Transcripts For CNNW New Day 20141225

O Christmas Tree how lovely are your branches o Christmas Tree o Christmas Tree how lovely are your Branch Branches o Christmas Tree o Christmas Tree above the tree your we faithfully o Christmas Tree o Christmas Tree we faithfully unchanging good morning and welcome to a special Holiday Edition of new day. It is thursday december 25th, Christmas Morning. 6 00 in the east, im chris cuomo, along with Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira and were joined by the young peoples chorus of new york city. What a beautiful version of o Christmas Tree they just gave us, by the way, they have a new album called cool side of yule tide its available in both itunes and cd baby. We have a big show for you, were going to look back at 2014. All the big news stories. The disappearance of flight 370, up and until ferguson. So Merry Christmas, you guys, so great to be with you. Were also going to bring you a religious round table. Have a conversation about the role that faith has played in the headlines this year. And in case youd rather not watch a christmas story eight times straight, we run down a list of the movies you need to catch during the holidays. First a check of the news. Good morning and Merry Christmas, im alison kosik, pope francis addressing the plight of christians and minorities suffering under the hands of isis. The pontiff is calling for tenderness following a violenceplagued year. Lets get to john allen, live on the ground in rome. John . Hi, allison, youre right, pope francis is delivering his traditional christmas message, known as the urbi et orbi message. The pope is calling for an end to what he described as a brutal persecution in iraq and syria. That he said has gone on for far too long. This caps what has been a message of outreach to the victims of persecution in the middle east by the pope this christmas time. On tuesday he released an open letter to those christians, calling for an end to the violence thats plaguing them. Last night in a surprise gesture, he made a phone call to People Living in a refugee camp living outside erbil. In addition hes expressing consolation and hope to victims of violence elsewhere, including the Central African republic in congo and expressing sympathy for victims of the ebola virus and for children living under conditions of hardship. Its a message of consolation and hope on Christmas Day, allison. John allen, liven in rome. Midnight mass in new york offering reassurance to a troubled city, the cardinal noting the presence of new york city mayor bill de blasio and governor andrew cuomo. Dolan addressed the tensions in the city between protesters calling for Police Reform and those mourning the murder of two Police Officers. Dolan called those killings senseless and irrational in his homily. He urged political leaders to quote invite us to dialogue, to listen instead of shouting. Violence erupting in berkeley, missouri, right outside ferguson, where a teen was shot dead bay cop tuesday night. Demonstrators swarmed a gas station where Antonio Martin was gunned down. Demonstrators held a diein and blocked a highway. Several angles of Surveillance Video have been released of the confrontation between martin and police, it appears to show the teen pointing what looks like a gun at the officer. A weapon was recovered at the scene. Former president , george h. W. Bush remains hospitalized this morning. But aides say the 90yearold father of george w. Bush had a good day on wednesday, the elder bush was taken to a houston hospital tuesday night suffering shortness of breath. He was hospitalized in 2012 in bronchitis and took two months to recover. But the chief of staff tells cnn this is not two years ago, gene becker says its a hiccup, he should come home in a few days. The comedy the interview set to hit about 300 movie theaters across the u. S. Today. President obama, whos vacationing in hawaii for the holidays says hes happy sony had a change of heart. Im glad its being released. Merry christmas, everybody. Sellouts are being reported at some theaters that have decided to show the movie. If you cant see it in theaters, check it out online. Its now streaming for a price on several sites, including youtube, google play and the Microsoft Xbox video game console. A few of the kids calling norads Santa Tracker hotline got an unexpected christmas present, phone time with first Lady Michelle obama. The fifth year mrs. Obama has answered the call. She spent a lot of time on the phone talking to a few kids. She told children exactly where santa was and that he would arrive at their homes just after they went to sleep. Those are your news headlines, now back to a special Holiday Edition of new day. What do you say we begin this morning by talking about the role of faith in some of the biggest headlines of the year. We have a very special group of wise people with us. Father dave dwyer host of the busted halo show on sirius xm and reverend christine lee, the vicar for all angels church. And also the first woman, right, ordained within the episcopal church. True. First koreanamerican woman. You qualify. Great to have all three of you here, Merry Christmas. Lets go through three big topics, the first is lets deal with whats happening right now. The movements for justice. That we saw coming out of the nonindictments and grand juries in ferguson, missouri and of course eric garner and other cases. Lets start with that. Do you see god, father in whats going on with these protests in this supposed dialogue of social justice. I see god, i see a role for people of faith. Not just people of the cloth. That is, that theres so many dimensions of the situation and a lot of people in society i think gravitate to focusing on the facts and the grand jury. I myself was poring over the grand jurys transcripts going what really happened . When as people of faith we realize that sometimes the presenting issue and the facts is just the surface, we need to get at peoples heart so i believe certainly as ministers we are trained to listen and go beyond that and say i hear that youre hurting, regardless of what the jury convicts or not, we need to be sensitive to peoples emotions. In ferguson, when we were there during the early protests that turned into riots, a big distinction between those two things there were a although lot of clergy there, the main purpose was organizing against the violence. It did seem there was a vacuum of leadership, not to blame them, but just a need. What is the need . How do you talk to people with such a reason for outrage and let them see something past that its very hard. Its very difficult. First of all, historically, we affirm and believe in the right to protest. I mean as americans, thats a value, thats a core value. These protests are good. As long as theyre nonviolent. I support them, i pray for the protesters, im excited that theyre passionate about what theyre talking about. And theyre expressing their feelings in a peaceful way. The problem comes in when we begin to cast blame and we begin to say, we want to change this. We want to change that. And we have to understand that the only way that those things are going to change is we unify around the set of core values as americans. And come together and there is, therein lies the role of faith. I believe that god would use people of faith, people of god whl, particularly the clergy to bring people together in a peaceful way to allow a meaningful dialogue to happen. Right now were not having it. Weve got people on one side, people on the other side. Its hard in the moment. Its hard in the moment. Because people feel theyre not being heard and that takes me to another aspect of this, reverend, is that the members of people of faith there were saying hey listen, also you have to learn to forgive in situations and there have a lot of people certainly africanamerican people who are saying, im tired of forgiving, ire not going to forgive. Yes, i believe, im not forgiving, this system is broken, theyre coming after us, theyre targeting us. How do you bridge that when there is real reasonable basis for their feelings and hostility . How do you bridge that this. I think theres a couple things. I think one is of course the role of forgiveness is huge and as christians we have the story of jesus on the cross, while hes being executed, praying for his enemies, praying for his killers. In faith communities, especially in protests, we have to give people space for the anger and the grief. As well as calling people to forgiveness, theres a communal kind of richness of our traditions, even if you look at the songs, theres room for lament. Theres room for corporate confession, theres also room for celebration. And i think theres something very humanizing about being able to acknowledge all of those experiences and saying theyre absolutely valid. But this is human, too. If you stay in the place of anger, you become less human. There has to be a bridge between the head and the heart. The question is how does faith does do that. Lets do it on a different topic. The role of negotiating a relationship with islam that were going through in the United States right now with tons of prejudice. I think one moment captures it very well with bill maher on his show with ben affleck. Do you remember this . Because its gross, its racist. But its so not. Its like saying its so not. Like saying youre a shifty jew. Youre not listening to what were saying. How can you have more than a billion people, who just want to wait a second. Who youre saying all muslims. I are painting a broad brush. The whole religion with that brush. Youre saying that the idea that someone should be killed if they leave the islamic religion is just a few bad apples . The people who would actually believe in an act that you murder somebody if they is not the majority of muslims at all. We see the first problem demonstrated there when it comes to faith, you talk at each other, not to each other. At the same time it deals with what is this faith. Is it different from the majority christian aspect or Judeo Christian ethic we have here. Father, ill start with you. Reverend what do you say, youre hearing it from your congregants, youre hearing people say, theyre not like us, these are violent angry people we have here. Like christians are held blameless when it comes to that. What do you say . First of all, you have to know the koran. Religions are based on their core beliefs, their holy book, their doctrine. If you really know the crayon, a lot of whats being said is not critique, its true. And thats really scary. Now, people, islamic theologians. Different from the Old Testament . Yes. You put it in the context of the stories and the narratives, right. The holy bible as we see it is a book written by god, the koran is a book about god. And so it was written from the prophet mohammeds point of view. And in there are two halves, two distinct halves in how hes writing. The first half hes reaching out and hes peaceful, hes trying to reconcile things. And the second half hes pretty angry. You know and hes, hes saying well, we need to, we cant reconcile, we need to take over. We need to eliminate those who are infidels or who are not believers. But lets juxtapose that. Theres good reason to believe that much of islam was modeled on judaism and christianity. Both in history and just empirically. You look at the bible, you can flip it the same way. In the koran he starts peaceful and gets angry. In the bible he starts angry and gets peaceful. In america were people of many different religions, races and back grounds. There was a time not long ago when the church i was live at were founded in the 19th century when catholics were looked at kind of askance, still are in some places. Certainly i dont know particularly because of todays global media were at that same level. Its a lot worse. But we were certainly the victim of misunderstanding, people saying thats not really christianity, dont really believe in the same god. I see a lot of that happening now. Youre right, the violence is painted just as easily on christians and catholics down through the ages. Lets end on that. Its not. Is that islam is being looked at in a way that we havent experienced in our lifetimes. Within generations, actually. Of faith being condemned for its actions. What is your message . I would say, im always reminded of the words of alexander solzenitsin. If only it was so simple to put all the bad people over there and divide them from us. His last question was, who is willing to destroy a part of his own heart. I feel like when we begin to say theres them evil people and us good people, i think thats when you move away from what the heart of faith really is about. And to be sure, at best, you have a broken halo. To borrow from your show, i couldnt give you all the credit, father. Thank you to all three of you for the perspective. We need it now. As we talk about the year here, 2014, certainly filled with just unforgettable news stories. No question. And as you know, cnn, we were there for all of them. Flight 370, ebola, ferguson. Were going to reflect on the year that was when our special Holiday Edition of new day continues. But first, whats better than this . Lets listen to the young peoples chorus of new york city and their rendition of joy to the world. Joy to the world the lord is come let earth receive her king let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing and heaven and heaven and nature sing he rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations rule the glories of his love and righteousness and wonders of his love and wonders and wonders of his love rocks, hills and glades repeat the sounding joy repeat the sounding joy repeat, repeat the sounding repeat the sounding joy to the world lets bring joy into the world repeat the sounding joy repeat the sounding joy volkswagen. Like the sporty, advanced new jetta. And the 2015 motor trend car of the year allnew golf. If youre wishing for a new volkswagen this season. Just about all you need is a finely