winds: n 5-10 mph wednesday: am clouds, pm sun. colder and breezy. highs: 27-34 winds: nw 10-15 g 20 mph on top of the cold temps -- most of yesterday was very windy, as

this is bethesda, where a tree fell right onto a house --

thankfully, there was no fire -- and nobody was hurt there on edenwood court. and across the d-m-v, at one point -- there were 11-thousand people left without power. at this hour, that's all been restored. wintry weather is battering much of the midwest and the northeast. people are dealing with frigid temperatures.. and dangerous driving conditions. elizabeth hur has more. don't let the weather surprise you. download the stormwatch 7

download the stormwatch 7 weather app -- to get updates and weather alerts, based on your current location. it's on the app store and google play. we'll also have continous coverage of this week's deep freeze throughout the morning here and on newschannel-8. president trump marked his first christmas in office with this message from his mar-a-lago resort in florida. it was a relatively quiet holiday for the first family after a jam-packed christmas eve in which the president shared a message to the troops. c he and the first lady also made phone calls to children tracking santa. concluding his holiday, the president also took too twitter writing "i hope everyone is having a great christmas, then tomorrow it's back to work in order to make america great again (which is happening faster than anyone anticipated)!" the secret service is investigating, after gift-wrapped horse manure was delivered to treasury secretary steve mnuchin. psychologist robert strong says he delivered the

to two los angeles homes he believed belong to mnuchin. one home is in beverly hills.. the other in bel air. a neighbor spotted the box in bel air and called police. they cordoned off the area for two to three hours and called in a bomb squad. strong says he left mnuchin a note. the secret service says it found a person who claimed responsibility for delivering the package, and interviewed him. but it declined to confirm whether that person was strong. no arrests have been made. 4:xx and still ahead on good morning washington. 4:xx and still ahead on good morning washington. another look at snowfall around the nation and a check at how this week's blast of winter weather will effect you. plus... preparations underway at storms around the country. the post holiday-rush begins... we'll prepare you for what to expect.

z2momz zi0z y2momy yi0y

white-out conditions yesterday in upstate, new york. heavy winds and snow made it tugh for drivers in buffalo to get around... some cars were left stuck on the road needing plows to pull them out.

snow with other parts north of the state saw more than 20-inches in accumulation. residents in seattle spent their christmas enjoying the snowfall. it's the first "white christmas" in nearly a decade. around two to three injches fell there and is expected to continue into this morning. - dry & cold for post-christmas shopping & travel today - cold sticking around for a while - still monitoring snow chances heading into the last weekend of 2017 today: partly to mostly cloudy. highs: 36-41 winds: nw 5-10 mph tonight: mostly cloudy. flurries possible. lows: 25-3

pm sun. colder and breezy. highs: 27-34 winds: nw 10-15 g 20 mph 4:xx when we return...

continuing battling the massive thomas fire out in california... we have an update. and stories of true charity --- we'll tell you about the group doing all it can for hurricane victims this holiday.

the united nations budget. according to the u-s mission to the united nations... the cut is expected to be over 285-million dollars. in the past, ambassador to the u-n nikki haley has criticized the coalition for "inefficiency and overspending" there's word the trump administration is proposing rolling back safety measures put in

deepwater horizon spill. the wall street journal says the move would reduce the government's role in offshore drilling and return it to private companies. the bureau of safety and environmental enforcement, which regulates the industry estimates the changes could save more than $900 million dollars over the next 10 years. united airlines has apologized to a woman after she accused the carrier of giving her first-class seat to congresswoman sheila jackson lee. an airline spokeswoman says the passenger canceled her december 18th flight from houston to washington, d.c. after a weather delay. the woman denies the claim. the texas congresswoman says she didn't ask for anything "exceptional or out of the ordinary." united has given the woman a five hundred dollar flight voucher. the daughter of eric garner - who died in an infamous police chokehold incident in new york - has suffered a heart attac. erica garner slipped into a coma yesterday. the activist's social media is asking supporters for prayers. back in 20-15, a police officer put her father, eric garner in a chokehold during an arrest resulting in his death.

