Her and her husband are about to find out if theyre having a boy or girl live right here on today monday, december 24th, 2012. From nbc news this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today on this monday morning, Christmas Eve. Im Natalie Morales. Im willie geist. Matt and savannah have the day off. The treat is lit up. We couldnt resist coming out and spending time with all these people that came out on a chilly morning. Thats right. A the lot of folks, of course, traveling these holidays as weve heard. Unfortunately, there are storms out west and also down in the south that give travelers a cause for concern. Well go live to the nations Busiest Airport and get a first look. Congress is taking a break here and they have that fiscal cliff deadline looming and gun control. Two highranking senators saying over the weekend about the fiscal cliff more likely a deal wont be met in time. Well get into that. A piece of the boston globe over the weekend where mitt romneys elder son said his father was reluctant and didnten to run for president to begin with. Long before the duchess cambridge joined the royal family, Queen Elizabeth was setting the style trends. This morning her fashion secrets revealed but her official dresser. Cant wait for that. Lets get started with that allimportant forecast on this busy Christmas Eve morning. The Weather Channels maria la rosa is in for al upstairs in the stat light center. Good morning. We have a positive side. Its been a wind snowfall for ski he resorts across the west but travel is a nightmare. Theyre Holding Traffic in passes in the sierra nevada. It pushes to the east, and thats when we are concerned about Severe Weather. Look at the future cast looking at the radar from midnight tonight. You see the heavy rainfall, damaging wind gusts and potentially tornadoes tomorrow morning from eastern louisiana through mississippi, alabama. Please make sure you have a way to get those warnings for tomorrow morning. So many are busy and maybe a what from the tv. There is that other side, the wirnd storm side. Look at the winter storm warnings in blue stretching from Oklahoma City into the great lakes area. Keep in mind travel is going to be treacherous. Were look at the snowfall totals, and its going to be a White Christmas from little rock into st. Louis. As you get through christmas night and wednesday, up in indianapolis and cleveland. Some areas with half a foot of snow, some other areas just enough to make it a White Christmas. As it moves into the northeast, were talking about wind and rain. Will have more until a little bit. Natalie. Thank you very much. Whats it look like on the roads and airports for you. Gabe gutierrez is at atlantas hartsfieldjackson international airport. Good morning. Reporter good morning. A soggy start here in atlanta. Theres been some rain moving through the area, and no major delays reported here or any of the other major airports throughout the country so far, but that could change as that winter storm makes its way east. On sunday it dumped rain and delayed flights in san francisco. The relatively calm weekend elsewhere was a welcome relief for millions of air passengers after a blizzard prompted more than 1,000 canceled flights late last week in the midwest and northeast. Aaa estimates more than 93 million americans will travel this Holiday Season, most by car. For those drivers lucky enough to avoid the snow and the ice, theres some good news. Gas prices down to an average of 3. 24 a gallon. Thats down almost 20 cents in a month. Again, here in atlanta its a soggy start. There are no delays reported at the major airports so far, but again, that could change as that winter storm makes its way east later this week. Natalie, back to you. Gabe gutierrez, thanks so much. Of course, the stores will be packed today with lastminute shoppers. Mara is braving crowds in Herald Square in new york. Good morning. Reporter good moshg. The doors opened the at 7 00 a. M. , and stores are opening their door early and offering deep discounts and big deals to try and lure the lastminute shoppers and those procrastinators are expected to flood malls like this all over the country. This year christmas is on a tuesday, so shoppers had tliday weekend to get it done, but it doesnt mean they have. Its estimated that twothirds of shoppers wait until the last minute, that including 17 Million People that continue to shop today on Christmas Eve. What are some popular items for gifts for Christmas Eve . Gift cards and jewelry are bill sellers for all those last minute shoppers. Holiday sales can account for 40 of annual sales, so retailers are really hoping these last minute shoppers help them get over a sluggish few weeks. There was a booming black friday and sales slowed in early december. Analysts say the lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy and concerns over the fiscal cliff have put a damper on things battle in terms of people shopping. Despite that, projections looking good. Sales are expected to be up 4 this year from last year. Now, this weekend was a big weekend, thursday through sunday were four of the biggest shopping days of the year. To accommodate those floods of crowds, retailers have extended hours. Macys this year nationwide was open for 48 hours straight to make sure people could come in and get what they needs, and people are spending money. Its estimated people spend over 700 apiece on gifts. In terms of waiting until the last minute, like a lot are, unfortunately im in that group, people say the longer think wait the better deals they get. We stee that to be true. We see sales for up to 70 office, every store window seems to