tuned. Pen. Get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first months payment on select new volkswagen models. You never dwell on how you dont it was made. Ut it. Its just a blanket after all. But when Everything Else has been lost, the comfort it provides is immeasurable. The america red cross brings hope and help to people in need every 8 minutes, every day. So this season give something that means something. Support us at redcross. Org i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. Because it gives me. Zero heartburn prilosec otc. The number 1 doctorrecommended frequent heartburn medicine for 9 straight years. One pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Welcome back to a special christmas edition of new day. From the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 to the protests in ferguson and new york, we look at the biggest news stories defining 2014. Lets bring in managing editor of quartz and cnn gloeshl affairs analyst, bobby ghosh. Lets talk about the stories that were big globally and how the rest of the world covered them. Starting with the mystery that had us so captivated for weeks on end and that was the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370. How did the rest of the world see that . Thats one story thats human, eternal and universal. The same suspense and mystification we felt about it was felt around the world. People everywhere were amazed that this day and age, which all the technology, with the ability of governments and security institutions to tell where you and i are based on where were using our cell phone, that an entire airliner with 240 odd people on board could just vanish into the mist and now its been you know, six, eight months since then and still, not a trace. So thats sort of Bermuda Triangle mystery is very universal and people, whether they were in far mongolia or in, in south america felt the same astonishingment as well as the deep human tragedy of the families not knowing what came of their dear ones. That was so haunting. Shortly after, there was another Malaysian Airlines tragedy, flight mh17 was shot down over ukraine. This is a much more modern tragedy, much more specific. A plane shot down from the sky. Probably an accident, everything indicates that pro russian ukrainian separatists using russianmade arms fired at the plane, thinking it was a Ukrainian Military aircraft. In that case, there was no, there was not much mystery. But quite, with the tragedy the same, of families losing dear ones, people traveling on vacation, their lives being snuffed out because of a conflict in which they had absolutely no part. Another place of conflict, iraq and the rise of isis, here in the United States we have devoted a lot of time and coverage to isis. Who they are, how this happened. How about globally, the coverage of isis . Well closer to the center of the action in places like iraq and in syria, people have known about isis and have been paying much more attention than People Like Us farther away. But this was a year in which they took the center stage. They introduced themselves if you like to the wider world and in the most bloody fashion possible. They are far and away the Worst Terrorist Group i have ever encountered in all my years of covering terrorism and the middle east. The sheer enjoyment that their fighters seem to take from the horrors that they are perpetrating is new. The ability, their ability to master social media and to get their message out is a new wrinkle that makes them more dangerous. It makes them, theyre able to communicate with the world and theyre able to use social media and the internet as a recruiting tool in a way that we have not seen before. Another crisis, this one in health care, the eebl outbreak, more than 17,000 cases at this point. Here obviously we did not have an outbreak. But there were some cases in the u. S. What kind of coverage is ebola getting around the world . Again in africa, quite a lot of it. Because thats the ground zero of this particular pandemic. In other parts of the world, attention is beginning to fade. Theyre just too many crises, too many tragedies taking place concurrently in the world. Ebola, once the threat of it breaking out from africa seemed to recede, attention began outside of africa to dwindle a little bit. Because of course theyre thinking about the millions of syrian refugees, were thinking about crises all over the world in africa it remain as huge problem. Its now become, its called a caregivers disease, because although the fatality rate among ordinary people is 60 or 70 , which is bad enough. The fatality rate among doctors and nurses who get the disease is much more like 95 to nearly 100 so ironically those who are working the hardest to eradicate the disease are the most vulnerable and thats a very powerful story. Lets hope in 2015 we can get our arms around this internationally and make a lot of progress. We can all agree on that. Bobby ghosh, great to see you, over to chris. Coming up next on this special Holiday Edition of new day, republicans, they got their presents early this year. They got keys to both the house and the senate. But there were plenty of other pivotal moments in politics in 2014. So lets take a look back. And later, a family having a Christmas Morning today, thanks to some cops who cared. Its the good stuff and i promise, you dont want to miss it. Especially on christmas. Jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way oh what fun it is to ride in a onehorse open sleigh jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way oh what fun it is to ride in a onehorse open sleigh you were just listening to the young peoples chorus of new york city, they were singing jingle bells we have a lot to get to, including some of the biggest political moments of 2014. First a check of your headlines at the news desk and look at todays games with this mornings bleacher report. Good morning and Merry Christmas. Im alison kosik. Hundreds of protesters staged a diein at an ohio mall where John Crawford iii was shot dead by police in augs. The 22yearold crawford was shot as he was holding an air rifle he picked up in the store shelf. The grand jury decided no the to indict. It comes amid frictions over months of protests in the policeinvolved deaths of eric garner, Michael Brown and others. An ebola scare at the center force disease control, the cdc one of its lab workers in atlanta may have been exposed to ebola, after samples used in experiments were sent to the wrong lab. The exposed technician has no symptoms and will be monitored for 21 days. Meantime a staffer at the United Nations mission in liberia has tested positive for the deadly virus. A statement from the mission says its the fourth case there two staffers died of ebola three months ago, another recovered. Time for this mornings bleacher report. A lot of basketball on tap. Heres brian mcfaden. All five christmas games will be televised in 215 kunds, 48 languages. The game with the biggest buzz has to be lebron james visiting south beach for the First Time Since he left the heat. Lebron won two championships with miami in four years before heading back home to cleveland. How will james be received by the heat faithful . Will he be booed . Cheered . Maybe a little both. The heat will honor king james with a Video Tribute during the game. Lebron has paid in his share of christmas games during his career. He was asked his thoughts in playing in yet another one. Biggest day for the nba. You know, i decide to come back here i knew i was going to be probably playing against miami. But as far as my family come down or not coming down, were taking it on the fly. Go down, play the game, play the schedule and move on. Thats a game you definitely not want to miss. Cavs and heat start at 5 00 eastern. You can catch the primetime games on our sister station, tnt. Kobe bryant is going to be playing in a record 16th christmas game. His lakers take on the bulls at 8 00 and the warriors clippers at 10 30 eastern. One more sports story this morning. An athlete spreading some holiday cheer. Washington nationals pitcher doug fister tweeted out a bar code for people to show to the barista. The account ran dry by the afternoon, but good for fister, showing love to the fans for the holidays. Were going to have more in 30 minutes, your special Holiday Edition of new day continues right now. Merry christmas. Welcome back, Merry Christmas, this is our special Holiday Edition of new day. Were celebrating the holy days and looking forward to all the things that the new year will bring. So before we can look forward, we have to stop and reflect, right . The year is winding down, 2014, big big year in politics for a lot of reasons. So lets look at what were some of the biggest headlines, whos going to join us to do that . Joining us for this trip down memory lane is cnn political analyst and editor in chief of the daily beast john avlon and cnn analyst and republican strategist margaret hoover. You look so festive among the decorations. Beautiful, lets talk about your favorite political stories of 2014. Im going to start, margaret to you. With the gop midterm sweep. I bet that was your favorite. Top of the list, number one. Republicans actually had a really good year. Im the kind of republican that likes to see a big tent. I like to see a party that can appeal beyond its base, we had a couple of good wins on the board for that not just the sweep in november, we passed Immigration Reform. You saw a toning down on in the senate. A toning down on some of the social issues that can be divisive like lgbt freedom. You see a shift in the Republican Party and the win caps off this ability republicans now have coming into 2015 and 2016 to set the table for the new year and some really good candidates in 2014 as well. You have the first female combat veteran elected to the senate. For example, you didnt see the tripups of previous cycles, because we had better candidates this year. You didnt have this hes egregious foibles of the tongue. Lets just not remember them. Avalon. Lets pretend your wife cant hear us for a second. Has she been nipping at the eggnog. Whats the big tent . This is a christmas hopeful wish list. The elf on the shelf kind of stuff . Margaret makes a good point. The republican win was so big. They picked up seats in congressional districts that obama won. So it is a big republican tent by that measure. But lets put it in context. Feeling generous because its christmas. See how i do that, lowest turnout since world war ii. A lot of coal out there. This was not i think this big gop win can be misinterpreted. But no question in terms of the pickups in the senate and house, big year for the republicans and lets hope margaret is right about the bigger tent. I saw your eyes bug out during Immigration Reform. You dont believe 2014 was a Success Story for Immigration Reform. Yes, eight republicans in the senate joined with democrats to pass Immigration Reform in the senate. That died in the house. Because any hope the house had of passing it died when eric cantor got kicked off the stage in june so for republicans to take any credit, they deserve credit for Lindsay Graham having the courage to back it. But it didnt get done because republicans didnt have the courage to stand up to their base on it. Im curious for both of you, hoovalon is very good. President obama respecting on the past year. What do you think hes looking at in terms of regrets, margaret . And what do you think, john, hes looking at and saying we made some headway there. I think the president had a tough year. The economy in some ways has gotten better. But most people arent feeling it. The janet yellen, the head of the Federal Reserve says middle class americans are feeling wage stagnati stagnation. So even though some of the data shows its better, people arent feeling better and there was real confusion in his leadership when it comes to some of the true issues we face abroad, isis, the ebola crisis, that happened around the election and that did end up affecting some of the elections, particularly the governorship in maine. We can talk about that later. Just to answer your question quickly. Robert gibbs referred to his first year off the election as the lost year. I think this was a little bit more of that. I mean there isnt a lot that the president can look back on and say we got this and achieved something. Republicans cant wait to get this president off the stage. Theres the narrative that a last quarter of the presidency is lame duck and we in the media fastforward to the next president. We deal with the presidency as one quarter of the free world. He feels liberated by not having to go to an election again. The economy, the economy is actually one of the Great Stories of this year. Look, youve had 57 straight months of job growth. Youve got the stock market that if this president wasnt labeled a socialist antibig business guy from the far right would be greeted with open arms because weve got 11,000 point increase in the stock market. Margar margaret is right, theres a big gap in the perception. If mitt romney had won the 2012 election, republicans would be dancing in the aisle talking about the romney economic miracle. Its the same data and he deserves credit for it. Its really difficult to say the same data that romney would have done absolutely nothing for the economy in terms of economic policies. The truth is he would have probably implemented some more robust economic policies, tax reform or rolling back regulations that are stifling some of the energy reforms. I think what youve just done is posit something thats totally impossible. We cant have you guys fighting too much on christmas. Were not. Have some more eggnog. Talking about romney, if ifs and nuts were cherries and nuts wed all have a beautiful christmas. Plenty of answers from political types about who is santa and who is scrooge. Who will lead the way in 2015 with a big red nose that is not alcoholinduced. John, margaret, thanks, guys, Merry Christmas. Merry christmas. Much more ahead on this special Holiday