It's hard to decide what to do this time of year. For many people, the holiday season is simple and routine. But for a growing number of people, plain old Christmas doesn't cut it anymore. People are slicing and dicing tradition in larger and larger numbers. Some are tired of the tsunami of compulsive consumerism and spending that seems to grow every year. Others have excised the "Christ" from Christmas. Others have gotten rid of Santa. Others say they have sworn off gift giving, and the seemingly mindless excess it represents.

However it happens, the holiday season is undergoing a transformation, and the South Sound is full of people who have departed from the standard holiday routine.

Tacoma art goddess Lynn Di Nino, for example, has sworn off nearly everything Christmasy, except spending time with friends and family. She occasionally indulges a white elephant gift exchange, which she considers an alternative to buying random stuff for everybody.

"I don't celebrate Christmas," she says. "I guess it's the typical un-enthusiasm about the commercial aspect of it. Generally, I don't believe in buying presents for people unless I know what they want or use."

As far as the Jesus part goes, Di Nino leaves that out as well.

"I've never been able to grab hold of any of that," she says. "I just don't relate to it. I can't believe any of those stories add up to a God that you can't see. I guess I reject it. At the same time, I live by the golden rule. But I don't think that has anything to do with religion."

K Records lord and Dub Narcotic throat Calvin Johnson may dabble in holiday activities, but leaves out all the décor and pomp that comes with the season.

"I don't have a Christmas tree at my house," he says. "I don't do a lot of decorating. I'm not opposed.  I'm just too lazy."

Johnson says he has two Christmas wishes.

"I want a world without Republicans for Christmas," he says. "I don't mind the people so much. But they're just so mean spirited and petty. I would like to do without the meanness and the pettiness. And, of course, I would like to see corporations be like the Grinch, and their hearts could grow a couple sizes. But they don't have hearts."

Mad Hat Tea's Tobin Ropes is another person who actively avoids the holiday buying madness.

"I fully reject the purchasing of a bunch of stuff just because that's what we do," he says. "It's what we do every year, and it just ends up in the landfill. In my family we have agreed to not buy anything new as gifts. Everything is made, recycled or re-gifted. With 13 people in our family, it saves us a lot of money."

Ropes, strangely, finds himself in league with Bill O'Reilly when he contends that Christmas should be about more than buying stuff, especially for people with a religious connection to the holiday.

"It was never about this damn consumer nightmare," he says. "It's completely against everything that Christ stood for. If you're celebrating a Christian holiday, do something for someone who has less than you. There are so many people who have nothing right now."

Ropes notes that he is still down with Santa, however.

"I like kids having a little fantasy in their lives," he says. "If I were to ask anything of Santa, I would ask that he help everyone realize when they have enough."

Criminal Nation mic mangler Mark Womack, a.k.a. General Wojack, takes a contrasting stance, choosing to toss out Santa so he can emphasize spirituality and family.

"We don't do Santa," he says. "We don't sell Christmas to the kids. It's important not to sell the children lies. I've always kept it real with my children. They appreciate the gifts more, and they take better care of them when they know if came from one of us."

So what happens if there's no Santa?

"We celebrate the tradition of family," he says. "We understand that it's a consumer holiday, and try and keep a fine line between consumerism and the true nature of Christmas. I think people are waking up to the idea that Christmas (is) a holiday that corporations promoted to make the most money they can at the end of the year. I think it should be about giving, and doing good for people who don't have."

Sanford and Son madman Alan Gorsuch says he loves the spirit of Christmas, but pretty much hates everything else about it.

"Suicides triple during Christmas. Violence goes off the charts. People that are in debt go further in debt. Most people that get gifts don't usually want them," he says. "I normally leave town. Either I go into rehab or immolate myself. Or I'm incarcerated. Then I do the holidays when it's nice and quiet."