and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. it's a procrastinator's paradise with less than 24 hers for christmas and for local retailers the last-minute rush is a welcome sight. >> thank you for joining us. scores of shoppers waited for the last day to do most of their holiday shopping. crowds filled the malls and parking lot. they may have had to fight the crowds and also got some great last-minute deals. we're live in union square with more. >> the streets around union square are filled, and a smattering of tourists. so many people waited until the last minute to shop that made retailers very happy. >> i kept saying, tomorrow, i'll

do it. i've run out of tomorrows. >> kathy mullin is not alone. >> really last minute. been superbusy. >> procrastinators filled parking lots at bay area malls and crowded into stores trying to desperately buy the last-minute gifts, like a vacuum cleaner? >> i needed a couple extra things, and this is a pretty -- i mean, this is one thing that really shouldn't get someone for christmas, but, you know -- >> shoppers were lured to stores by almost unbelievable sales, 50, 60, 70, even 80% off. good news to erica at the mall. >> probably trying to get people out shopping more because the economy is still not where it should be. >> sales are luring people into stores. economists say retail predictions in june and july were only a 2% increase over last year. >> it turns out it's at least 4%

more than last year. so that says is not only that retail sales are strong but that consumers are feeling better about spending money than they did just five or six months ago. >> lisa thomas sold shoes agrees. >> overall spirit as before, families spend a little bit more than last year. >> that means a great december for stores. >> it's been busy. we weren't expecting that much, and for the month of december, our numbers have been pretty high. >> hi retail numbers are a huge part of a healthier economy. more retail sales, more jobs. >> retailers, people in the retail industries, could also be delivery companies, hire 500,000 new employees this time of the year, and many of those people will get to keep their jobs into the new year if retail sales are strong. >> it's also good for retailers is that every shopper told us that not only were they willing

to spend more money and very optimistic about the economy it if you're one person that hasn't done your christmas shopping yet, most of the stores close at 6:00 tonight in san francisco, abc-7 news. >> happy hent hunting in an effort to entice shoppers stay local the city of oakland is offering free parking. less than an hour to take advantage of that. drivers also get a five-minute grace period at expired meters. >> the glide memorial church shared a prime rib lunch today. the house of prime rib restaurant donated 200,000-pounds of prime rib. volunteers helped serve 3,000 meals. >> we're low income, and the way the economy is now, the cable and the phone and rent and two weeks of food, we don't have any money for food so we rely on

places like this. >> as soon as lunch was over, volunteers began preparing the food for christmas dipper. glide is appealing for donations for the holiday program. you can drop off cash, turkeys, capped goods and toys at their main entrance on ellis street. >> the gift of life for a girl has inspired the family to give back. korea dandy and her mother provided food and good cheer to the homeless people in oakland. mayor jean kwan cook apartment she received a liver transplant when she was five months old. >> if nobody would have did this, if nobody would have took the time to donate, my child wouldn't be here. and because they did, i want to give back all that i can to help others, just like they helped us. >> students from berkeley high school send serve meals. the family tries to help others throughout the year, not during the holidays.

>> a fire displaced 15 people in the bay view district. firefighters were called to a multiuse building on third street around 4:00 p.m. it took 10 minutes to contain the plays but there was extensive water damage from the sprinkler system. the red cross is helping people who can't get back into their home find other accommodations. >> oakland police arrested a teenager for a shooting that left three others injured. he shot into a small crowd around 11:30 last night after a group of young people left a nearby nightclub for teens. all three shooting victims are expected to survive. >> the victim of a vallejo stabbing ended up behind the wheel of a car bleeding and his foot still on the gas pedal. he was stabbed several times. he was found in the driver's seat in an alley. his foot was still on the

accelerator. causing the tires to spin and smoke. he died a short time later at the hospital. this is the 18th homicide in vallejo this year. >> state regulators are warping about the cost of pipe line repaired over the estimate by pg&e. the report is that in the first public assetment of pg&e's plan, experts say there's no telling what crews will final when they try to upgrade pipelines and how long the work will take. pg&e wants customers to pay for the work with cost spread out over 40 years. the blast in september of last year killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. >> newt gingrich's backup plan to get on the virginia ballot is not going to work. the state republican party said the front runner failed to submit the required 10,000 signatures to appear on the primary ballot on march 6th. virginia is gingrich's home

state, and his campaign said it would mount a write-in campaign. the state said that is against the law. >> our current president, president obama, is focusing on the troops this christmas. the first family is celebrating the holiday in hawaii. mr. obama was joined by his wife in a special holiday version of his weekly address. >> let's ask ourselves how can i give back? how can my family serve them as well as they served us, and one way to get start is to visit joining forces.gov to find out how to get involved in your own community. >> giving of our ourselveses, service to others, that's what the season is about. >> the first family returns to washington in early january. >> over in britain, health scare for the royal family. ahead, prince phillip's trip to the hospital, one twist to the

roy family's holidays this year. >> for seven years her family thought she was dead. a young tsunami victim finds her way back home. >> i'm jeff martinez. beautiful shot from the suit crow cam. the golden gate looks a little busy christmas eve. it's going to get cold. i have the forec