Edition of new day, Christmas Day, Cnns Christiane Amanpour will walk us through some of the biggest news stories across the globe in 2014. First lets listen to an original song by the new york city young peoples chorus called i wish. It helps keep my skin clearer. With only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. Stelara® helps me be in season. Stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. Some serious infections require hospitalization. Before starting stelara®. Your doctor should test for tuberculosis. Stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. Always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection, have had cancer, or if you develop any new skin growths. Do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. Alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. In a medical study, most stelara® patients saw at least 75 clearer skin. And the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. Stelara® helps keep my skin clearer. Ask your doctor about stelara®. We have a serious hairball issue. We clean it up, turn around, and there it is again. Its scary. Little bit in my eye. [ michelle ] underneath the kitchen table, underneath my work desk, weve got enough to knit a sweater. [ doorbell rings ] zach, what is that . The swiffer sweeper. The swiffer dusters. Its some sort of magic cloth that sucks in all the dog hair. Its quick and easy. Pretty amazing that it picked it all up. I would totally take on another dog. [ kevin ] really . Welcome back. This year has been a huge year in International News from the threat of isis to the prospect of a new cold war, the United States and its allies have been responding to tensions around the globe. Joining us to talk about this year is cnn chief international correspondent, christiane amanpour. Hi, cchristianne. We thought things were going to quiet down in iraq. That didnt happen with isis. Can you sort of divide it into three parts. This year started with isis rising with a vengeance and taking over key towns in iraq, fallujah and other such places, putting up its black flag. But the u. S. Was out of iraq. The iraqis werent up to it, the political situation was totally dysfunctional. Isis germinated and germinated until we got to the summer when isis again rose with a vengeance in syria. And beheaded publicly by slitting the throats of american and western journalists and aid workers. Then, that motivated the United States and its allies to come in with an air campaign. For the last several months as the year has ended this has been the mode of operation. In iraq and syria, attack from the air for isis. Which has somewhat halted its momentum. It wont end the isis threat and the year ends with most people saying isis and the whole situation will not go away unless assad goes away. Unless the Syrian Civil War is resolved. As long as assad is still there, this horror will continue. It has been such a horror this year. And such a troubling story to cover. Lets talk about russia and a term that we thought we had retired with the cold war. But it felt as though it was back this year. Youre absolutely right. Who could have thought this. So many years after the fall of the berlin wall, the fall of the soviet union and an attempt to liberalize and democratize that part of the world. Well many of the former east bloc countries are strong democracies, part of the eu, some part of nato. But russia has risen again as trying to set itself up as the big sort of counterweight to what is the only superpower, and that is the United States right now. So when russia started to destabilize, ukraine, annexed crimea, violating international law, and laws and rules that it had signed itself. A treaty to respect ukraines border. Then continued the year with destabilizing eastern ukraine. Sending its force, sending heavy materiel to destabilize what should be democratic ukraine. That has brought russia and the United States and the rest of the west to an unprecedented crisis. And to be very frank, nobody quite knows where this is going to end. Because lets not forget, the west is a nucleararmed nato alliance. Russia is a nucleararmed nation. Nobody is suggesting this is going to go to war. But nobody quite knows how president putin is going to be convinced to step back and to stand down. Another intractable problem has always been israel and gaza. What did we see happen there this year . Well, the major issue there was an attempt by the United States and a huge amount of work by secretary of state john kerry, at the behest of president obama, to try to resuscitate the basically dead Peace Process there. They worked very, very hard, but the fact of the matter is, it imploded, in the spring of this year. With no view to somehow being restarted. And on top of that, you still got the dysfunction in gaza, with hamas ruling there. The split between the palestinians since the western and israeliaccepted Palestinian Authority is in the west bank. And now you have israel in the new year, about to go to new elections, which could, according to analysts, shift israel ever towards the hard line and towards the right. And away from the Peace Process and that track. Well wait to see who is the winner and whos the loser in israels upcoming elections. We were hoping to be able to end the year with a deal with iran in terms of its Nuclear Weapons or nuclear potential at least. But then at the last minute, that was postponed. Well alisyn, as you know, iran does not have Nuclear Weapons. It is the Nuclear Program, though. That causes a huge amount of trouble for the United States, for israel and for the west. So again, an unprecedented chance and an Incredible Opportunity to try to resolve one of the most important, yet intractable relations in the world right now. Between iran and the west. And a deal could be a gamechanger on just about every level. What theyve done is had very serious negotiations, that produced an interim agreement, that was then extended in the summer. And that is now been extended again. So the year ends with this interim accord, carrying on into 2015, with a pledge to come back again, in the summer of 2015 to see if finally they can knot this up. Tie up a deal. But most people believe if iran puts the brakes on its Nuclear Program, puts limits on its Nuclear Program in return for a lifting of the sanctions against it, that could really be a gamechanger in the region and help on many, many other levels. Christiane amanpour, great to see you. Alisyn, thank you very much. Always great to see her, especially on this day. This familys Christmas Wish is coming true this morning, thanks to some Police Officers with humungous hearts, none of this would have happened if a little girl hadnt called 911 by mistake. But she did and some seriously good stuff followed. Coming up on your special Holiday Edition of new day. Searching with devotion for a snack that isnt lame zd 25 christiane yaen cyst holiday mhey is playing i guess were going to need a new santa the music builds to a climax. more people are coming to audi than ever before. See why now is the best time. Audi will cover your first months payment on select models at the season of audi sales event. Visit audioffers. Com today. Welcome back to new day. Lots of good stuff to get to. We want to stay a little focused on one story in particular. Its the christmas good stuff . It is. It is festive by any definition. A 3yearold girl in boynton, beach, florida, accidentally dials 911. Thats not christmas. Shes playing with the phone. But it gets christmasyer. The girls sister tells the Police Officers, the family wasnt going to be able to afford a Christmas Tree this year. What dot officer do . They follow the letter of the law and arrest them. No, they werent going to stand for that. They leave, they come back a few days later with some christmas cheer and obviously the tree youre looking at, along with lights, ornaments, everything the family needed to decorate it the right way. You got to look at the face of the little girl. You see the smile . She hugged the tree. She hugged the tree, not in an enviro way. This is just about loving christmas. That was worth it. Shell remember that for the rest of her life. And christmasyer. Youre doing a lot of things with adjectives. A problem with pronunciation. Were getting ready for the next hour of a special Holiday Edition of new day. Theres a lot of the news that seems negative these days, right . I mean its just how it is. But actually there is a lot to be thankful for and were going to bring thaw right now. Lets listen again to the young peoples chorus of new york city. Can we sing along . Please, i cant. Giving back, you know youll get something today that youll want to take back tomorrow, right . What you need to know about gift returns. And after the gifts are opened and the food is eaten, its time for a movie. Were talking about the best ones out there, old and new. And holiday on display. Eat your heart out, clark w. Griswold. Were showing off some of the most amazing holiday displays around. Your special Holiday Edition of new day starts right now. Merry christmas, everyone, thats a beautiful way to start this hour. Welcome to a special Holiday Edition of new day. Merry christmas to all of you, to you a and yours, im Alisyn Camerota alongside chris cuomo and Michaela Pereira. Were joined by the young peoples chorus of new york city, that was their rendition of joy to the world. They have a new album called cool side of yule tide available on itunes and cd baby. There year there have been many headlines that were negative of course, but believe it or not, things are Getting Better in many, measurable ways. Poverty is down, Life Expectancy is up. So were going to talk about the news that will give you hope this christmas. We also have a few halls are going to be decked out on Christmas Day. People throw down on this. You know who throws down, the white house. Technically your house, coming up we ask the white house decorator what it takes to put on this spectacular display. I want to know how her anxiety level is. Its got to be high. First the latest headlines, so lets head over to the news desk. Good morning to you and Merry Christmas, pope francis urging tenderness as millions of christians begin markin the holiday. In his christmas message hes calling for an end to the quote brutal persecution being suffered in iraq and syria. He made a specific appeal for the safety of children following last weeks massacre at a school in pakistan. Thousands also flocked to bethlehem for christmas celebrations at the traditional birth place of jesus. New york Cardinal Timothy dolan offering reassurance to worshippers at Midnight Pass at st. Patricks cathedral. Following the shooting deaths of two officers, which he called senseless and irrational. He urged political leaders to invite us to dialogue, to listen instead of shouting. People mourning the officers deaths have been at odds with protesters who demonstrated, despite calls from the mayor to pause until the funerals. Tensions not simmering down overnight in berkeley, missouri, following a Police Shooting death of a teenager tuesday night. Demonstrators blocked a major roadway. Demonstrators swarmed the gas station where Antonio Martin was shot miles from ferguson. Several angles of Surveillance Video have been released of the confrontation between martin and police. It appears to show the teen pointing what looks like a gun at the officer. A weapon was recovered at the scene. The comedy the interview set to hit about 300 movie theaters across the u. S. Today. President obama who is vacationing in hawaii for the holidays says hes happy sony had a change of heart. Im glad its being released. Merry christmas, everybody. Sellouts are being reported at some theaters that have decided to show the movie. And if you cant see it in theaters, check it out online, its streaming for a price on several sites, including youtube, google play and the Microsoft Xbox video game console. This obviously wasnt the plan, but it could prove to be part of the wave of the future for movie releases. Police in hong kong taking a hard line, refusing to let pro democracy protesters return to the streets. Officials say 12 protesters were arrested during the first sizeable rally since police cleared out the last protest camp ten days ago. Police used pepper spray and batons to subdue demonstrators. Charges ranged from assaulting a Police Officer to failure to produce proof of identity. Officials say two Police Officers were injured. The true meaning of the holiday spirit was displayed outside the home of a michigan teenager battling brain cancer. 500 people gathered to pray and sing Christmas Carols for aslan merit, the 14yearolds second battle with cancer. Folks in the Community Know how much she loves to sing and figured this was the perfect way to cheer her up. They raised at least 20,000 for her treatment. Those are the headlines, now back to a special Holiday Edition of new day. Welcome back to a christmas edition of new day. It has been a year of tough news from the Ebola Outbreak in west africa to the rise of the terror group isis, to the crisis in ukraine. This christmas theres also a lot of good news. Here to walk us through some of the areas in which the world is Getting Better is cnn Global Analyst and Time Assistant editor, rana foroohar. Lets start with the economy we talk a lot about the economy. Weve talked most recently about the economic crisis weve come through. But what we dont talk about is that poverty is actually on the decline. Absolutely. It has been for several decades now. If you look at the last 30 or 40 years, youve seen a wave of prosperity around the whole world thats really unprecedented in global history. And thats because there have been a number of new countries coming into the Global Market system. You saw the fall of the berlin wall. The demise of communism. A lot of countries are part of the capitalist system now. The rising tide has lifted all boats in that sense. The numbers reflect what youre saying, in 1981, 52 of the worlds population was living at 1. 