Mountain Rescue for Dad, Kids

A father and his three children are safe and sound after surviving three days of snowstorms and subfreezing temperatures on a mountain in northern California, the AP reports. The four, who went up the mountain Sunday to cut down a Christmas tree, were rescued by helicopter. They took shelter in a culvert beneath a bridge, huddled together for warmth, and stomped "help" in the snow.

"It's a very merry Christmas now," said a friend. Frederick Dominguez, 38, and children Christopher, 18, Joshua, 12, and Alexis, 14, were walking, talking, and drinking hot chocolate while being checked out at a hospital. They had no food and only a little water during the ordeal. Rescuers were racing against time to find them ahead of an even more powerful storm carrying even more snow. (More snowbound stories.)