good morning. happy thanksgiving. this is the day you've been waiting for. carol costello, thursday, november 24th. ali and christina have the day off. so glad you're with us. >> i have all of the fattening stuff laid out for me already here. it's already here. they ordered in thanksgiving dinner for us at 3:00 a.m. the turkey is crusty now. still edible. >> the stuffing is quite good actually. >> first up this morning, one thing we're very thankful for, our brave men and women in the military serving here and overseas. we have about 20,000 troops in iraq right now but the forces are flooding out as a december deadline for withdrawal approaches. thousan thousands sent to kuwait waiting to be reassigned or sent back home. happy thanksgiving, martin. >> reporter: good morning, carol. happy thanksgiving to you. it is a happy thanksgiving especially for those soldiers gathered here at camp virginia. let me tell you why. we're located about 20 kilometers south of the border with iraq. this is the primary staging area for troops coming out of iraq and those taking the big bird heading home and many will do that pretty soon. this is sort of the winding down of the dinner. it started about 3 1/2 hours ago. they've had plenty of heaping helpings of turkey. that's why it's looking quiet right now. a couple lieutenants are here with me. i want to sit down and join. say hello to brian and also to patrick. they have both just come out of iraq. first of all, let me ask you how was the meal? >> the meal is pretty good. good turkey. good roast beef. mashed potatoes. corn. can't complain. >> you're headed home? >> hopefully soon. i couldn't be happier. glad to be going home. a lot of stuff to do when we get back there. >> reporter: let me bring in patrick watson in this conversation. this mission went shorter than you expected? >> we definitely thought we would be here for a year. we ended up wrapping up things a little early. now it's time to go home. >> reporter: we should point out that patrick may not make it quite by christmas. what do you think? >> hopefully by the end of the month. i should get there by christmas eve. >> reporter: i would think in both cases your families have to be thrilled that the mission was cut short. >> absolutely. they weren't expecting it like we did to come home early so it's a great bonus for us. >> mom and dad. i bet they can't wait. >> reporter: normally holidays spent away from home for soldiers, it can be on the depressing side. everybody here, carol, knows at least for the most part they'll be home in time for that other big holiday, which as we know is right around the corner. a lot of smiling faces along with plenty of full plates. >> i know that big beautiful smile when the lieutenant said mom and dad are waiting for me. thank you. thank you, martin savidge. we appreciate it. >> let's get you a first look at the holiday forecast. bonnie schneider is in the extreme weather center for us. good morning, bonnie. not as busy of a travel day today as yesterday but still a lot of people i'm finding more and more are traveling on thanksgiving day. what's it looking like out there? >> it's looking good. we're getting off to a foggy start in the southeast. that's where we're looking at some low clouds hanging overhead. if you are driving this morning in kentucky, give yourself a little extra time because you may have poor visibility out there. a lot of fog and low clouds over parts of tennessee and into arkansas. the big picture shows sunny and milder conditions across the south. temperatures will be very comfortable. we do run the risk of showers up into northern new england. cooler temperatures through the mid-atlantic. very pleasant. and as you can see out west, we're monitoring two weather systems that may bring rain to southern california and the pacific northwest. i think the name of the game is going to be mild. for those looking for catch a flight today, we do have some delays we're anticipating with low clouds for the morning hours in new york and boston. afternoon flights look okay. chicago, minneapolis, look for fog and wind. detroit and cleveland, also facing some low clouds and wind. i mentioned the fog that's happening right now across parts of the south. in dallas and memphis, you're also looking at that overcast condition. major delays are expected out west due to that storm system. seattle and san francisco, a combination of rain and wind. for the good news, temperatures are looking very mild for today for this thanksgiving. you can see climbing all of the way to 68 degrees in atlanta. 54 in new york. incidentally the weather looks much better for the parade today than we originally thought. the winds will be breezy but not at all as strong as originally thought. good news there. mild temperatures in florida. as you plan ahead for your early start to black friday for shopping, again, great weather for friday. that's always good for those of you looking for a good deal. back to you. >> that's good. the balloons may go up after all. >> that would be great. >> yesterday you didn't know because it was supposed to be windy in new york city. >> fingers crossed. we have a couple hours. >> bonnie has given us hope. jason carroll is along the route. we'll talk to him later. >> all quiet on the terror front this holiday season. there are no credible terror threats facing the united states right now. this is the first holiday season since the death of osama bin laden and officials say in the past terror organizations have plotted attacks during the holidays because of large crowds and the opportunity for mass killings. occupy wall street organizers are planning a thanksgiving feast for thousands of protesters at new york's park. calm in cairo's tahrir square after a week of violent and deadly crashes with protesters demanding the military ruler step down. egypt's supreme ruling council is apologizing for the loss of life. three american college students arrested for taking part in the demonstrations will be held for several more days. new this morning, a deadly plane crash east of phoenix to tell you about. six people were killed last night. three of them children. their small plane