For the uninitiated, Festivus was the holiday Frank Costanza cooked up in lieu of Christmas and features a Festivus Pole instead of a Christmas Tree. Families get together, stage the "Airing of Grievances" and then after dinner, "Feats of Strength" are performed near the Festivus Tree. For whatever reason, the holiday has slowly taken off, becoming part joke, part-ironic statement, and part "screw Christmas" statement. And while there's no Rankin Bass Festivus claymation special and it's yet to draw the ire of Bill O'Reilly (if it ever does, though, it could just be the greatest thing ever), it has become a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor, a party, a holiday wine, a business, a free speech cause, and a blogging meme. And now, it's become a book.

Ex-San Franciscan and freelance writerAllen Salkin has just come out with the first definitive look at the holiday: Festivus, the Holiday That's For the Rest of Us". The book, which features a forward by Jerry Stiller (Frank Costanza) himself, has a history of the holiday and a look at why the holiday is slowly becoming part of the holiday season and how it's celebrated.

We recently talked to him about the hows and whys of Festivus and his time couch diving in SF.