Hang onto those stocking-stuffer lottery tickets.

Merry Christmas Eve to all who celebrate! As the holiday rush reaches its peak, grocery store workers are feeling the pressure from last-minute shoppers gathering last-minute ingredients for their holiday feasts.

It is Christmas Eve once again and with Christmas right around the corner many will be searching for last-minute gifts, or heading to grocery stores to get ingredients for Christmas dinner. We have compiled a comprehensive list of business hours in our area.

Santa Comes To Town Tonight!

Two little piggies will not become Christmas Eve roast pork thanks to a holiday pardon they received from a Florida mayor.

Moravian missionaries named the Pennsylvania city of Bethlehem after the biblical birthplace of Jesus on Christmas Eve in 1741.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD is launching its Santa Tracker.

Center officials said a nine-and-a-half-pound bald eagle was brought in with a gunshot wound.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed the shooting down of two Russian fighter jets on Christmas Eve, saying “This Christmas sets the right mood for the entire year ahead.”.

Bringing light to a town at its darkest time. A flood that swarmed the town of Buchanan left the locals with no water. Neighboring town sent gallon jugs of water to help during the November flood starting a tradition in December to repurpose the jugs as luminaries.

Really warm temperatures this afternoon.

The typically bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus looks like a ghost town on Christmas Eve, with celebrations in Bethlehem called off due to the Israel-Hamas war.

Partly cloudy skies today with above average warmth again.

One person was injured in a shooting in Northwest Roanoke on Christmas Eve, according to the Roanoke Police Department.

Appomattox deputies arrest 22-year-old for voluntary manslaughter

Local organizers in Washington say three buses of recent migrant families arrived from Texas near the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in record-setting cold on Christmas Eve.

Westerly wind gusts won't be as strong today and high temperatures hit the 30s

Santa Claus, is that you already? Christmas is almost here, and you might just be lucky enough to hear those bells jingling and jangling and as the jolly crew comes to deliver presents in the night.

Light ice, rain and light snow are then followed by high winds and bitter cold

Mixed precipitation, high winds and bitter cold arrive in the days leading up to Christmas

This Christmas weekend could be the coldest since the late 1980s.

A Christmas Eve crash has a man in Roanoke city calling on officials to improve street safety.

An eight-year-old girl is dead after a Christmas Eve crash in Nelson County, according to Virginia State Police.

On Christmas they surprised him with $1,000.

A Pulaski County sheriff’s deputy was arrested on the night of Christmas Eve for driving under the influence, according to authorities.

Scottish singer Tom Walker has praised the piano skills of the Duchess of Cambridge after the pair recorded a Christmas tune that was shown during a carol concert.

The staff is tired, the omicron variant is bearing down and the intensive care unit beds are filling fast at a hospital in the French city of Marseille.

One of the best gifts we could have received this year was fans back in the stands at sporting events. While during the season we do try to showcase all the people who make our weekends so great, but sometimes we can’t fit everyone in. Christmas Eve gave us a chance to do that.

Volunteers spend Christmas Eve setting up milk jugs that are transformed into luminaries along a half mile strip of downtown Buchanan. The decades long tradition began after the flood of 1985.

The group has assembled in the Hill City every Friday for 20 years as a way of showing support for U.S. troops.

Amid the surge of coronavirus cases across the U.S., numerous churches have canceled in-person Christmas services.

From Bethlehem and Frankfurt to London and Boston, the surging coronavirus dampened Christmas Eve festivities for a second year.

Frosty doesn't stand a chance this Christmas

We start the new season feeling wintry, but that will likely change by Christmas

An assembly line of holiday films to make the heart sing is the Hallmark Channel's blueprint, and it works every year like mistletoe or eggnog.

Christmas is a little over a month away, which means one thing: Santa is coming back to the mall!

The European Union and Britain are back to quarreling less than a year after finalizing Brexit.

The Pentagon has announced it will keep a Navy aircraft carrier in the Middle East to provide protection for the more than 10,000 American and coalition troops withdrawing from Afghanistan in coming weeks.

DANVILLE, Va. – The oldest person in Virginia passed away peacefully on Thursday, Christmas Eve. Born on April 16, 1908, Avicia Beatrice Hooper Thorpe lived in Danville and was a resident at the Stratford Health Health and Rehabilitation Center. 10 News was able to speak with Thorpe on her 111th birthday in April 2019. When asked about her secret to living so long, she said, “All along, I took the best possible care I could of myself and all the rest of it has been in God’s hand.”A viewing will be held on Dec. 30, 3030 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Fisher Watkins Funeral Home, and people planning to attend are asked to follow COVID-19 guidelines. Funeral services will also be held the following day on Thursday, Dec. 31 at 11 a.m. from the Chapel of Fisher and Watkins Funeral Home with interment to follow at the National Cemetery in Danville.