slammed into arizona's superstition mountains. rescue crews reached the wreckage. the plane appears to have disintegrated. a string of attacks by a so-called amish hair cutting mob in ohio. seven members of break away group were arrested for allegedly shaving the beards and cutting the hair off other amish men. officials say the leader says he was mistreated in the community and wanted to send a message to the other amish. the bible insists women grow long hair and men grow beards and stop shaving once they marry. believe it or not, this is not holiday traffic. more than 100 cars literally stuck on the pennsylvania turnpike covered in sticky black tar. a tanker truck dropped the stuff over a nearly 40-mile stretch. >> i thought we were going over rocks in the road. then i saw these cars pulled off to the side and it ended up being tar on everybody's tires. >> workers covered the goo with sand to make it dry faster. >> insane. that would ruin your day. >> it might. >> it's all about food, family and football. today a very special thanksgiving day matchup. san francisco 49ers will battle it out on the gridiron with his older brother, the baltimore ravens coach. first time the two brothers face off as head coaches. both teams are good. should be a good game. >> that's amazing. >> as will detroit lions versus green bay packers. that comes on first. >> i'm not the football expert. this is the first time in history two coaches who are brothers but there are the manning brothers who are both quarterbacks, right? >> they have nothing to do with today. you can watch the lions today and tell me everything that happens because i'll be testing you. >> fine. they could end up next to mashed potatoes and stuffing but two turkeys caught the luckiest break ever. time honored tradition president obama pardoned the two birds named liberty and peace at the tradition at the white house. that's liberty. turkey humor there. peace was camera shy. daughters sasha and malia at his side, the president issued the executive order at the white house yesterday. >> from our family to yours, i want to wish everybody a wonderful and happy and healthy thanksgiving. and now since liberty and peace have been so patient, it is my privilege to grant them the official pardon. i'm going to -- i've got to give them a little symbol. all right. what do you think. are we ready? all right. here we go. all right. are you all right there, liberty? okay. i like doing this. you are hereby pardoned. >> blessing the turkey as well. the president joked that liberty and peace had undergone media training which included learning how to gobble without really saying anything. >> at least one of those turkeys was well behaved, don't you think? >> 45 pounds or something like that. it's crazy. >> lucky liberty and peace. they are free this morning. >> if you just realized the turkey is too big for the oven and don't know what a turkey tent is? we have a highly trained butterball talk line experts in the house to save you from thanksgiving drama you may be having. >> if you are doing holiday shopping this weekend, get ready to be monitored at the mall. it has something to do with your cell phone. you're watching "american morning." it's 11 minutes after the hour. ♪ there's a place i dream about ♪ ♪ where the sun never goes out ♪ ♪ and the sky is deep and blue ♪ ♪ won't you take me american flight 280 to miami is now ready for boarding. ♪ there with you fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself. nonstop. american airlines. you can put a force field on him and be invisible! [ child 2 ] i call first player. no. i already called it. [ dad ] nobody's playing anything until after we get our homework done. thank you. hello? test drive's not over yet. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. [ louder ] hello? but we still need your signature. right now during sign then drive it's never been easier to get the all-new passat, the 2012 motor trend car of the year, for practically just your signature. that's the power of german engineering. visit vwdealer.com. that's the power of german engineering. when you're a sports photographer, things can get out of control pretty quickly. so i like control in the rest of my life... especially my finances. that's why i have slate, with blueprint. i can make a plan to pay off big stuff faster... or avoid interest on everyday things. that saves me money. with slate from chase, i'm always in control. financially, anyway. get slate with blueprint and save money. call 855-get-slate today. -why? -why? -why? [ female announcer ] we all age differently. roc® multi-correxion 4 zone moisturizer with roc®retinol and antioxidants. lines, wrinkles, and sun damage will fade. roc multi-correxion. correct what ages you. and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. and with my bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i love 'em even more. i earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that's 1% back on... [ toy robot sounds ] 2% on pumpkin pie. and apple. 3% back on 4 trips to the airport. it's as easy as 1... -2... -3... [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. [ toy robot sounds ] welcome back, everybody. happy thanksgiving. you know, it's time to get real about your thanksgiving meal when butterball's turkey talk line began 31 years ago it was a crack pot team of six home ec experts who answered about 11,000 calls. >> just that you called it home ec experts, i haven't heard that term in a long time. now butterball has a fleet of 50 people answering calls, e-mails and tweets on thanksgiving. this is carol miller. thank you for coming in. is it 1,000 people per hour, per two hours on thanksgiving day? is it more? >> when you're taking the calls, it seems like it. we have a staff of 50. we'll probably take 10,000 to 12,000 calls. some of short and some of them are very long. >> 10,000, 12,000 over a couple of days? >> today. >> just today? >> today. my gosh. >> we're not the only ones clueless when it comes to cooking. >> let's just say cooking is not our forte. let's get to it. if you are waking up this morning and your turkey is still in the freezer, is it too late to