have a sale banner in it. People walt until the last minute to come in and get deals for their gifts for the holidays tomorrow. We made it easy for you this morning. Now you can turn around and do your christmas shopping. Thanks so much from Herald Square in new york city. Lets go back inside to willie. Now to the gun control issue that remains front and center ten days after the Deadly School shooting in connecticut. The head of the nra answering critics over the weekend following his first comments since the tragedy heres nbcs ron mott. Reporter over the weekend the last of the funerals were held as victims afamilies work to restart their lives after unthinkable losses. Against that somber backdrop the political war of words about guns and the prominence around america grew more intense. On sunday in an exclusive appearance on meet the press, the head of the nations largest and most powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle association, defended and expanded upon comments he made friday when he called on congress to fund armed officers in public schools. If its crazy to call for putting police and Armed Security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy. Ill tell you what, i think the American People think its crazy not to do it. Laperrieres position set off a flurry of public criticism, a sentiment shared by some longtime newtown residents. We lost 20 beautiful Young Children and six educators. It hurts to think we cant as a Community Come together with more he restrictive rules and regulations to prohibit the sale of these weapons. The management of nra is real not taking their responsibility for what they are doing. Reporter in the meantime the mother of 6yearold noah pozner told nbc news how difficult his death has been on her family, especially on her youngest surviving child. She has lost her twin, and thats irreplaceable. You cant buy, beg, borrow, on or steal any of it. They were nine months side by side. Now they wont be for the rest of their lives. Reporter noahs big sister, 19yearold danielle, says she and her family are comforted by all the well wishes that poured into their homele town, evidence on the street near the school and piling up at the post office. I think its great. Its some sort of its some sort of comfort to know theres to many people there for us. Its sad that hell never get it to live his life, but im happy that we got the six years that we did with him. He was an amazing boy. Nbcs ron mott reporting that. The nras laperriere said we need to work towards fixingle Mental Health salmonella and continue prosecutor violent felons with guns. Heres natalie. With eight days left until the fiscal cliff deadline and the nations leaders on a holiday break, there is mounting skepticism about the chances of reaching a deal in time. Nbcs White House CorrespondentKristen Welker is in hawaii where the first family is spending the holidays. Kristen, good morning. Reporter natalie, good morning to you. President obama begins day three of his hawaiian holiday. White house Officials Say this is a working vacation, but talks on the fiscal cliff remain largely deadlocked. Meanwhile, members of congress came to honolulu on sunday to along with the president say goodbye to one of their own. With the fiscal cliff deadline looming, lawmakers and president obama attended a Memorial Service in honolulu on sunday for the late senator daniel inoyue. He was really a legislative hero who would never hesitated to collaborate with a republican colleague for the good of the country. Reporter there was little sign of collaboration on the morning talk shows. My one bit of advice to Speaker Boehner is this. You cannot pass a bill with just republicans. The president has been a pathetic fiscal leader. Both sides blaming each other for the impact. I think the president is eager to go over the cliff for political purposes. I think he sees a political victory the on the bottom of the cliff. On taxes its hard for the republicans, but the president ran on that platform, 250, no tax increases for people below but taxes for people above. He won. Reporter those comments cap aa week in which House Speaker john boehner and president obama seemed close it to getting a deal, which included tax reform and deficit reduction. The talks fell aaparpaapart. How we get there god only knows. Speaker boehner tried to pass an alternative bill that allowed tax rates to rise on those making a Million Dollars or more. They werent taking that out on me. They were dealing with the perception that somebody might accuse them of raising taxes. Reporter before jetting off to hawaii, president obama was prepared to accept a smaller deal as long as it prevented taxes from going up on middle class americans and extended unemployment insurance. I expect democrats and republicans to get back to washington and have it pass both chambers, and i will immediately sign that legislation into law before january 1st of next year. Reporter but americans say the uncertainty in washington is casting a cloud over their holidays. They are responsible for the wellbeing of all americans, and right now theyre more woern wored about politics. I would tell them to get off their butts, because most of us arent making sixfigure incomes and we need every single dime that we have. Reporter now, if we go over the fiscal cliff, taxes will increase for most americans. Lawmakers will return to washington later this week to resume negotiations. President obama is also expected to cut his vacation short. Willie, back to you. Kristen welker in honolulu this morning. Thanks. John harwood is the chief washington correspondent and writing for the new york