of cnn this morning. it is sunday, december 25th. of course you know, we ve all been waiting for this beautiful morning. i m amara walker. good morning and merry christmas to you as well. thank you for spending part of your holiday morning with us. just ahead this morning, fighting racism from a one horse open sleigh, after getting hate mail for put putting up a black stanta in his yard santa in h yard, one man fights back. and how dollar stars are quickly becoming the go-to destination for shoppers. and we re going to introduce you to this year s cnn hero of the year, with a heart warming moment as she accepted her award. first let s get you caught up with this morning s headlines with whitney wilde. good morning and merry christmas to you, if you re celebrating at home. we begin with this brutal weather storm. at least 22 deaths are blamed on the storm and more than a quarter million people are without electricity. more than 3,400 flights were cancelled yesterda
officials caution, severe pediatric cases are on the rise in several states. gift cards: boom or bust? they are seemingly everywhere this time of year. cbs carter evans reports, many go unused, wasting billions of dollars. and, on the road. cbs steve hartman looks at the true meaning of extended family. this is the cbs evening news with norah o donnell, reporting from the nation s capital. garrett: good evening to our viewers in the west. thank you for joining us. i m major garrett, in for norah. tonight, more than 200 million americans are under some form of winter storm advisory heading into christmas weekend. the national weather service alerts range from washington state to maine, and the gulf coast from texas to florida is under a hard freeze warning. the midwest has, and is, suffering the most, with near-whiteout conditions reported in minnesota, iowa, wisconsin, and michigan. in the east, flash flooding has inundated communities across several states, inc