21 compared to 21 recently. Thats a very precipitous decline. Overall, if you look at the last several decades, you have fewer People Living in poverty globally than ever before. Weve also talked a lot this year about the rise of isis. Its hard to ignore how barbaric and brutal they are but globally, war is also on the decline. Yeah, and the two things go hand in hand. Because as youve had growing prosperity, you have less global conflict so since the 1940s we havent seen a major global war, a world war. We havent even seen anything beyond a cold war between two superpowers, that means that the number of deaths and the amount of destruction from war is on the decline. You have civil wars and small regional conflicts, but theyre not as destructive as the big conflicts. Is that why peace is breaking out, purely because of economics, or are there other things at work . I think there are stronger institutions, more countries becoming democratic. A whole host of emerging Market Countries that are part of the global democratic capitalist system. You have a number of stronger economies and democracies in europe. So its just sort of the rising tide lifting all boats phenomenon here. So poverty is down, war is down. How much of a role does all of the burst of technology weve experienced in the past few years play into that . I think it plays a huge role. For starters it makes it easier for people to see elsewhere whats happening in other countries. That causes revolutions, saw it in the arab spring. And there is a certain amount of conflict during those times of tumult. But i think technology as a change agent will continue to grow. Technology is growing. Theres something called moores law, which means the amount of information can you keep on a microchip. In all the devices we have, computers, smartphones, is doubling every two years. The power of what we hold in our hands is doubling every two years. That has a tremendous Economic Growth effect. Youre blowing my mind. I cant have any more information here. Give us the status report on education. Which obviously is another metric in terms of how well countries are doing. More people are going to school globally than ever before. Particularly women. Weve seen an incredible increase in the number of women being educated at all levels, there is important, because if we want to use that technology to advance the world, to increase Economic Growth, youre going to need a bettereducated labor force. Youre going to need kids coming out of school that really understand how to use these technologies, and at a global level, thats happening. Rana foroohar, its great to hear the good news. Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize how much progress we have made globally. Were living in a lucky time. Merry christmas, good to see you. Over to chris. Are you a white lights person, you get a little crazy, put things on the lawn . How about the white house . That is the highest level of the game. Were going to talk with the white house decorator about decking those president ial halls for christmas. What a tall task that must be. But first, lets listen to the young peoples chorus of new york city again. Ans its time for the volkswagen signthendrive event. For practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a germanengineered volkswagen. Like the sporty, advanced new jetta. And the 2015 motor trend car of the year allnew golf. If youre wishing for a new volkswagen this season. Just about all you need is a finely tuned. Pen. Get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first months payment on select new volkswagen models. I take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. Because it gives me. Zero heartburn prilosec otc. The number 1 doctorrecommended frequent heartburn medicine for 9 straight years. One pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Welcome back to new day. Merry christmas, everyone. Every year the white house transformed into quite a Christmas Wonderland with its historical rooms adorned with all sorts of lights and ornaments, a team goes in to put putt all of those decorations up in just a few days. Joining me now is one of those very elves, this years white house design partner Colleen Christian burke, also the author of christmas with the first ladies. What a delight to have you back with us today. Merry christmas. You seem so relaxed, i should be worried. The hard work is over. Talk to me about it. I think so many of us want to have the perfect thing with our family and a perfect christmas and have all the decorations just so. A little different when its a, not your family and oh by the way, the first family. A little bit of pressure and just a really incredible space, the white house. So we go into it with the best of intentions. All the best planning and then its almost like your own home. Theres boxes everywhere. Were falling behind schedule. Somethings not quite right. And youre just thats when you start to sweat. And youre thinking on your feet and youre really wanting to do a first job for the first lady and the first family. I say we throw the term christmas miracle around a lot. Getting the house done in three days. Its literally in three days . Were at the warehouse preparing for two days and the white house for three days. Because of course the family lives there. The family lives had there. So we are in about 8 00 a. M. And were out about 3 30. A. M. Yeah, its their home. Were in at 8 00 a. M. And out at 4 00 p. M. How many people do you have . We have about 100 people this year. And the volunteers and the deck raters are mixed from all over. Mrs. Obama loves to make sure our military personnel are represented. How lovely. The teachers, people that do a lot of Community Service work. Theyre all kind of brought in and we all work together. Its the first ladys vision. I say shes the commanderinchief of christmas and we are her foot soldiers. Lets talk about that the vision, she presents it to you when . How much of a heads up do you get on that . We start thinking about christmas back in march. We got some notes on her initial thoughts and feelings about the theme. And this year, its a childrens Winter Wonderland. And i think that comes from you know, really wanting to celebrate for children. The child in all of us. But also those first daughters are getting a little bit older. She knows theyre not going to be kidlets much longer. One more childrens Winter Wonderland in . Its so fabulous. You can work and work as long as the time is allotted and once the clock stops and were invited back for a party, were not allowed to touch anything. Does anybody get up there and push the star back into place . I bet the first lady would. Did you enjoy collaborating with her . Shes amazing. This year, the vision was really about kids and we talked about bringing stories to life. So we have in the east room these amazing large books with paper popouts on the mantles. And we put actual books on the tree. With stories coming out of them. And just, we have trains and we have carousel deer and it all came from the first ladys heart. Which i think is amazing. Lets talk about the tradition of having the first lady so involved. Youve done this amazing book, its such an interesting idea, the notion of the first lady. And being the commanderinchief for christmas. And it dates back probably to jackie o . Yeah, it starts with jackie kennedy, who said if were going to have 100,000 people over for the holidays, lets look good. Before that, it was a little haphazard, every year now its become more and more elaborate. Im sure you have your christmas theme. What is it this year . The theme is the smallest tree my new york apartment could find. Its about six inches tall. But i have one. I have lights on it. Do you find the white house is such a grand place, you dont need to embellish it too much. I imagine the key is to make it feel a bit more like home. It would be impossible to make the white house look bad. But some of us could. If they let us in. Im kidding. Youd have a hard time, trust me. So its whats important to the first lady and how they want to connect to the american public. For example when chelsea was dancing in the nutcracker, that was the theme. And barbara bush also very much about literacy. And mrs. Obama always, whats, whats the reason for the season . She had simple blessings, we talk about gratitude. And were always trying to remember our u. S. Military and write them notes and just really about how we can better ourselves Going Forward in the new year. I know from past years weve seen the first dogs, if you will, theyve been part of the christmas decorations, should we anticipate that this year . You should, theyre front and center. With Little Christmas hats . Little elf hats . They dont have elf hats on. In every single room theres a hidden ornament that children are encouraged to try to find that are sonny and beau related. And the downstairs, the oversized sonny and beau, a mile of ribbon to make each of those figurines. Thats the white house Florist Department did that. Every year they upped the ante, same with the gingerbread house. Every year youll start working again you think in march . Probably in march. And i bet the first lady is thinking about it now. No sooner does one get completed then the next one is on the horizon. Let me point out, if you need a good idea, this book is fantastic, you might be able to get some ideas from some of our first ladies. Thank you so much for coming here and walking us through the white house christmas. Merry christmas. Merry christmas. Great to see those pictures. Well if youre about to watch the christmas classic its a wonderful life for the umpteenth time. Theres nothing wrong with that. In case you want other options, well give you a list of the best holiday movies to cozy up with today. Thats coming up on the special christmas edition of new day. Good morning and welcome back to a special Holiday Edition of new day, Merry Christmas. Merry christmas, my friends here and at home. Were you just listening to the young peoples chorus of new york city singing angels we have heard on high. Coming up were going to take a look at the best movies to see this Holiday Season. And tell you what you need to know about returning the holiday gifts, you know, that just arent your style. No regifting here. Well have some of the brightest light displays from around the world to show you. Maybe some of those folks are in your neighborhood. But first, we want to get to the latest headlines at the news desk. Good morning to you. Merry christmas as well, im alison kosik. An ebola scare at the centers for disease control, the cdc says one of its lab workers in atlanta may have been exposed to ebola after a virus samples used in experiments were improperly sent to the wrong lab. The exposed technician has no symptoms and will be monitored for 21 days. The cdc says theres no chance for public exposure. A staffer at the United Nations mission in liberia has tested positive for the deadly virus. A statement from the mission says its the fourth case there. Two staffers died of ebola three months ago, another recovered. An emotional plea this morning from the father of a jordanian pilot captured by isis. Youssef al kassaba telling a news site, i hope god will put mercy in their hearts and they will release my son. Theres no indication why the plane did go down. No word yet on whether jordan will try to negotiate for the release of the pilot. This morning, former president george h. W. Bush is still in a houston hospital, but aides say the father of george w. Bush had a good day on wednesday, the elder bush was taken to houston methodist tuesday night, complaining of shortness of breath. In 2012, the 90yearold bush was hospitalized for bronchitis for two months. But his staff tells cnn this is not two years ago. Gene becker says its a hiccup, he should come home in a few days. Talk about a christmas miracle, this is 13yearold boston terrier sammy from sacramento, california. The little guy somehow woonderred on to a neighbors balcony. When he lost his bearings, he plunged 15 stories. He landed in the hot it up and was able to pull himself out despite a cracked pelvis and some broken ribs, but hes going to be just fine. Ive seen him stand up and walk. Its just its amazing. Amazing, i would say. Merry christmas, special Holiday Edition of new day continues now. Welcome back to our very special Holiday Edition of new day. Christmas day, youve opened up all the gifts, eaten the fruitcake, ive never really liked fruitcake and youve had the eggnog. What is next . Time to see a movie. This year there are many strong movies to help you enjoy the holidays. Only one person to ask, my girl, entertainment tonight host and cnn contributor, Nischelle Turner is here to talk about the ones to get on your list, the ones with the best buzz and we talk our own favorites. How are you . Im good. I love that you gave me this long title it makes me feel very important. This is very important time of year, its a big Holiday Season for movies. We know theres a lot of studios saving up their best ones to launch. What should we see, nischelle . Theres a lot to see. First of all, youre right you mentioned this before. This i think is as far as i can remember is the strongest opening day for movies on christmas. Theres really great movies that are opening today. A lot of pictures, a lot of movies that could be considered in the best picture race coming up for the oscars. First of all. Let me run through a couple of them. The first movie thats opening up today unbroken this movie number one has been highly touted for about a year. Last year in our Christmas Show chris cuomo was talking about yes, he was so excited to see this movie. He knew it was going to be made. He was wondering how it would end up. Its a movie, im not sure if you want to go see it before you open your gifts because its a tough movie to watch. Its a very good movie. But you come out of it and either youre going to be very thankful for what you have thon christmas or