Subverting Christmas

By Clayton Neuman

Like Yule logs, mistletoe and roasting chestnuts? Well, a lot of people don't. As we head toward Christmas 2005, some cheeky nontraditionalists are already wreaking havoc, upending long-standing notions of Santa, Frosty and even the stalwart Tannenbaum.

BAD SANTAS? Next month Cacophony Society members, who organize Nevada's Burning Man fest, don cheap Santa suits and make merry in big cities worldwide

FOR THE REST OF US Festivus, the Dec. 23 Seinfeld celebration of airing grievances and showing feats of strength, has led to enough real-life gatherings to warrant a new how-to book

SEEING THE X IN XMAS A new expose, The War on Christmas, chronicles such church-state killjoys as a New Jersey school's recent ban on even instrumental versions of Christmas carols

UPENDING TRADITION Nothing says must-have novelty like a $600 upside-down Christmas tree! Or so Hammacher Schlemmer learned when the item sold out almost instantly. Target is charging a mere $500

SNOWCAINE Parents and teachers are starting to connect the dots between trendy snowman T shirts and rapper Young Jeezy, who has made Frosty's pals synonymous with cocaine dealers