First there was Seinfeld's Festivus, a celebration for the rest of us.

Wasn't it great having a holiday where you could stand around a pole and air your grievances?

Then The O.C. gave us Chrismukkah, a sweet little holiday Seth Cohen came up with to combine his Jewish dad's traditions with WASPy mom's Christmas celebrations.

But now we have a whole new fake holiday courtesy of Fox: Fringemas, with Fringe's resident mad scientist, Walter Bishop, offering his own little Nightmare Before Christmas.

For those crouching under rocks for the past few months, Fringe is Fox's sizzlin' new series by J.J. Abrams (Felicity, Alias, Lost, the upcoming Star Trek movie) about federal agents who use the mad scientist to track down strange doings while realizing there's a pattern to it all. But unlike The Files, it's more about the relationship between rebel son Peter (Joshua Jackson) and his brilliant but warped dad Walter (John Noble), while agent Olivia (Anna Torv) plays the action hero in the piece.

In a suitable spooky voice, Walter gives us the lowdown on Fringe thus far in a delightfully chilling Fringemas recap.

All you have to do is put your cursor on the research cow Gene, who has donned the season-appropriate jolly little Santa hat. Those who love all things bovine should note that Gene is short for genetics and that the cow shown in the pilot episode had to be recast because she couldn't make the trek from Toronto for filming.

And Gene is about the only friendly face you'll see in this holiday video. Walter rattles off such season highlights as, "We blew up a papaya just like a girl's brain" and other tidbits about toads, dreamscapes and parasites that wrap around a man's heart. True to the holidays, the narration is set to the rhythm of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" in that Dr. Suess-like Grinch voice.

In the end, Walter beseeches us to tune in when the show returns on January 20.

"So much has happened and so much is about to, and we don't want to locate the Pattern without you. Merry Fringemas to all and to all a Fringe Night."

And that is not all; oh no -- that is not all.

We've also got a place for you to check out the season thus far. Just go to the Fox Web site to watch all 10 episodes that've aired.

Maybe you already have the series sitting on you DVR, but for those of us who missed one of the best fall shows it's time to play catch-up with some heavy web viewing. Anyway, the networks will be closing up shop for the next two weeks, with only reruns and holiday specials on tap.

Even if you've watched every episode this season, there's still plenty of nuggets to mine from episodes past. I was watching an early episode the other night and noticed a lovely little homage to Abrams when agent Olivia found a plane ticket from the victim. The flight was aboard Oceanic Airlines.

Fringe features brain-tickler images of toads, butterflies, apples, leaves and all sorts of little Easter eggs. Or should we say Christmas stocking stuffers?

Watch it the first time just as a great little thriller filled with sophisticated humor. Watch it again to check out all the clues in the mysterious mythology known as the Pattern.

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