>> closed captioning brought to >> closed captioning brought to >> ramping up the campaign to make kim jong-il's son as the leader. the top military leaders accompanied the you younger kim today as he made a third visit to the palace where his father is lying in state. he will be the third generation kim to rule the nation of 24 million. >> in britain, queen elizabeth has been to see her husband, prince phillip, where he is recovering from heart surgery in the hospital. he was rushed to the hospital from the queen's street. the prince complained of chest pains and had minor surgery to

open a blocked artery. >> if you're going to have a problem with your heart, this is a good one to have. to have an isolated blockage that can be successfully opened in a -- with a stent. >> as he recovers the royal family is continuing with their christmas festivities. catherine middle continue joins them for the first time as a member of the royal family. >> a girl who was sweptway in a tsunami is back with her family. the 15-year-old said she broke down in tears this week after tracking down her parents, who had long lost hope of finding her alive. she said she was taken in by a woman and was beaten and forced to beg before she was set free this week. a cab driver helped her track down her family. >> santa claus is coming to town, and seems everybody is interested in following his journey. this year old saint nick has gone high-tech. >> here's a look at the bay

bridge as night falls. looks nice outside. another "spare the air" tomorrow, though. jeff martinez has

>> tens of thousands of christians are celebrating in bethlehem. 120,000 people packed the city for christmas eve celebrations. the highest turnout in more than a decade. the manger square took on a festive atmosphere. pilgrims from around the world wandered the streets singing christmas carols and visiting churches. the high point is midnight mass at the grotto where tradition says jesus was born. ♪

>> at vatican city during christmas eve mass at st. peters basilica, pope benedict xvi urged the faithful to discover the true meaning. the pope said that christmas' commercialization obscures the message of christ's birth. the mass kicks off two weeks of appearances. mass was moved up to spare the pope a late night. >> in the bay area, police officers and firefighters are collecting toys for san francisco's forgotten children. they're hoping to gather more than 10,000 toys. christmas festivities got underway at the union scare -- ewan union square restaurant. >> a struggle to be able to get food so i'm trying to teach them to be happy and thankful for what they get. >> tomorrow the officers will distribute the toys to homeless and needy children on the

streets of san francisco. organizers say this year the need has been feater than ever. they are still accepting toys if you happen to be driving by lucky0s today. >> a record number of people are keeping tabs on santa. the big man's trackers at nor rad say they're fielding 4,000 calls an hour. we have a link to the santa tracker on abc7news.com. click on "see it on tv". norad, the north american air space defense command in colorado, hat followed santa's journey every year since 1955. in addition to the web site and facebook and twitter pages, accept has new tracking app for all you cool kid with your smartphones. >> when i was growing up we put quill to parchment and we waited and the gifts showed up. >> even had the cookies and milk. >> that's right. have to get that app.

>> my daughter would like that. >> jeff in for leigh tonight. >> a pretty good forecast today. a cold start tomorrow for your christmas morning, with a freeze warning in effect, but tonight's christmas eve. hope you're enjoying is so far. a beautiful shot from the emeryvillecam, heading into the city. a lot of people coming on down and enjoying the night tonight and whatever you have planned, temperatures not too bad. a beautiful day today. temperatures in the 50s right now. 55 in san francisco. concord, 50 degrees right now. los gatos, 53. so clear and cold again tonight. dropping down in the 20s in the inland areas. a mild christmas day. lots of sunshine and dry conditions. we finally have chance for some rain in the forecast. it's been so dry this month. the reason being this ridge of high pressure will not move. it's been with us all month long. only .13 of an inch of precipitation this month.

