From the AP story on CTV.ca:

Kevin Campanella hates buying and receiving Christmas presents that he says inevitably disappoint. This year, no such worries.

Campanella plans to seek "serenity now" by celebrating Festivus, a wacky holiday popularized in a 1997 "Seinfeld" episode. Billed as "Festivus for the rest of us," the holiday celebrated by the Costanza clan on Dec. 23 features an airing of grievances and feats of strength in which a guest must pin the host before the party ends.

In protest of Christmas' commercialism, character Frank Costanza puts up an unadorned aluminum pole instead of a tree. The metal, he says admiringly, has a "very high strength-to-weight ratio." ...

The Wagner Companies, a Milwaukee, Wis. firm, has started marketing Festivus poles, but alas, it doesn't sound like they'll be making a serious dent in the Christmas tree market any time soon.

"We did it mainly as a lark. We never looked at it as a tremendous moneymaking scheme," said Tony Leto, the firm's executive vice president of sales and marketing. "But in many ways, Festivus is taking on a life of its own."

From the BBC:

There are no Christmas decorations, the radio stations are still playing hip-hop and rap and some children recoil at an image of Santa decrying it as evil.

Some children in Nigeria prefer masquerades to Santa

"His costume looks phoney and his face is strange," says eight-year-old Ifunanya Chima when shown a picture of the benign bearded old man in his trademark red cloak with white fur trimmings.

"We prefer masquerades," he told me referring to the traditional colourful dancing which is a big part of the festive season here. ...

Christmas in Nigeria is a time for new clothes, long distance travels for family reunions, and lots of colourful masquerade dances in most villages.

Religious differences

And for now, it does not matter that half of Nigeria's 130 million people are Muslims with a handful of pagans.

At Christmas, most Nigerians forget their religious differences and just share their Christmas rice - a dish of boiled rice eaten with very spicy chicken stew.

"I celebrate Christmas because it's a time for loads of fun," says Ibrahim Idris, a Muslim in Abuja.

Pity the poor Project for the New American Century. The whole Iraq debacle may have ruined its agenda, like, forever, writes BBC world affairs analyst Paul Reynolds.

An LAT story on "citizen journalism" and why Reuters will buy photos but not stories. However, Gannett, the USA's largest newspaper company, is willing to let citizens hit the keyboard.

In a sobering story, Newsweek claims that al Qaeda is using its new playpen of North Waziristan in the tribal area of Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan to train a small group of Westerners to lead attacks in their homelands.

From the BBC:

Chinese retailers and young people have embraced Western festivals

A group of Chinese students has criticised a rise in Christmas revelry, urging people to "resist Western cultural invasion", state media says.

The 10 students, all from elite universities, posted their views on an internet website, the China Daily said.

They condemned the proliferation of Christmas trees, seasonal messages in the media and people celebrating "until very late" on Christmas Eve.

The government was to blame for failing to maintain traditions, they said.

"Occidental culture has been more like storms sweeping through the country rather than mild showers," the students argued.

People were joining in Christmas partying without giving its meaning much thought, they said.

Yeah, well, same here. :)