youre going to say, i need a spiked eggnog because its very tough to watch. Ive been hearing a lot of buzz about selma too. That movie is opening in limited release today. So if youre in one of the big cities around the country youll probably get to see it. If not, youll have to wait until january. But this i believe one of the most important films that is made this year. Of course its about the civil rights movement. Its about the Voting Rights march from selma, with dr. Martin luther king jr. And it has an allstar cast once again. Anna duvernay did this film after trying to get it made for eight years. The actor who plays Martin Luther king jr. Does a masterful job on this. The director wasnt granted the right to use any of dr. Kings speeches, but when you see the film put together. Its beautiful and so relevant with everything going on in the country with the protests and the calls for change, you see this movie and it makes you think wow, is this 2015 or 1965. It sounds like the movie is right on time. I want to know about some ones for the family. What are good films we can load up the minivan and head out with kids. If you love meryl streep like i do, then run, not walk to go see into the woods. Usually im not a fan of the musical. Because i think oh god, they sometimes feel disjointed and the singing comes out of nowhere. Why cant they just talk . Exactly. But this musical is one of the best that has been made in my opinion in a very long time. Rob marshall does a wonderful job. Meryl streep is so great, shes the witch in into the woods it has anna kendrick, emily blunt. Newcomer one of the funniest people ive ever met. Tracy ullman steals every scene shes in, and johnny depp as the big bad wolf . nuf said. You got my ticket already bought. I hate doing this, are there any movies we should say, ill skip it in theaters and maybe watch it on video. I hate doing this. Because i love every Single Person in this movie. But i have to tell you the movie annie is getting mixed reviews. I would say this, families, go see annie. Im told that Quvenzhane Wallace is the best thing about this film. She is adorable beyond belief as annie. But some parts of this film may not work. And i have to tell you, when you have the original that is so iconic and so fantastic, its tough to do a sequel or reboot or an updated version, a lot of people feel like you never live up to it. So this movie may have a couple problems, i would still say take the family to see annie and see big hero 6. Its good . Great film, very good animated film. I would take the family to see this kind of revisit it. Last but not least, i want to know what youre going to be snuggling up with with your spiked eggnog and watching in your pajamas with footies. What are some of your favorite holiday movies . You know me. Im the biggest kid of them all. Youre a sap. I can skip all of that moviemovie stuff and give me the claymation. The animated film. Im a big fan of santa claus is coming to town. I could watch it 8,000 times. I also love Charlie Browns christmas, if im just watching a Christmas Movie im a big fan of the family stone. Its hilarious and it has a lot of heart. What about you . Go ahead, guess it. Love actually. Gets me every time. The scene where the kids are dancing in the doorway when the Prime Minister opens the door, its so good. Dont watch it with your kids, its got some adult themes. Ky tell you a good comedy . Sure. Go see top five go see top five its one of the funniest movies ive seen this year, chris rock is fantastic. He wrote it, he directed it, he stars in it and its a great movie, funny from start to finish. Cedric the sbaper, adam sandler, jerry seinfeld. Rosario dawson, its a great film. Everybody. Merry christmas, and thank you for the list. We all get them gifts that dont fit, dont look right, just plain terrible. Were going to tell you what you need to know about returning those gifts that just wont do. But first, lets listen to the young peoples chorus of new york city singing an original song, singing what is christmas made of cowritten by Francisco Nunez and jim papulis alright, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours but aleve can last 12 hours. And aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. So why am i still thinking about this . How are ya . Good. Aleve. Proven better on pain. I was thinking about htaking this speed test from comcast business. Oh yeah . If they cant give us faster internet or save us money, theyll give us 150 bucks. Sounds like a win win. Guys faster internet . I have never been on the internet and i am doing pretty well. Does he even work here . Dont listen to the naysayer. Take the comcast business speed test. Get faster speeds or more savings, or well give you 150. Comcast business. Built for business. For some, Christmas Day means Holiday Shopping is over and done. But for a lot of us it is just beginning and if you spent big on Christmas Gifts, probably too much, it is now time to redeem yourself. Prices on a few of your favorite things are as low as they can go. So you can get a bargain. Lets bring in Christine Romans to tell us where to find the steepest discounts starting tomorrow. Merry christmas to you. Merry christmas to you. Get your shopping done. Whenever we talk about thanksgiving people run out for the bargains, but the real bargains come after christmas. Youre going to see clothing very big, big discounts on clothing. Wait, wait, you want us to shop. Normally shes telling us, save your pennies. This is the cheap time to shop. Let me be clear. Dont buy things you cant pay for by the end of january. Assuming can you pay for it by the end of january. Very big deals on clothing. You need to find coupon codes go, to retail me not. Another website called deals plus, deal news, where there are different kinds of coupon codes and different searches can you do. 2575 off. My advice is closer to 75 on the coupon codes is what you want to look for. A lot of things to look for, in february the new furniture lines come out. In january, if you wait a few more days, in january youre going to start to see big discounts on beds, couches, end tables. If youre looking for furniture, its a really good time to look for that. So new years youre going to start seeing more on that a lot of people think electronics is a good time to buy, around black friday. Or digital monday. Cybermonday, youre going to see some steep deals on electronics, digital cameras, highdef tvs, lots of other devices, once the 2015 model days beau, stores are itching to get rid of older stocks. And big tvs come out around the super bowl. You have a few weeks to see some good stuff. Heres a question not because im that girl but i might be. Lets say i got a gift i didnt care for and i wanted to return it. Do you have any advice it better not be that fivefoot picture of me i gave you. Keep the receipt and be aware that sometimes around this time of year the return policy may be as short as seven days so really be careful on that. Bring your i. D. , because they might tell you no, you cant return it without the i. D. Know the return policy. Seven days to 14 days, by 30 days no ones going to take it back and theres something called restocking fees. Its an italian word for fake. Yes the restocking fees are very careful. If he gives you a big toaster oven, dont open the box if you want to return it, because you want to make sure its all sealed up. If he gives you a toaster oven for christmas, theres a whole other conversation you need to have. Gift cards. I held a lot of gift cards in my top drawer that i dont use or shop at that store. You can turn it into money. What . There are all kinds of websites that will buy these, trade these for a different brand. Is this black market, secondary, illegal. Card hub is one of them. Theres a whole bunch of them. Card cash. Com. Gift card granny. Com. Card hub. I guess you can go to the Coinstar Exchange kiosks and they will exchange a gift card for money. This is a gamechanger. Theyre going to take a Little Service charge. But if youre not going to shop at wherever hes going to give you a gift card to, then there you go. Where are we with the culture of giving gift cards, are they okay now . It used to be like you didnt think about me enough. I personally am not a fan because i have a drawerful of gift cards. But i do understand the ease, especially if your family is far away. Youre good with the gift card. Not that im hinting. In case you need it. Is it fugaze . I didnt make up the word. Its a real word. Its not a word. It a real world. Its a cuomoism. You know what i deal with here. If you cant pay for it by the end of january, give your family the Christmas Gift of Financial Security and dont buy it. What about when they say no payments for a year. No, its not free. Theres no such thing as free. Free is fugazey. That is the motto. Think, i realize youre going to walk out of here with. Clothing, cameras, tvs, furniture. Merry christmas, Christine Romans. Well, christmas lights, would stop Clark Griswold in his tracks and make las vegas look dim. Were showing you some of the most incredible holiday displays out there. Lots of creativity and lots of electricity. Thats smart. Get ready for some german engineered holiday excitement. At the volkswagen signthendrive event. Right now, for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a new volkswagen. Like the sporty, advanced new jetta and the precisely engineered passat tdi. Ah, the gift of clean diesel. For the new volkswagen on your list this year, just about all you need, is a pen. Festive, isnt it . Get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first months payment on select new volkswagen models. Because it helps me skip the bad stuff. Im good. Thats what i like to call, the meta effect. 4in1 multihealth metamucil now clinically proven to help you feel less hungry between meals. Experience the meta effect with our new multihealth wellness line. Some say buy gold. Others say buy soybeans. I say, buy comcast business internet. Unlike internet providers that slow down when traffic picks up, you get speed you can rely on. Its a safe bet. Like a goldplated soybean. Reliably fast internet starts at 69. 95 a month. Comcast business. Built for business. That is a new level. Now were more in my vein. Could you do that . No. But i grew up in a place thats what your living room looked like . Thats what it looks like right now. Excessive or not, festive decorations around the globe. Looking to break records and the fuse boxes this year with christmas light shows that really just going to wow you. We have our top five that we believe outshine the rest. All right. First, let me take you down under to canberra, australia, where this is a lawyer named david richards, he and his family broke for the second year in a row, they broke the Guinness World record for the most lights on a residential property. Just how many bulbs are blanketing the house . Take a guess, youre wrong. A little over half a million lights. 502,165 bulbs, this year, almost 1. 2 million. On one house . Lets quantify it, 71 miles of lights. The electric bill . 2500 for the month of december. Thats all . God only knows. Theyre doing it for a wonderful cause. Theyre doing it to raise must be for a local charity which supports families with sudden infant deaths. We have a real technological festivity, this one is tough to beat. This is not a 3d light display but 4d. I dont know what that means. Fourth dimension. The city of bath in england, 13 miles west in london, 4d bricks on the pillars, the buildings, wrapped like a present and this whole 21st century Christmas Show was created about i howie, a graphic artist from the uk who specializes in video mapping. He took measurements of the building, and xwoind the graphic and software for the graphics and image for the space. I dont know what i just said. Howie is no joke. We may have to call him howard because hes so righteous. How with america . Garry, indiana, a light show as bootiful as this. Its the top of 100 portapotties. Stop it. 1200 l. E. D. Light consequences arranged by an acapella group. Servicessan station. Com brings us in the name of sanitation awareness. If ive talked to you about it once ive talked to you about it 100 times. Portable restrooms save over 100 million gallons of water a day. How about southwest . Number one animated film of alltime you know it frozen. They let it go parents hate it. Dancing around to. Let it go john has been stringing lights his whole life and says it takes about three full weekends to finish this bad boy. If you watch closely theres a single cactus dancing along, john making sure theres a hint of texts, tejas means friendly, by the way, holiday spirit. Best of the landscaper bob mangans house in cleveland. Thats a house in there somewhere. How would you find the front door . I like american. Landscaper by day, griswold by night, man who truly loves christmas. This year 45,000 lights blanketing his home and yard. Task he started when . October. Wow. Now thats the look. An entire storage unit dedicated to christmas supplies. Reminds me of the lady in the hoo movie with the big gun. Look on top of the toilet there. A santa toilet. Even the seat. Bob has a total of 29 Christmas Trees in his house. How many stockings . Why the overthetop holiday decor decorum, for his grandkids. He says i like to see people happy when they walk through. Giving is getting. Merry christmas to you, bob, and all you have crazy people. Thank you very much. Give it up. Theres a showtune trapped in here. How did i do with the frozen song. I hit a note i didnt think i would, because my throat hurt. Many sides of me. Christmas is a day centered around religion. Look at the role faith played in 2014. After the song let the professionals do it, the young peoples chorus in new york city sing away in a manger on a special Holiday Edition of new day. