and cozy and it's a place where everybody knows your name.

Stamps this morning, Bill, what would you like?

This is a pretty busy little office. I have been with the post office for -- March will be 24 years and I love it.

Confirmed delivery.

December is a hectic month for the post office. Lots of Christmas cards, lots of packages, we have lots of letters we get to Santa.

Letter for Santa. (INAUDIBLE)

Who is that going to? Who is that going to?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Santa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of the local post offices respond to Santa letters.

These are the letters to Santa, and Santa's helper has to answer some of the letters. There are some fun ones.

"Dear Santa, are the reindeers ready for the big night?"

Over the course of the month I will probably get three dozen or so.

"How is Mrs. Claus doing?"

She has got quite a list...

... Webkinz...

... Adidas sneakers...

... perfume...

... coloring books...

... Nintendo games...

... new Webkinz...

A lot of Webkinz these days.

"Santa, I've been medium this year. That means that I've been good and bad, but mostly good."

I guess we've all been medium good at one time.

Sometimes I just get some great effort, some drawings and photos. Brings joy to me as well.

We have a letter that we send. It says: "Dear friend, thank you so much for writing to me way up here in the North Pole. My letter carrier just delivered your letter to our North Pole post office."

I think the kids really enjoy getting a response back from Santa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That would be great if we could get a response from Santa, wouldn't it be wonderful?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seeing the letters brings you back to some of the simple memories of the holidays, and it brings you joy and makes you smile to see the letters from the kids. All part of the small town community post office.

Thank you very much. Have a great day. Merry Christmas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. A story here now of somebody spiking that eggnog just a little too much, and a little too much pre-Christmas cheer in New Zealand. Santas being naughty. Look at. It's all caught on tape, about 50 of these pseudo-Santas causing all kinds of problems at a movie theater. The manager of the theater says they ripped down posters and chanted out some bad words. Not Santa!

Another witness says they even kicked over a Christmas tree. Before leaving, the cranky Kris Kringles tripped the fire alarm, forcing everyone out of the theater. What a way to wrap up this Christmas Eve edition of the NEWSROOM.

KEILAR: And you know they are just faking it because they're very -- a lot of them were svelte. They were not rotund Santas. And there is only one, so you can't have a whole bunch of them just running around.

HOLMES: Thank you for clearing that up.

KEILAR: Just some Christmas logic here, setting things straight.

HOLMES: Thank you. That's what we do around here at CNN. We set the record straight. All right. The NEWSROOM continues an hour from now.

KEILAR: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home.

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