rallying cry for protesters against police violence. garner who is 27-since then has become an activist against police misconduct. a baltimore couple -- among the five dead... in a plane crash in florida. victoria worthington, a teacher - and her husband peter - were killed... when a small plane went down, shortly after takeoff. the cessna 340 was going from bartow - to the keys, on christmas eve. there was some fog in the area-- but it's not clear right now why the plane crashed. meanwhile, at least 4 are dead in moscow -- after a bus jumped the curb... and started going down steps - into an underground passage. police were quick to say -- this is not an act of terror... believing there was some mechanical issue, or that the driver lost control. the bus driver was interviewed by police-- and all city buses are being inspected as a result. the thomas fire in california is now more than 85% contained. the fire is the largest wildfire in california state's history. officials say it should be fully extinguished by

more than 281-thousand acres since december fourth. nearly 16-hundred structures have been destroyed, more than a thousand are damaged. victims of hurricanes harvey, irma, and maria are still working to get their lives back together this holiday season. and they've been getting a lot of help from volunteers, including the group, "adopt a family." that group was featured on abc's "good morning america." since then, "adopt a family" has distributed more than three-million dollars in relief supplies to the u.s. virgin islands. in houston, iashia nelson expressed desperation on air, during hurricane harvey. the mother of three was stranded on her roof. today she's grateful to be alive, and is working to rebuild her life.

at xx time for weather. toss to josh toss to josh - dry & cold for post-christmas shopping & travel today - cold sticking around for a while - still monitoring snow chances heading into the last weekend of 2017 today: partly to mostly cloudy. highs: 36-41 winds: nw 5-10 mph tonight: mostly cloudy. flurries possible. lows: 25-31 winds: n 5-10 mph wednesday: am clouds, pm sun. colder and breezy. highs: 27-34 winds: nw 10-15 g 20 mph

it's xxx and xx degrees.

return... the wizards center-stage yesterday for christmas basketball. were john wall and crew enough to top kyrie irving and the celtics? highlights when we return.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it all starts with a wish. the final days of wish list are here. hurry in and sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down

first month's payment. hey, guys. where are the cookies for the... bake sale? bake... bake sale? need to bake in a hurry? use new country crock buttery sticks with sunflower oil. there's no softening required. so baking is delicious and easy. ooh, cookies! ah, ah, ah! (laughter)

against the boston celtics. the wiz got things started early, with this great pass from marcin gortat to bradley beal... washington lead by two heading into the second half. then in the fourth - boston leading by 1...john wall finds kelly oubre in the corner for three...that gave the wizards a 97-95 lead. finally, the wizards went on a 12-nothing run to put this one away...wall comes up with the steal...ahead to beal for the exclamation point! the wizards win 111-103. next up for the wizards -- they head to atlanta to face

the hawks tomorrow night. tip off is 7:30. the force is still strong with "the last jedi." the eighth film in the "star wars" saga took the top spot raking in an estimated 32-million dollars on monday alone. that's the second highest christmas day at the box office. it also now ranks as the 28th highest grossing film of all time. "jumanji: welcome to the jungle" came in second over the holiday weekend with more than 52 million dollars. and "pitch perfect 3" rounding out the top three with more than 25 and half million. fans of the 1965 movie, "the sound of music," are mourning the loss of one of

heather menzies-urich died on christmas eve of brain cancer, at a family home in canada. she was 68. menzies-urich played louisa von trapp in "the sound of music," alongside six other von trapp children. she was the widow of actor robert urich. 7 on your side with a consumer alert... expect stores to be busier during return season - than the shopping season. the reason: shopping is spread out -- but the bulk of returns and exchanges... happen in the first two days after christmas: at 40 percent! experts are expecting 90 billion dollars in returns! that's about a quarter of what was spent this year! here's one consumer expert's... suggestion to avoid long lines and big crowds: take advantage of those discounts in the new year. also look carefully... about a third of the stores

gifts... come with pre-paid returns if you're mailing it back. and if you got a gift card you don't want-- see if you can swap it at a store, that sells a variety of them. there is much more coming up on good morning washington. johnny g.. what are you working on for 5 0-clock.

out of fairfax county. flames - tearing through an antique store. we're live where the firefight - continues this morning. plus - a rough landing leaving passengers - shaken up at logan airport. details on the close call as millions return home from the holiday weekend. and many in the northeast and midwest - woke up to a white christmas. some getting more than a foot! could we see anything like this in our area - in the very near future. good morning washington. toss to eileen