UK chief trade negotiator David Frost looks on as Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson signs the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement at 10 Downing Street, London Wednesday Dec. 30, 2020. (Leon Neal/Pool via AP)BRUSSELS – Britain’s Parliament voted resoundingly on Wednesday to approve a trade deal with the European Union, paving the way for an orderly break with the bloc that will finally complete the U.K.’s long and divisive Brexit journey. With just a day to spare, lawmakers in the House of Commons voted 521-73 in favor of the agreement sealed between the U.K. government and the EU last week. She noted that the deal protected trade in goods but did not cover services, which account for 80% of Britain's economy. “We have a deal in trade, which benefits the EU, but not a deal in services, which would have benefitted the U.K.," May said.

The Henry County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help in identifying the female pictured in reference to an assault on a Walmart employee on Christmas Eve. Henry County – The Henry County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help in identifying the woman in this surveillance photo. Police say she assaulted a Walmart employee on Christmas Eve after she was confronted about potentially shoplifting. In a Facebook post, the Henry County Sheriff’s Office said the woman also had a child with her. The Sheriff’s office is asking the public to contact Dep.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Lynchburg Daily Bread continues to feed those who are less fortunate this holiday season. Staff and volunteers were busy Christmas Eve, serving hot meals including ham, pasta and veggies – as well as pizzas donated by Little Caesar’s. Jennifer McCarthy, Daily Bread’s resource coordinator, told 10 News they’re averaging about 300 carryout meals a day and expect to serve an extra hundred on Christmas Day. We serve as many meals as a person needs to take for themselves or for their family members or neighbors,” McCarthy said. Daily Bread also passed out donated toiletries to those in need.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Like many things, Christmas Eve shopping looked different this year because of COVID-19, but at the River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg, there was still a deadline dash for deals. Louise Dudley, the mall’s general manager, said that impacted this year’s Christmas Eve crowd. Inside the mall, 10 News witnessed many shoppers wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and using hand sanitizer; while there were some lines outside of stores. But not as packed as other shoppers thought. I thought it would be really crazy out here today,” added Quinton Cox.”The River Ridge Mall is closed on Christmas Day.

I will spend Christmas at home alone because I don't have anyone to spend them with. “I don’t feel like celebrating anything,” Otero said as she sat down to eat a plate of salmon with potatoes. “We have missed one another these Christmas holidays,” Cano said. I am one of the last ones left. I will spend Christmas at home alone because I don’t have anyone to spend it with.”___AP writer Joseph Wilson contributed to this report.

In this photo provided by Maitrise Notre-Dame de Paris soprani singer Julie Fuchs and the Notre Dame Cathedral choir recording a Christmas concert on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The concert will be broadcasted on French television on Christmas. (MSNDP/Musique Sacree Notre-Dame de Paris via AP)PARIS – Wearing hard hats and protective suits, members of the choir of Notre Dame Cathedral sang inside the medieval Paris landmark for the first time since last year’s devastating fire for a special Christmas Eve concert. The public was not allowed and isn’t expected to see the insides of Notre Dame until at least 2024. The Notre Dame choir used to give 60 concerts a year inside the cathedral but has been itinerant ever since, moving among other Paris churches.

Thursday marks Christmas Eve and you know what that means... Santa Claus is coming to town! CLICK HERE TO TRACK SANTA’S JOURNEYEvery Christmas Eve, there are men and women in the military who have the best job of all. They get to follow along as Jolly Saint Nick treks around the world to deliver presents to everyone on the nice list. The North American Aerospace Defense Command created the Santa Tracker, which allows you to see where Santa is in the world and just how close he is to delivering your presents. You can follow along with NORAD’s interactive map or on Twitter where officials are updating where Santa is.

Few people were there to greet them as the coronavirus pandemic and a strict lockdown dampened Christmas Eve celebrations. The Philippines prohibited mass gatherings and barred extended families from holding traditional Christmas Eve dinners. On Christmas Eve in Italy, church bells rang earlier than usual. In Athens, Christmas Eve was eerily silent. The schedule for Christmas Eve and Christmas day included Masses in English and Spanish, and a bilingual jazz vespers service.