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed the little lord jesus lay down his sweet head the stars in the bright sky look down where he lay the little lord jesus asleep on the hay the cattle are lowing, the baby awakes but little lord jesus no crying he makes i love thee, lord jesus, look down from the sky and stay by my side til morning is nigh is nigh, is nigh be near me, lord jesus, i ask thee to stay close by me forever and love me, i pray bless all the dear children vo this year, santa left his sleigh at home and booked his trip around the world on expedia. Because now the points you earn traveling for the holidays can be donated to help the kids at st. Jude childrens research hospital. Make your Holiday Travel mean even more. Donate your expedia points at expedia. Com santa. Is a really big deal. U with aches, fever and chills theres no such thing as a little flu. So why treat it like its a little cold . Theres something that works differently than overthecounter remedies. Attack the flu virus at its source with prescription tamiflu. And call your doctor right away. Tamiflu is fda approved to treat the flu in people 2 weeks and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. Before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if youre pregnant, nursing, have Serious Health conditions, or take other medicines. If you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. Children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion or abnormal behavior. The most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. Ask your doctor about tamiflu and attack the flu virus at its source. As christians around the world celebrate this holy day, were going to take a look at the role religion and faith played in the news in 2014. And this say day to separate the naughty from the nice. Were talking about which politicians deserve gifts this morning and who should get a lump of coal. Plus on this day the family celebrates together, Anderson Cooper gets to know his family better, a journey to his own personal roots he wants to share with you. Your special Holiday Edition of new day continues right now. Dashing through the snow in a one horseopen sleigh over the fields we go laughing all the way bells on bob tails ring oh, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way good morning, Merry Christmas, welcome to a special Holiday Edition of new day. Its thursday, december 25th. You know what that means, Christmas Morning and here you are with us, great, 8 00 in the morning in the east. Im chris cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, one gift, Michaela Pereira, another gift for me you tolerate. Were underby the young peoples chorus of new york city and amazing rendition of jingle bells. They have a new album cool side of yuletide. We have so much to talk about this morning, like you heard moments ago well look at religion in 2014. Guess who is stopping by, Anderson Cooper, hell give us a special look at his roots. The news always matters so lets get you a check of your headlines at the newsdesk. Good morning to you, im alison kosik. Pope francis delivering his christmas message at the vatican this morning. He put up focus on conflicts around the world and the plight of innocent lives in the mideast and africa. John allen is live on the ground in rome. Reporter hi, alison. This was a sobering christmas message from pope francis for christmas. He sort of did a survey of global conflict situations beginning with iraq and syria, where he talked about people there suffering a broughtal persecution, and called on the Internet Community to mobilize to make sure refugees can make it through a harsh winter. The pontiff became visibly emotional talking about the suffering of children around the world. So many are in situations where they are abused and exploited in particular mentioned both victims of abortion and also children caught up in conflict situations. As i say, it was in some ways a downbeat, worried pontiff but all of this was also a call to action to treat the situations as somethings done about them, alison. John allen live in rome. Tensions not simmering down overnight in berkeley, missouri, following the Police Shooting death of a teenager tuesday night. Demonstrators blocked a major roadway, several people were arrested. Demonstrators swarmed the gas station where Antonio Martin was shot just miles from ferguson. Meantime, several angles of Surveillance Video appears to show the teen pointing what looks like a gun at the officer. The comedy the interview set to hit about 300 movie theaters across the u. S. Today. President obama, who is vacationing in hawaii for the holidays is happy sony had a change of heart. Im glad its being released. Merry christmas, everybody. And sellouts are being reported at some theaters that have decided to show the movie. The film is also now streaming if you cant see it in the theaters, you can see it for a price on several sites including youtube and google play. It could prove to be part of the wave of the future of movie releases. Heres something you never thought youd see before. President obama donning a tiara. The commander in chief couldnt say no to a group of girl scouts at the white house science fair in may, even though he opted against wearing a Navy Football helmet the previous year. At the time he said the president doesnt wear things on his head, calling it politics 101, but apparently these cute faces were able to convince him otherwise. Oh. Those are your headlines. Back to a special Holiday Edition of new day. Merry christmas. We want to begin this morning by talking about the role of faith and some of the biggest headlines of the year. We have our own group of wise people with us. Are you ready . Father david dwyer, host of the busted halo on sirius xm, reverend michael fauker in. Its great to have you with us. You want a Christmas Gift from me . I know youre surprised. Lets talk about anything that you three want that you believe doesnt, that doesnt get enough attention especially on christmas, okay . Ill start with you reverend. What do you want to talk about . Sometimes the harder the christmas message gets lost. The reason for the season. Amidst the commercialism and the whole dialogue on the war on christmas. At the heart its about the eternal invisible god becoming a human being, identifying with the poorest and the most marginalized, the most invisible. I feel like in the war on christmas, what we focus on are the externals of things. What is the war on christmas, reverend, help me. The war on christmas is where everything is materialized about stuff . Materials and stuff and the drama around christmas rather than as she was saying the essential core message of christmas, christ at the center, christ in the manger. Thats the centerpiece and the purpose for him coming and so forth is essential. You really cant extract it from christmas, but the war on christmas continually tries to do that. This war notion, im still going to fight it, no pun intended, father. What is wrong with buying gifts, the exchanging of gifts, if its an extension of generosity, isnt that extension of the spirit youre trying to inculcate whether or not you believe the story . Pope francis said we need to be reminded that all is gift. All is grace. Grace is as we define it is just completely undeserved by us but god gives it to us anyway. If the gifts we give one another, a package, love, forgiveness, are an extension of that gift, then great no, war there. What have you got . Take over. Okay, so several years ago during a difficult time i wasnt able to buy my children anything, they were younger, wasnt able to buy them anything and we were struggling and i remember what that felt like and it just, it was a broken heart. My kids to this day will say that was the best christmas they ever had. However, i want to talk about something, jobs. I heard a statistic that is amazing, that if every business in america would hire just one person, we would eliminate unemployment, eliminate unemployment from america. We could do that. Thats an amazing thing, and ill be championing that cause. We did a job fair at our church a while back, just a few months ago, and you know, were inviting people to come that needed to work and its such an important value, because it values the dignity of a person, and gives them value and clarity and meaning and especially this time of year, that would be a great gift to give someone. It would and now is good proof of why youll go up and ill go down. Here is the pushback on that reverend. The reverend is talking about something that businesses would identify as charity, comes from a religious word caritas, latin means to care for others. Another c word that businesses hold more dear which is capitalism. Often thats a big conflict between faith and reality, some would say. I cant hire one more, i have to make money. I cant give things away. What do you say to people who say i need to make more. I cant give what youre asking me to give. Right. I think you have to look at what each individual person is going through. I think there is a reality. People need to make money. They need to take care of their families. Does that mean im got religious if im a business and very profitoriented . Not at all. Especially what i love people who have that forprofit mindset and keep the social good in mind as well. Do well and do good. Right. What you just said is so profit oriented. Thats really the key. Pope francis took flack for what some perceived as dogging capitalism but its the motivation, what gets us up in the morning. Lets be profitable. And how much is enough . Now were talking. How much is enough . The eternal quest for more. And usually if you bring on the right person, the right people, hardworking people, they actually increase your productivity, they increase your bottom line. Its better for business. There is never enough if you define yourself by what you have. There will never be enough and we all know that and it is not a religious belief or construct. Its reality. Heres something, were going to talk about things that dont get talked about enough. Why do i need to believe to be a good person . Lets say i reject what all of you believe in dogmatically. I do not accept the story, i do not accept the history, i do not accept any of it but i go out of my way to do the right thing for other people, even personally sacrifice the making of the holy act by what i do. Am i less than you father . You are not less than me, nor are you not a good person. I dont think the religion says people are not good people. We talk about salvation and we believe salvation is from christ our lord who was born today who died on the cross. Were talking about our eternal souls. Do i get in if ive done the right thing with my life . I dont know what happens when i day. You cant earn it. Its a gift. You have to receive the gift. The gift is there, it has to be received by faith. And faith alone. Thats the only thing and thats the cool thing about christianity. Thats the cool thing about christ is he has no respect to a person, whosoever will has to believe. You have to believe and receive, and once you believe and receive the supernatural power of god overtakes you and allows to you take the steps to live the good, godly holy life gods called us to live. Wrap it up for us. One thing about pope francis that i really love he focuses on the relationship and its interesting to look at the fact he hasnt changed any Church Doctrine but his posture, his tone has changed because he sees theer. At the center. Rocking a church that has gotten caught up in its rules instead of its righteousness. The collar got him. What hes doing to emphasize your point and answer your question, hes not doing that because he has to do that in order to get into heche. Hes doing that because it comes naturally to him. Because people with collars like you, father, need to hear it to the head of your church. Yes. During the time of Martin Luther we wouldnt have had the protestant reformation, there would be no need for it. This pope is powerful. He is a man of god. Hes gone back to the scripture. He is living out what i believe god has called us all as christians to live. Amen. Im looking forward very much to interviewing him when he comes to the United States, talk about Christmas Gifts that would come. Thank you so much for being here and helping us understand the day a little bit better. I believe now. Youve done it. Alisyn, over to you. Its a christmas miracle. It is indeed. It really is. Thanks so much, guys. It was a big year for politics with the gop taking control of the senate in the midterm elections and while some people really stood out for all the right reasons, there were plenty of naughty folks in politics. We have a political naughty and nice list for you. But first, lets listen to the young peoples chorus of new york city on this special christmas edition of new day. Joy to the world, the lord is come let earth receive her king welcome back to a special christmas edition of new day. 2014 had its shire of nasty politics with some bright spots. So lets talk about who has been naughty and who has been nice capitol hill. We bring in john avalon as well as cnn political commentator and republican consultant margaret hoover. Theyve brought their naughty and nice lists. Yes with he did. Here it is. Were ready to go. Lets start with naughty, shall we . Nalways easier to start with naughty. John . Im going to the crekremlin this one. You dont get much naughtier than Vladimir Putin this year. Slow roll annexation of crimeia, complicit in the shooting down of an air plane, reinstating the cold war and comparing the west to hitler. This is a seriously bad dude in a serious position of power and western liberal democracy which seems up challenged in the last decades is getting a serious challenge from him and a bunch of other bad actors who dont like democracy so much. Hes on the big old naughty list. Leads the way. Did you have anybody else who was naughty . Sure. You got to break it up. Pingpong. You always say why arent the republicans sort of disciplining other republicans, calling out other republicans. Im going to put ted cruz on the naughty list for this year. Ooh, thats going to come with