{"id":58,"date":"2005-12-23T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2005\/12\/greetings-to-the-rest-of-us.html"},"modified":"2005-12-23T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-12-23T12:00:00","slug":"greetings-to-the-rest-of-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2005\/12\/greetings-to-the-rest-of-us.html","title":{"rendered":"Greetings to the Rest of Us!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

As if I even need to remind you…. today is Festivus<\/a>! The fictional holiday made famous by Jerry Stiller’s character Frank Costanza in a 1997 episode of “Seinfeld” is–yes is<\/i>–observed nationwide by many who crave “a Festivus for the rest of us.” Fed up with the commercialism of Christmas–and the toy store battles he found himself embroiled in–Frank defined the holiday with such rituals as the “Airing of Grievances,” in which people tell loved ones how they’ve disappointed them over the past year, and “Feats of Strength,” where the head of the household has to pin the other members of the family. There was no Christmas tree necessary: Festivus revelors gather around an unadorned aluminum pole to perform their rituals. Don’t have yours yet? Worry not, the website ChosenCulture.com<\/A> sells a miniature pole<\/a> that is perfect for table or desktop. Stiller himself is even involved in the life-imitating-art-imitating-life (“Seinfeld” writer Dan O’Keefe’s father is said to have invented the holiday in the 1960s). A new book<\/a> features a forward by Jerry Stiller, as well as Festivus recipes, history, and other surprises. <\/p>\n

Would Frank Costanza object to this new commercialization of his beloved Festivus? A good question for debate over pole-skewered shrimp at the Festivus meal, perhaps.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As if I even need to remind you…. today is Festivus! The fictional holiday made famous by Jerry Stiller’s character Frank Costanza in a 1997 episode of “Seinfeld” is–yes is–observed nationwide by many who crave “a Festivus for the rest of us.” Fed up with the commercialism of Christmas–and the toy store battles he found…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nGreetings to the Rest of Us!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2005\/12\/greetings-to-the-rest-of-us.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Greetings to the Rest of Us!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As if I even need to remind you…. today is Festivus! The fictional holiday made famous by Jerry Stiller’s character Frank Costanza in a 1997 episode of “Seinfeld” is–yes is–observed nationwide by many who crave “a Festivus for the rest of us.” Fed up with the commercialism of Christmas–and the toy store battles he found…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2005\/12\/greetings-to-the-rest-of-us.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-12-23T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"holly rossi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Greetings to the Rest of Us!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2005\/12\/greetings-to-the-rest-of-us.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Greetings to the Rest of Us!","og_description":"As if I even need to remind you…. today is Festivus! 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