three inches below average. so typically our rainy season has not panned out. this ridge will break down tomorrow and next week, allowing clouds to move into northern california. maybe few sprinkles into oregon and washington. we'll see some rain there. but in our area, just a freeze warning in effect until tomorrow morning. so temperatures dropping down into the 20s. protect those plants and how cold will it get in specific numbers for you. napa, 26 tonight. 28 in santa rosa. fairfield, 24. very cold conditions all around. even 40s here in the city. we do, again, have a "spare the air" day with this high pressure ridge, just not getting any wind to mix things up, so air quality poor again for tonight through tomorrow. burning is not allowed in fireplaces. the temperatures tomorrow, kind of like today. most areas in the upper 50s to lower 60s. so not bad at all. 61 in campbell. san jose, 61.

christmas looks pretty good. upper 50s in pacifica, half moon bay, 60 degrees for you. through the peninsula, looking good as well. 58 in the sunset district. downtown, close to 60 degrees. so, a great day to get out there and try out all those toys that santa brought to you overnight. looking at 61 in ukiah. vallejo, 58 degrees. further up to the north, as you head up toward the border, northern california may see sprinkles there. further you go up to oregon, the best chance. so we're going to stay dry tomorrow. mild, partly sunny conditions by the afternoon. temperatures, again in the upper 50s to around 60 degrees in most areas. beautiful weather for your christmas day. the hot spot will be towards salinas. mid-60s there. the accuweather seven-day forecast, beautiful for christmas, right through monday. a little cooler but not bad. now a chance for rain comes by wednesday. tuesday night into wednesday. slight chance.

not a huge storm system but at least we finally have some clouds and precipitation to talk about as it's been just unusually dry month of december. what rainy season. >> a day late and a dollar short. >> have a good christmas. >> and -- it feels like a sunday today, all the nfl games. on this night before christmas we have a stocking full of football highlights, the raiders and niners were involved in

>> one week after losing to detroit by blowing a late fourth quarter lead, the raiders were in danger of doing the same thing in kansas city. they were flagged for 15 penalties. oakland runs the fake off the field goal for the touchdown but it's called back because of a delay of game. so oakland goes for the field goal. from 59 yards, hits the crossbar. no good. 3-3 at the half. the raiders go in front in the third. palmer to moore, a 61-yard score. raiders up by seven late but could not hold the lead. the chiefs go 80 yards in five plays. it's 13-13. kc with a chance to win on the final play of regulation but the attempt is blocked in o.t., oakland wasted no time. palmer to hey hey heyward-bey.

the raiders pull it out in o.t. they're 8-7 and keep their afc west title hopes alive. >> in buffalo, tim tebow suffered his second straight loss, threw a career record high four interceptions. if denver loses at home and the raiders beat san diego, oakland wins the west. the chargers were eliminated by detroit. the lions make the playoffs for the first time since 1999. >> the 49ers were at seattle, a win today would keep their hopes alive for a first round bye. from the start the emotions were running high. a lot of pushing and shoving. trailing 10-3, the niners answer with this touchdown. it was 16-10 sans francisco in the fourth. andy lee has the punt blocked. seattle gets the ball at the four yardline. on the next play, lynch becomes

the first player this season to coe a rushing touchdown against san francisco. it was 17-16 seahawks. the niners would re game the lead on this fourth field goal of the game. his 42nd of the season. jackson gets stripped and the niners recover and hold on to win 19-17, and improve to 12-3. >> the night before christmas and also the night before the nba opens its season. the warriors hosting the new-look l.a. clippers. golden state has already had problems. first, seth curry went down with. >> alan: kell injury. then the el -- ellis sexual harassment scandal but jackson doesn't seem to be worried. >> everybody faces adversity. the commits teams are the ones with great leadership, spomentsdzs to it, handles it, and makes the proper adjustment. and we're looking forward to doing that. >> and the warriors and clippers tip off tomorrow night at 7:30.

christmas came early for the 49ers and raiders fans. >> a small oregon town has an unusual christmas tradition. en in. >> christmas lights aren't just for the trees and houses. a holiday celebration on a roll, ahead. ededed

>> coming up at 6:00, the big box going to waste on gift cards every year. the secret santa handing out big bucks of his own.

the generallous gift one man is giving to complete strangers. >> there are all kinds of holiday parades but one in oregon is unlike any other. >> kind of a redneck parade and a lot of fun. >> you heard about dasher and dancer but how about john deere, this parade began with a town in portland with one man putting lights on his mower and cruising down the street. >> now more than a dozen lawnmowers take part. it's a popular annual tradition. >> i say, whatever you like to get in the holiday spirit, i think. >> it's america, folks. >> you can do anything you like. thank you so much for joining us. that's going to do it for abc-7 news at 5:00. >> thank you for joining us. >> world news is next. our next