ramifications and repercussions. Im ready for that. Heres what ted cruz is doing, gearing up to run for president and hes got a strategy to run for president which is a divide and conquer strategy. He decided there are some people in the Republican Party decided we have enough white males out there that just didnt vote in 2012 and didnt vote in 2008 but if we can get them to the polls in 2016 we have enough people to vote so forget the demographic challenge, the broadening the base, having a party that will speak to all of america, go straight for the core base of the Republican Party and i think thats trouble for the party. Thats not the kind of Republican Party i want to see or a lot of americans want to see. I put him on my naughty list. I think he has to change tactics. Rebuttal, who you got . Top ted cruz. Ill take on a democrat, governor jay nixon of missouri. Strong choice. Total lack of leadership at the height of ferguson. The governor was m. I. A. He vacillated. He didnt go to ferguson until three days after the initial round of riots, preemptively called in the National Guard and held them back while neighborhoods burned and didnt communicate effectively with the mayor of ferguson. This is exactly what you dont do if youre an executive in charge in a time of crosses, governor dixon of missouri. You have a nonpolitician who was naughty. Casey hickox the ebola nurse. You remember her . She ended up in some ways proven right but she caused a lot of trouble doing it. She said we were picking a fight with the wrong redhead. She wreaked havoc trying to make her point. She did fly into newark with a temperature and Chris Christie was trying to implement a set of precautionary measures in order to protect precautionary or reactionary . Come from treating ebola and you have a temperature landing in newark . Totally reasonable to put you in a quarantine or voluntary as it turned out, she went back to maine, caused a lot of trouble in maine and ended up impacting the governors race there, the governor he will page won his reelection mostly because of that issue in the final days in the polling. Lets not let the negative overwhelm us. Lets talk positive. Who is the head of the nice list, john . Were building i think to the nicest story. So were going quick on this one. Rand paul is on the top of my nice list. Really . Heres why. Republicans since 1976 havent done any better than getting 12 of the africanamerican vote. People running for president usually dont pay a whole lot of attention if youre republican to the africanamerican vote. Rand paul a staunch libertarian made a concerted effort to try to create a new coalition, backing bipartisan bills on mandatory minimums for drug sentencing, prison reform, giving felons the right to vote, these are courageous stands he has short term political benefit for backing but thats why you get on the nice list, you think better and try to create new coalitions in politics. I agree with him on rand paul. This comes out of the if ergson story, a woman named natalie dubose, ran nationallys cakes and more. We got great cookies but she suffered damage in the riots. The windows of her shop and bakery were damaged but there are two individuals who one is David Swingle and katherine frobee and they set up a go fund me account for her to rebuild her store and in three days over 8,000 donors raised her 260,000. She was asking people to help the other shops on west flooris and east floorison because they needed the help, too. Its a feel good story the way individuals can contribute in the face of what was a terrible tragedy. Good stuff. Main street reminding us whats important. Beautiful. Well done, too. Thanks so much. Happy christmas . You too. I love hoovans. I could come up with three lines. Thank you very much, guys. The special Holiday Edition of new day this christmas will continue, well look at the kind of surprises you can find when you trace Anderson Cooper will join us with a look at his journey back in time. Tmobile introduces americas only unlimited 4g lte family plan. Get two lines of unlimited 4g lte data for just 100 bucks a month. With any smart phone. Including the Samsung Galaxy note 4, for 0 down. Add more family members for just 40 bucks a pop. Think the other guys have a family plan like this . Think again. Only tmobile has an unlimited 4g lte plan for the whole family. Thatll get your holiday bell ringing. Thats the way i look at life. Looking for something better. Especially now that i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. I was taking warfarin, but wondered if i kept digging, could i come up with something better. My doctor told me about eliquis. For three Important Reasons. One, in a clinical trial, eliquis was proven to reduce the risk of stroke better than warfarin. Two, eliquis had less major bleeding than warfarin. And three, unlike warfarin, theres no routine blood testing. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Those three Important Reasons are why eliquis is a better find for me. Ask your doctor today if eliquis is right for you. I have a cold with terrible chest congestion. I better take something. Theraflu severe cold doesnt treat chest congestion. Really . New alkaseltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. [breath of relief] oh, what a relief it is. holiday mhey is playing i guess were going to need a new santa the music builds to a climax. more people are coming to audi than ever before. See why now is the best time. Audi will cover your first months payment on select models at the season of audi sales event. Visit audioffers. Com today. I heard the bells on Christmas Day that all familiar carols play good morning, a little coffee, a little eggnog in there, a little leftover roast beast, thats from the grinch that stole christmas. Welcome back to a special Holiday Edition of new day. Merry christmas to you. You were listening to the young peoples chorus of new york city, this time they were singing i heard the bells on Christmas Day. In a few minutes Anderson Cooper will join us to share a personal journey, go up his family tree, climb around on it, go into the past and tell us all about it. Thats great. First the headlines, lets head over to the news desk. Good morning to you, Merry Christmas, everybody. Im alison kosik. The cdc says one of its lab workers in atlanta may have been exposed to ebola after samples were sent to the wrong lab. The exposed technician has no symptoms and will be monitored for 21 days. The incident is under review. Meantime a staffer at the United Nations mission in liberia has tested positive for ebola. Two staffers died of the virus three months ago. The comedy the interview is debuting in about 300 theaters nationwide today after a lastminute change of heart by sony despite threats from hackers allegedly from north korea. It stars james franco and seth rogen, they appeared at a late night debut to thank the crowd. We want to say thank you. If it wasnt for theaters like this and people like you guys this would literally not be happening right now. [ cheers and applause ] thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Hope you like the movie. Hope you like the movie. Sellouts are being reported at some theaters that have decided to show the movie, which can also be streamed for a price on sites including youtube. A bizarre scene in hong kong, a security van spilled around 4 million onto a busy road wednesday. The money just kind of fluttered across an eightlane street, after plastic crates of money fell from the back of the van. About half the money remains missing after people stopped their cars to collect the cash. People are asking, police are asking anyone who picked up the money to return it. No word on whether those people will listen or abide by the Finders Keepers rule, of course. A heartwarming holiday story out of north carolina, a High School Student took it upon himself to help a bully classmate with worn down shoes. He took to social media to find out how he could buy jared newby a pair of shoes without making him feel embarrassed. He got ideas and wound up buying him a pair of air jordans. The two posted a picture together on social media and the story went viral. Talk about a good heart. Those are your news headlines. Back to a special Holiday Edition of new day. Merry christmas. I intriguing journey into Anderson Coopers roots. Hell share his personal experience when we come back with our christmas edition of new day. First, the music. Lets listen to the young peoples choir of new york sing i wish. Snowflakes, silent night, caring friends by the light girls and boys dreaming of to toys, a wintry wonderland but what is in my wish for most i wish the signs could shine for all and light the sour in you and share a day of open joy, it is one wish come true how youre going to survive ianother harsh winter,d or stay dry from torrential rain showers, or savor the last warm rays of sun. Step inside the jeep® grand cherokee. And wonder no more. This is the jeep® grand cherokee. The most awarded suv ever. Wellqualified lessees can lease the 2015 grand Cherokee Laredo for 369 a month. There we go. Welcome back to a special Holiday Edition of new day. This year several of our anchors got the rare opportunity to retrace their roots. They got to travel to their homelands and find out some very interesting things about their backgrounds and boy, were they in for some surprises. Were joined now someone with an emotional story, hes the anchor of ac360 Anderson Cooper. I went to my home city, a long journey. Exhausting. What did surprise you . It was interesting. I thought i kind of knew everything about my families, my moms side of the family but my dads side always interested me, born in a small town in mississippi, grew up in a very poor family. The vanderbilt side is wellknown, i didnt know too much about my dads side and there were some big surprises. Lets take a look. My dad, wyatt cooper, died when i was 10. When youre a kid, you lose a parent, its like the world as you know it comes to an end, clocks are reset. The calendar goes back to zero. After my dad died in 1978, it was just me, my mom, and my brother, carter. My mom and dad met at a dinner party in 1962. They couldnt have been from more different backgrounds. Thats the thing that interests me the most about my heritage. The different branches my family tree mapped out by ancestry. Com started off so apart and have come together in me. My mom is gloria vanderbilt. She was born into a family of great wealth, but it was a different time, when parents like hers had little to do with raising their kids. Her dad was reginald vanderbilt. He died when she was an infant. Her mom, gloria morgan, was just 18 and had no idea how to raise a child. When my mom was 10, her fathers sister, Gertrude Vanderbilt whitney, a sculptor who founded Whitney Museum went to court to take custody of my mom away from my grandmother. At the time it was called the trial of the century. It was at the height of the depression and made headlines around the world. Its hard to believe, but the court decided my mom should be taken away from her own mother and raised by her aunt gertrude, who see barely knew. For my mom, that wound, that pain is something thats never gone away. Whenever people ask me about my Family History theyre usually just referring to the vanderbilt side of my family which is understandable, i suppose. The first vanderbilt came to america back in 1650. His name was ian arten vanderbilt. Vanderbilt means from the bilt which is a town in holland. Ian artsen settled in new yorks Staten Island. He was an indentured servant but within selfgenerations the familys fortune took a dramatic turn. In 1794 my great, great, great grandfather was born. He bought a small boat, began ferrying cargo on the hudson river. Cornelius vanderbilt was a tough businessman, to say the least. He undercut his competitors and built a fleet of steamships and eventually moving into railroads. This is new yorks Grand Central terminal, an extraordinary structure. Back in 1869, Cornelius Vanderbilt bought 23 acres of land here in whats new midtown manhattan to build a depot for his new york central railroad. It wasnt called Grand Central terminal until 1913. Theres an imposing statue of him outside the building. For years i thought all grandparents turned into statues when they died. They built huge mansions. Excess was what they became known for. Some enormous houses in newport, rhode island, now museums open to the public but many of the mansions they built in new york have been torn down. This was my great grandmothers house which once occupied an entire block on new yorks fifth avenue. Its gone and now the Department Store Bergdorf Goodman stands in the spot. Growing up, i neve really paid much attention to the history of the vanderbilts. I read about them in school books but they never seemed real to me. It was like reading about strangers. The truth is i was glad not to have the vanderbilt last name and the baggage that came with it. I always wanted to make a name for myself. The part of my moms family that did interest me as a kid was her mothers side. Her mom, gloria morgan, was beautiful and had an identical twin, a sister named telma. Their father was an american diplomat and their mother was half chilean. Laura kilpatrick morgans father married a chilean woman in 1865 when he was the american counsel to chile. His name was general juddson kilpatri kilpatrick. He fought in the civil war. They called him kilpatrick kill cavalry because he got so many of his own men killed. He was one of lincolns youngest generals, a graduate of west point deeply opposed to slavery and deeply political and apparently corrupt. In tracing the history of general kilpatrick i was stunned to learn the two different branches of my family nearly met, it happened on the battlefield in the civil war. The battle of rusaka, general kilpatrick was shot and wounded and had to leave the battlefield. The very next day burrell cooper, my great, great grandfather on my fathers side joined the battle except he wasnt