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.''

He explains his reason for displaying a crucified Santa in his house was also to encourage people to express themselves. According to him, he believes people do not express what they feel because they were afraid of what other people might think.

Some of Conrad's neighbors were offended by his action, but some were plain curious.

A neighbor, Jake Tally, walked by Conrad's house Friday and just chuckled saying he can't really understand what message his neighbor was trying to say.

''I don't really know what to think. I know it's about God but Santa has nothing to do with it,'' Tally said.