(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)BEIJING — Authorities in China’s northeastern port city of Dalian are testing millions of residents after seven new coronavirus cases were reported there in the last 24 hours. It has a deal to secure up to 100 million doses of the potential vaccine produced by AstraZeneca. Koca said the first shipment of three million doses of CoronaVac would be shipped to Turkey on Sunday and arrive Monday. He said Turkey could get 4.5 million doses until the end of March and would have the option buy up to 30 million doses. Indonesia has reported nearly 700,000 COVID-19 cases, the largest caseload in Southeast Asia and second in Asia only to India’s 10.1 million confirmed cases.

It took more than three years of wrangling before Britain left the bloc’s political structures last January. If Britain were to quit the EU with no agreement governing trade, the two sides would reinstate tariffs on each other's goods. Even with a trade deal, goods and people will no longer be able to move freely between the U.K. and its continental neighbors without border restrictions. ”“And the difference that a trade deal makes is not going to be obvious to most people from that,” he said. ___Follow all AP stories on the Brexit trade talks at https://apnews.com/Brexit

Stocks are ticking higher on Wall Street Wednesday, Dec. 23, following a mixed set of reports on the economy. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)Stocks closed slightly higher on Christmas Eve, as investors went into the holiday weekend not bothered by President Donald Trump’s threat not to sign a major economic stimulus package approved by Congress this week. Relatively safe investments like utilities and real estate were among the biggest gainers, while energy stocks fell. Trump has asked for higher individual payments to Americans, something Democrats support but which is unlikely to get a vote in the Republican-held Senate. Consumers pulled back on their spending by more last month than economists expected, mainly because of a drop in income.

Airports also recorded around 1 million travelers on each of the five days between last Friday and Tuesday. Fauci, who turned 80 on Thursday, said he and his wife would be celebrating his birthday and the holidays with their children on Zoom. It took 292 days to reach 1 million cases on Nov. 11. Nurses are exhausted, terrified of what’s next and angry at those who ignore pleas to stay home and stay safe. Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, and Shelley Adler in Fairfax, Virginia, contributed to this story.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – It will mainly be a silent night this Christmas Eve, as local churches of different denominations put similar COVID-19 guidelines into place. Churches are relying on live streaming services for this year’s celebrations. Governor Ralph Northam’s curfew is also cutting services at Main Street United Methodist Church in Bedford. Reverend Doctor Dawn Compton says they had to cancel an 11 p.m. service while leaving enough time between other services to clean the church. Reverend doctor Martha Kearse tells 10 News the doors will be locked because they’re prerecording services.

After resolving a few remaining fair-competition issues, negotiators tussled over EU fishing rights in U.K. waters as they worked right into Christmas Eve to secure a provisional deal for a post-Brexit relationship after nine months of talks. A trade deal would avert the imposition of tariffs and duties that could cost both sides billions in trade and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Johnson has always insisted the U.K. will “prosper mightily” even if no deal is reached and the U.K. has to trade with the EU on World Trade Organization terms from Jan. 1. Rumors of a pre-Christmas trade deal surfaced in recent days based on progress on the main outstanding issues, other than fishing. On Wednesday, brokering on quotas and transition times for EU vessels to continue fishing in U.K. waters was in full swing, with progress reported from several sides.

All most people wanted for Christmas after this year of pandemic was some cheer and togetherness. Instead many are heading into a season of isolation, grieving lost loved ones, worried about their jobs or confronting the fear of a new potentially more contagious virus variant. Peruvians won't be allowed to drive their cars over Christmas and New Year to discourage visits even with nearby family and friends. South Africans won’t be able to go to the beach on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. There are no nationwide travel restrictions in the United States, but health officials have urged people to stay home and limit gatherings.

Let’s split this article up into Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, diving into the details that you need to know. - Localized flooding possible along the Blue Ridge Parkway, with stronger storms east of U.S. 29 late in the afternoon Christmas Eve. - Wind gusts could cause scattered power outages Christmas Eve night into Christmas morning. - A flash freeze is possible by Christmas morning, thanks to residual moisture from our Christmas Eve rain. A very cold Christmas - 12/25/2020In fact, it could fall within the Top-10 coldest on record across much of the area.