start? >> it is not too late. >> start now. >> butterball has been making it better for these years to get the turkey to the table for people. if it's a little frozen this morning, there's some ice crystal in it, you can run it under cool water. that will loosen them up. if you can do knock, knock jokes on it, if possible and you're eating later today, you can debt it in a bath of cold water, turn it up side down and put it in there. >> how long does it sit in the water? >> 30 minutes in the cold water for every pound of turkey. >> that's why the pie comes in. >> it does. if you have a 20-pound turkey, it's about ten hours. >> we actually have a viewer question about thawing from mary lou on facebook. how will i know if the turkey is thawed and when do i start cooking it once it is thawed. >> if there are no ice crystals in it, it's thawed. at that point you're ready to pat it dry and get it ready for the oven. people who thaw it in the refrigerator, sometimes they are concerned they let it thaw too long. you have four days after it's completely thawed so relax. it's fine. >> does it matter if it's a little frozen? >> you can. it will just take a little longer. if it's very frozen, it can be an hour or two. >> that makes me feel better about life. >> stuffing is my favorite part of the thanksgiving meal. already had some this morning. when you're talking about stuffing the turkey, is it better to put it inside the turkey or put it around? my mom does both. >> it seems to be a family tradition. guidelines for stuffing is that you want to put it in right before you put it in the turkey. you don't want to make it the night before and put it in there. do it right before you put it in the oven. you also want to make sure that you do have a meat thermometer because you don't want to take the turkey out of the oven until the temperature is 165 in the middle of the stuffing. >> where do you stick the thermometer? >> that's a good question. the method that we use is shallow open pan on a rack like this turkey here. if you have an oven safe thermometer, that confuses people. oven safe one has a big dial like that. if you have a small dial, don't t put it in the turkey when you put it in the oven because it will melt. >> good to know. >> you won't have a thermometer. this is the thigh. that's the last thing that cooks on the turkey. there's a ledge there. if you pop it if in there, you'll hit the bone. that's the thigh bone. aim it this way. you are aiming for that big muscle. when you put it in this way you can monitor it. when you use instant read, the one you don't put in the oven, slide it out and take the temperature. >> it makes it dummy proof almost. almost. if something can go wrong why the kitchen, it will go wrong with me. >> i forgot to take the neck and stuff out. >> that's one of the calls that we get today. i counted them one day after thanksgiving. we got 200 calls. i ruined my turkey. i put the bag -- we're carving. is it okay? relax. >> i thought it would poison the turkey. >> it doesn't harm the turkey. it only embarrasses the cook. carve and feast. it's okay. >> you get so many calls. 10,000 to 12,000 today alone. people freaking out. what are some of the most common questions that you get? >> thawing. how to roast. today if you want a little help, you can go to butterball.com where there are videos. you can watch us go through the whole process. that's a good thing if you're visual. really knowing when the turkey is done, using meat thermometer. protecting the breast of the turkey. turkey comes from mother nature with white meat and dark meat. the dark meat needs to be higher temperatures. if you put foil on it, the heat is reflected. it stops cooking just a little bit and thigh keeps cooking. use the foil half to two-thirds so it's brown. >> we're going to be asking you all morning about your tips and so do you have any good -- one good tip right now that you can share with us as you are waking up and fixing your turkey. >> make sure that you have your meat thermometer. if you don't, call a friend. call a guest. run down to the local mini mart and get one. it's really important. >> i hope william sonoma is open today. maybe i can get one. >> i don't think it will be. you'll be back in the next hour. we're very excited. thank you so much. butterball turkey lady carol miller. if you have questions, you can tweet. tweet to us. if you have questions, just send them along to us and we'll try to get them answered later on this morning. >> we'll be back after this. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. [ electronic beeping ] [ male announcer ] still getting dandruff? neutrogena® t/gel shampoo defeats dandruff after just one use. t/gel shampoo. it works. neutrogena®. it's all crossed out... it's 'cause i got everything on it. boom! thank you! [ male announcer ] black friday's here. deals start thursday 10 pm. but we're open all day and night so you don't have to wait outside. the only place to go on black friday. walmart. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. [ male announcer ] the new htc vivid. stay a step ahead with at&t 4g lte, with speeds up to 10x faster than 3g. ♪ 24 minutes past the hour. welcome back. minding your business this morning, investors are nursing a holiday hangover. the dow dropping 236 points yesterday. the sell-off triggered by a report that chinese manufacturing has fallen to a 32-month low. heightening fears that the euro zone debt crisis is spending beyond europe's borders. retailers and shoppers across the country are gearing up for black friday. many stores plan to open at midnight tonight or even earlier. shoppers have been camping out for nearly a week at one electronic store in florida that's advertising a 42-inch sharp tv for 200 bucks. prepare to be tracked at the mall starting on black friday. two major u.s. malls will monitor every step shoppers take by tracking their cell phone signals. officials at the malls in southern california and in richmond, virginia, say no personal data will be collected. the idea is to identify shopping patterns. rupert murdoch's son, james, has resigned from two boards. he's come under fire for his handling of