A man from Washington went to the extreme of dramatizing his protest against what he called the commercialization of Christmas by nailing Santa Claus to a 15-foot crucifix in front of his house. Art Conrad even took a photo of his crucified Santa to adorn the Christmas cards he sent to friends and relatives with a message, "Santa died for your MasterCard. "Conrad said, "Santa has been perverted from who he started out to be. Now he's the person being used by corporations to get us to buy more stuff. ''

A Washington man is going all out to show his disdain for Christmas commercialism. In lieu of the traditional snowman or the nativity scene, Art Conrad has put up a Santa Claus nailed to a 4. 5-meter crucifix in front of his house.

Santa Claus still gets the most mail, according to the Universal Postal Union (UPU). In 2006 Santa received more than six million letters that are answered by postal workers in 20 countries. Written by children and filled with the most fanciful wishes, these missives are often addressed simply "To Santa, North Pole. "

Hundreds of thousands of holiday greeting cards and get-well-soon letters for injured American soldiers were returned to sender or thrown away unopened and never reached their destinations. The Pentagon and Postal service have refused to deliver mail letters addressed to wounded troops since the September 11 attacks and the anthrax scare, for fear terrorists might send toxic materials or bad messages to the recovering soldier wounded during war.

Police are currently searching for a man who allegedly walked in on a funeral, offered condolences to the departed's family, and then left - but not without making off with the funeral's collection bag. Attendees of the funeral of 30-year old ironworker David Rabun told police that no one in David's family recognized the person, who according to Rabun's mother Sandra Alton, went up to the microphone and said he wanted to express his condolences, even though he did not work with David.