SEOUL – South Korea will prohibit private social gatherings of five or more people and shut down ski resorts and major tourist spots nationwide starting from Christmas Eve as it contends with surging coronavirus infections. The capital area has been at the center of a viral resurgence in past weeks that has overwhelmed hospitals and increased death tolls and raised questions to how the government is handling the outbreak. Forty-eight COVID-19 patients have died in the past 48 hours, the deadliest two days since the emergence of the pandemic. The viral resurgence has put pressure on the government to raise social distancing restrictions to maximum levels, something policymakers have resisted for weeks out of economic concerns. The mass outbreak in Samut Sakhon was revealed over the weekend when authorities reported more than 500 new cases, the country’s biggest single-day increase by far.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. – A group of volunteers is wrapping gifts to make a difference in Montgomery County. It’s called Wrapping for a Reason, a signature fundraiser of the Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program (MCEAP). From now until Christmas Eve, volunteers are at New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg, wrapping gifts for a small price and collecting donations. “We’ve had several volunteers who did not feel safe wrapping this year, but the way they chose to get involved is they bought bows and wrapping paper and so forth to contribute. There is a variety of wrapping paper available to fit multiple occasions, not just Christmas.

NEW YORK – Christmas is still a few weeks away, but Mariah Carey is already orchestrating her dinner menu. 1 hits really going to sweat over a hot stove? “Magical Christmas Special” is another example of diverse, family-friendly holiday programming that hasn’t always been allotted by Hollywood. “As a kid, if I had to select one holiday, of course I’m going with Christmas. And while the pandemic has halted a number of projects, 2020 has been busy for Carey: In September she released her candid memoir “The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” which debuted at No.

(AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)BRUSSELS – Please leave a chair empty at this year's family Christmas dinner as a precaution, or face the possibility of having that chair empty forever. That's the stark dilemma Belgium's prime minister has set to urge smaller festive family gatherings, as Europeans battle with containing the surging COVID-19 pandemic over the holiday season. Britain, with the continent's highest death rate at 57,031 yet a Christmas tradition unlike few others, could not resist the temptation of relaxation. Like Belgium, Italy, where the pandemic initially struck hard in Europe, is taking a hard line at Christmas. In Oberndorf, home of the world's most famous Christmas carol, they hope its lyrics will not be taken too literally.

Stay in the kitchen when you are cooking on the stovetop so you can keep an eye on the food. Make sure kids stay away from hot food and liquids. Along with that, have a fire escape plan and if you have guests during the holidays make sure they know too. He also says to cut off the stove and the small fire should go out, but do not add water. It’s an odorless, deadly gas and he said you need an alarm to try and detect it in your home.

The Heisman Trophy will be presented Jan. 5, but without the usual ceremony held in New York City, and the finalists will be revealed on Christmas Eve. The deadline for Heisman voters to submit their ballots is now Dec. 21, two days after the conference championship games are scheduled to be played. Before college football schedules were revised because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Heisman was set to be handed out Dec. 12. Now it will be awarded during the 10 days between the College Football Playoff semifinals on Jan. 1 and the championship game on Jan. 11. ___More AP college football coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

HALIFAX COUNTY, Va. – A former Virginia state trooper and his wife were found dead after murder-suicide on Christmas Eve, according to the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office. Both died of apparent gunshot wounds after Philip Leath killed Lori Leath and then himself, according to the Sheriff’s Office. According to Richmond Times-Dispatch public salary databases, Philip Leath last received a salary from state police in 2017. The bodies were taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Roanoke for autopsies, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The Halifax County Sheriff’s Office worked with the South Boston Police Department, Virginia State Police and Virginia Department of Transportation.

ROANOKE, Va. – 10 News is following a handful of incidents across the area on Christmas Eve morning. UPDATE: This crash has been cleared. A tractor-trailer accident on US-220 in Henry County has the northbound lane closed between US-58 and Dillons Fork Rd. Another crash has been reported on US-460 in Botetourt County near Colonial Elementary and Webster Rd. In Alleghany County, a crash has Sulphur Spring Rd closed from Morris Hollow Rd to Holly Hill Rd.

Tis the season for wine, beer, cheese and chocolate. Aldi is rolling out its annual wine advent calendars Wednesday. Last year they sold out within minutes across the US. The calendars are used to count down the days of advent, the religious days leading up to Christmas Eve. In the past, the calendars have been simple with fold-back flaps revealing treats like chocolates.

Faced with the shortest holiday shopping season since 2013, retailers are trying to figure out ways to get into the minds of shoppers sooner. "This is going to be a very compressed holiday season," Target's CEO Brian Cornell told reporters during last week's holiday preview in New York. That leaves the holiday shopping season with six fewer days than last year. Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at trade group National Retail Federation, says he baked the shorter season into his holiday forecast. The last time the holiday season was cut short, in 2013, sales rose a modest 2.9%, according to NRF's analysis of holiday spending.