In an attempt to keep his wife from finding out that he damaged her new car, a San Rafael, California man allegedly faked his own kidnapping. Jorge Alberto Mejia told police that he was held by two kidnappers at gunpoint at a San Rafael bar Saturday. Mejia, 35, said the kidnappers ordered him to drive to Santa Rosa, California and in the midst of the drive he purposely crashed the car into a wall to escape. However, during interrogation Mejia admitted to investigators he cooked up the story and there was no such kidnapping.

Dogs have been known as man's best friends for decades, and Matt Carcerano's 16-month-old dog, Bella, has lived up to it. Bella, a mix of poodle and Labrador retriever, saved her master life by timely waking him up and alerting him on a house fire. Carcerano was sound asleep Monday night when Bella tried getting his attention by a mix of "growl, whimper and bark. "

The man known as the "Secret Santa" passed away in his home in Lee's Summit, Missouri due to complications from esophageal cancer after giving away a total of $1. 3 million during his "too-short lifetime," his friends reported Sunday. He was 58. Larry Stewart was a successful businessman who anonymously gave money to needy during the Christmas season. The media called him the "Secret Santa" because his identity was unknown.

Santa Claus has been hailed a hero by local communities in Damascus, Virginia after aiding the police in the arrest of a streaker. Father Christmas assisted the local police in catching a 35-year-old man who was running naked outside a police station on Monday.

As the New Year is just round the corner, the markets are flooded with new calendars for 2007, most of them featuring semi-nude pictures. In one of them, Miss December is shown wearing nothing but a Santa hat and a smile. One such organization is The Humane Society in the city of Jefferson, about 50 miles west of Milwaukee. It is one of the many nonprofit organizations from Australia to Wisconsin selling tastefully nude calendars for next year.