times. Good morning. Merry christmas, willie. Merry christmas to you. Eight days until the fiscal cliff arrives and by the Time Congress gets back its four or five days. Is there any he hope remaining at this point for the socalled grand bargain . I dont think there will be a grand bargain before the end of the year. Theres he hope a deal will be cut before new years to avert the fiscal cliff by extending tax cuts temporarily or tax cuts from people under 250,000 of income. I spoke this morning to a republican member of congress who said, we still can come back next week, and we can still do it, although, you know, mara was talking in her piece about shoppers who think they get a better deal the longer they wait. Its a worse deal for the Republican Party having waited this long, having gotten beaten on the plan b that Speaker Boehner was trying to do. The terms are getting worse for republicans, not better. A lot of people watching this will say if congress couldnt reach a grand bargain with a selfimposed deadline, this socalled fiscal cliff, when will they ever get together and do Something Big . Is there hope beyond the 31st and 1st of this year that eventually there will be a big deal . Well, ive always been perhaps excessively optimistic about this, but i think, yes. Look, members of congress understand that we have a longterm fiscal problem. They have different visions for how to achieve it. The Republican Party, the house Republican Party in particular is a little bit out of step with where the country is and are proposing or seeking policies that are not very popular and resisting policies that arent popular. Eventually the speaker and president were close enough on what can be done on medicare in particular in order to give some hope that you can bridge that last few hundred billion dollars over ten years and make a deal. John, i have to ask you about one other thing this morning. The boston globe in a deeply reported piece about a post mortem on the romney campaign. It included a quote from ta tag romney that said he wanted to president less than anyone ive met in my life. He had no desire to run. Tagg said if his father found someone else to run in ms. Place, he would have been he is static to step aside. What do you make of that . That must be why he was running the last six or seven years for president. People flatter themselves to say ints because i want it. Its because theres a grassroots ground swell for me or the people want me or whatever. Thats not how our politics work. The only people that move ahead are people that want it and want it really badly. With all due respect to tagg romney, there is no evidence that his father did not want to be president. The evidence is that he wanted to for quite a long time. Should be interesting conversations around the romney dinner table these holidays. Merry christmas to you. Thank you. You, too. Theres a lot of other news to get to as well. Erika hill is at the news desk. A local policeman killed a civilian employee at kabul police he headquarters. Its under investigation. Its the latest in a string of green on blue tacks. Some 53 International Troops have been killed by Afghan Soldiers or police in the past year. U. S. Military Officials Say it appears a navy s. E. A. L. S commander committed suicide this weekend in afghanistan. His death is under investigation. A United Nations envoy is in damascus it this morning in a bid to end the escalating civil war after a Government Air strike on a bakery in central syria killed more than 60 people as they were waiting for bread. More than 40,000 people have died since the conflict began in march of 2011. Idaho senator Michael Kra Poe is apologizing it to ms. Family and constituents after arrested and charged with driving under the influence. He was stopped in virginia for running a red light on sunday. He failed sobriety tests registering a blood alcohol level over the legal limit. The senator who was eye mormon has said in the past he does not drink alcohol as his religion prohibits it. Turning to wall street, kayla is at athe new york stock exchange. Good morning. The stock mark has tracked the progress of the fiscal cliff talks or lack thereof. Falling on news of no deal and now at a relative standstill, still the major markets were up and the s p is up up 13 for the year. Later this week we expect more signs of economic improvement especially in the housing market. Home price data comes out on wednesday. New homes sales data comes out on tuesday. We wait and send it back over to you. Queen elizabeth ii is going 3d. The 86yearold none nanch filmed her annual Christmas Day message this year in 3d for the first time ever. She pays tribute to the summer olympics games in london. 2012 is a landmark year for the monarch between the summer games, her Diamond Jubilee and the news a greatgrandchildren is on the way. Its 7 18. Back over to natalie, willie and maria. Odysseying her wi odd seeing glasses over. Maria is back for the holiday forecast. We have one low coming through, and maybe just enough for a little bit of wet accumulation north and west of the city. Its a lot more rain and the showers and thunderstorms along that front as it pushing to the east. Then all eyes on that western low as it emerges out of the rockies with all the snow. It will bring about rain and the threat for Severe Weather once again across the south including the threat of tornadoes. The other big story, that same system will bring a lot of snow from places like Oklahoma City clear up through the great lakes tomorrow. Thats a look at your national weather. Get a look at your local forecast right after this. Its santa. Mom. I mean, mrs. Nelson