fighting for the union. He was fighting for the alabama infantry confederacy. I find it amazing the two branches my family came so close together here on this field in georgia, one opposed to the evils of slavery, fighting for the union, the other for the confederacy, fighting to support slavery. My dad was born here in mississippi in 1927, though growing up as a kid i neve felt all that connected to the vanderbilt side of my family, i was always really interested in my dads southern roots. My dad and i look a lot alike. This was him as a kid. This was me. My dads dad Emmitt Cooper was a former. I like this photo of him a lot, his heavy lidded eyes, the air of sadness about him. He married my grandmother, jenny anderson, when she was a teenager. My dad was born in this house in 1927. The house my dad was born in has long since been torn down. Theres no sign of it anymore. The land is mostly forest, still owned by coopers. My dad wrote a book a few years before he died called families a memoir about growing up in mississippi and also a celebration of the importance of family. I reread it every year and think of it as a letter from my dad to me. My dads memoir is full of family stories, the tales of people whose names will never appear in history books or newspapers, but who raised families, worked hard, and struggled to make a living off the land. People like my great grandfather, William Preston cooper wasnt very religious own an his death bed they tried to baptize him. He refused, yelling all they needed to do was bring him a woman and hed have no need of dying. My second cousin offered to take me to the graves of some of these family legends. Thats it. Oh, wow. Reporter deep in the woods we found an overgrown cemetery from another branch of my family. This is the bulls cemetery. This is incredible havent been in here in a long time. Reporter the bulls married into the Cooper Family back before the civil war. Thats grandpa bauurrells wife. Thats burrell coopers wife . Uhhuh. Wow. Watch for snakes. Reporter i grew up reading stories about burrells ancestors. He would kill men for cussing in front of women. Right. Reporter she also wanted to show me another cemetery. Id read about it in my dads book but id never been there myself. This is extraordinary this voyage you got to go on. It was really cool and it was nice to go back to mississippi and see cousins and relatives who i hadnt seen in a long time. It was interesting and gets more surprising coming up. That was a cliffhanger. I liked coops signature cooperness when he was discussing how his family used to kill people but didnt deseven it and if they cussed in front of women. Hes like umhum, yeah, he used to do that. You cleaned up the language just in case. The great part is theres a lot more to the journey and were going to dig deeper when our Holiday Edition of new day continues. How much are co2 emissions reduced . Up to 30 . 45 . 60 . The answer is. Up to 60 less. And thats a big reason why the u. S. Is a world leader in reducing co2 emissions. Take the energy quiz round 2. Energy lives here. Wellllll. Earlyfit latefit risefit fallfit ballfit wallfit pingfit pongfit pingfit pongfit rowfit throwfit slowfit olliefit oopsfit otisfit thiswayfit thatwayfit daddyfit pappyfit datefit weightfit goalfit gooooooalfit stepfit stairfit smartfit heartfit spinfit bikefit hikefit yikesfit wheeeeefit wowfit whoafit findyourfit its all fitbit welcome back to our special Holiday Edition of new day. Were turning back to andersons journey finding out more about his past. You cannot wait to see what more anderson found out. Lets take a look. Reporter im trying to find the old Cooper Family cemetery. Its here along the mississippi alabama border, deep in the woods, hard to find, near a house where my great grandfather, William Preston cooper used to live. We traveled along a dirt road for miles through forests of trees and canyons of kudzu before we found it. Relatives trying to clear the undergrowth and cut down trees to clear the cemetery but one of the Amazing Things about it, the cemetery is so old a lot of the head stones have disappeared or just worn away by the elements. You cant see the names of people anymore. Its even hard to tell whats a headstone. Here we found the grave of burrell cooper, my great, great grandfather. Confederate states of america. Who fought on the same battlefield during the civil war of my other great, great grandfather, juddson kilpatrick. Burrell cooper was shot in the right hand during the civil war, lost one of his fingers and partially par liesed in his right arm. Because of the paralysis he struggled the rest of his life to earn a living for his six kids. He died at the age of 54. His life was a far cry from juddson kilpatricks life who survived the war and went on to become u. S. Ambassador to chile. Lot of people in my family fought for the confederacy, nearly all were too poor to own slaves except for one, burrell coopers grandfather. I recently discovered one of my ancestors owned slaves, my great, great, great grandfather burrell boykin, he won 12 slaves. He was killed by one of the slaves in 1860, one year before the civil war began. Its one thing to read about slavery in history books. Its another to learn that a distant relative of mine took part in that evil. Im so glad you came. Reporter thank you. My dad and his family left quitman during world war ii and moved to new orleans. His mother, my grandmother, jenny anderson, worked in the Higgins Hughes factory making Landing Craft for the war. She loss sold ladies hats at the Department Store. When i was in new orleans reporting in the wake of hurricane katrina, completely by coincidence i stumbled across my dads old high school, it had been flooded during the storm. This is the school now. Back then it was called francis t. Nichols public high school. He was a confederate general, governor of louisiana. One of the things i love about new orleans its a is it i that embraces its past, even if that past is painful. They dont try to erase history. Francis t. Nichols name is still on my dads old high school, still etched in stone. His likeness still etched above the door. He was most likely racist, definitely segregationist but they havent removed his name from the school even though the school itself is now the frederick a. Douglass High School Named after the famous abolitionist. We were invited to take a look around. People work at the school said they had old files but i couldnt imagine theyd have any of my dads. Wow, look at this. They showed me closets full of old records and posters dating all the way back to the 1940s. They moved back after the war. Reporter i couldnt find anything that belonged to my dad. As i was leaving, the school nurse came outside with a surprise for me. Oh my god thats all, a report card but they have the file cabinets back there. Reporter this is his photo. Thats him. Yes. There you go. Reporter oh, maam, thats sweet of you. I love you. Reporter my dads report card. Its crazy. Can you believe they had my dads report card going back to 1944. They just had it in a file somewhere in the back. Thats awesome. This is what im talking about in new orleans in history. They dont throw away the history. Its all here. Its all, the past is very much alive in new orleans. My dad worked as an actor for years, appearing on stage and tv. Even had a tiny bit part in the seven hills of rome we stayed up late one night when it was on tv when i was a kid. Hey mark. Wyatt. Good luck tonight. Ill be out front leading the cheering section. Reporter he then became a screenwriter and wrote for magazines as well. My dad is buried in Staten Island next to my brother, who died in 1988. There isnt a day that goes by that i dont think about them both. I wonder what they would think of me, of the person ive become. The thing about death is that, after a while, you cant remember what a person sounded like, you forget all the Little Things that you once knew, the sound they made when they opened up the front door, the way they walked, the way they laughed. My feelings about what i want my sons to be reporter a couple months ago clock tower radio restored an interview my father did in 1975. My relationships with my sons, which are both quite extraordinary, i mean my relationship with each son is quite extraordinary. Reporter i listened to it in my office at work. It was the first time i had heard my fathers voice since he was 10 years old. They ask me questions, and ask how much does a stunt man make, because thats what he would like to be, you know . Reporter the thing about the past is, one cant help what zip code one was born in, what country or family youre descended from. All you can do is learn the lessons of those who came before you, their stories action their mistakes and their successes. You cant choose what family youre born into. I have certain expectations. Reporter all you can really do is choose how you want to live your own life. They will behave with hopper and with dignity. Anderson thats a powerful statement. We dont get to choose the family were born into. We often think about that when we look at the stories we cover in the news is that these people in the stories that were covering dont choose the existence theyre in. We all have heroes and villains in our past and theres nothing you can do about it. Its just about learning the lessons of the past and also to be able to hear my dads voice for the First Time Since he was 10yearold was extraordinary and that i was sort of a great blessing, something i didnt expect and a rare treat. Wow, thats so poignant. There were a lot of surprises for you. You think you know most of it. That is true, yes. And yet theres records for everything out there. Its really, you can find it if youre interested in going back and looking. Did it wind up making you want to know more . Do you feel you know enough . I dont know what more there is i could possibly know. Theres a lot id actually, i learned my great, great, great, great grandfather on my dads side was the only person on that side of the family who owned slaves and most of the relatives who fought for the confederacy were too poor to own slaves. They probably would have if it they could have but they didnt. Id like to know about the descendants of those enslaved people. One of them killed my great, great, great, great grandfather with a garden hoe. It would be fascinating to know about thatter. s descendants and where they are. Where those people are. Yes. Its interesting. Weve been talking about what this did for each of us that took this roots journey. Im curious, have you reconnected with some of the family members . Definitely. Lot of the mississippi relatives i hadnt been in as close touch, recey im in touch with and her grandkids have been sending emails so its nice to reconnect. Thats the other thing. It remind you of all your roots and its great to see relatives you havent seen for a while and you realize my head is like, theres that weird cooper shape of the head and little mannerisms i do, thats a cooper mannerism. Thats nice to see. Happy christmas, Merry Christmas to all the coopers in mississippi, too. Thanks for come in. It was a pleasure. Appreciate you doing that. Merry christmas to you, my brother. Theyve been wonderful all morning and truly made this Christmas Day edition of new day very special for us. So in a moment well hear more from the young peoples chorus of new york city. Stick around. [ laughs ] im flo i know im going to get you your rental car. This is so ridiculous. Were going to manage your entire repair process from paperwork to pickup, okay, little tiny baby . Your car is ready, and your repairs are guaranteed for as long as you own it. The Progressive Service center a real place, where we really manage your claim from start to finish. Really. Easy as easy can be bye they are a glowing example of what it means to be the best. And at this special time of year, they shine even brighter. Come to the winter event and get the mercedesbenz youve always wished for, now for an exceptional price. [ho, ho, ho, ho] lease the 2014 cla 250 for 329 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Get two lines of unlimited 4g lte data for just 100 bucks a month. Thatll get your holiday bell ringing. Thank you so much for joining us on this Christmas Morning especially the Holiday Edition of new day. We wish you and yours a very, very happy holiday and whatever you celebrate, we just hope you have a great day together every day for us. Absolutely. Its great to be together. In fact you got your beautiful little hat. Whats this i found . Oh, hello hello mistletoe. Come on, a little bit. Little bit of sugar, pretend you like it. There it is. On this year more than ever dont you think we need peace on earth. May there be peace in 2015. Yes, wishing you a healthy and peaceful year to come. Thanks for joining us. A lot of news this morning. Lets get you to cnn newsroom. We thank the young peoples chorus of new york city. Deck the halls. Deck the halls with boughs of holly fa la, la, la, la, la, tis the season to be jolly fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, don we now our gay apparel fa, la, la, fa, la, la, la troll the ancient yuletide carol fa, la, la, la, la, la, la see the blazing yule before us fa, la, la, la, la, la, la deck the halls with, deck the halls with deck the halls with beoughs o holly tis the season to be jolly don we now our gay apparel deck the halls with boughs of holly tis the season to be jolly don we now our gay apparel deck the halls with boughs of holly tis the season to be jolly fa, la, la, fa, la, la, what are we going to deck new day captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com good morning, everyone. Im randi kaye in for carol costello. Thank you for joining me. Mer ris country mass, buo buon natle, sfeliz navida. These are live pictures out of bethlehem. Last night thousands traveled to the biblical birthplace of jesus for midnight mass. Pope francis delivered his Christmas Day blessing a beautiful ceremony as thousands filled st. Peters square