Bad Santa

100 drunk Santas recently caused a disturbance at a Dayton mall. Sgt. Paul Nienhaus says the Santas were part of a social group called 'Santa Con' and were on a pub crawl when they got trashed and began scaring shoppers. Chris Tussey recorded the confrontation between the Santas and the police. He says, "Cops were everywhere. Santa's were running everywhere with their hats. "It was the most craziest thing I've seen. The mall was like a stampede. Everyone was exited, you know trying to get out of there."

Naughty list

Michael Oddo, an oil painter from Moorpark, California, is selling Christmas ornaments that show Santa Claus being tortured, executed, beaten, electrocuted and hung by an evil dwarf. He says he started making the wooden statues after he was forced to come up with a last minute gift. "I am very busy around Christmastime, but some dear old friends invited me to an ornament exchange and told me, 'Everyone has to make one.' I realized I didn't have time to make one, but I made the time. I stayed up all night creating a wood ornament showing Santa on a guillotine with his head in the basket. I used real human hair on Santa and a lot of red paint for the blood. When I showed up, the piece caused a ruckus. People shared my feelings and I immediately started getting orders." Oddo charges $100 for the ornaments.

Santa U

Graduates from the Charles W. Howard Santa School have descended upon malls all across America. The Michigan school teaches students about the history of Santa and personal hygiene. Director Tom Valent says, "Santa is a pure man; he's a pure spirit. You never use off-color jokes or flirt or anything like that. You have to be very careful where we touch the children, how we pick them up, how we set them on our knees. Keep your hands up on top visible. We don't want any Santas getting a bad rap." There are also classes for singing, story telling and Santa dancing.

Stripped Down Santa

The Amalgamated Order of Real-Bearded Santas, an organization that represents Santas nationwide, recently told its members to ditch their white cotton gloves because they are a breeding ground for germs and the H1N1 virus. Some mall Santas are wearing rubber gloves while others plan to don masks to ward off germs.