A wicked winter storm was sweeping east across the United States Wednesday, creating a post-holiday travel nightmare with more than a foot of snow in some places and thousands of flights canceled or delayed.

"Blizzard warnings stretch for 730 continuous miles due to Winter Storm Euclid," The Weather Channel’s Tom Niziol reported.

The white-out came a day after a Christmas storm unleashed heavy snow, deadly winds and even some tornadoes on the nation’s midsection, killing at least three people.

As millions of Americans braced for snow, rain, ice or more twisters, nearly 2,000 flights had been canceled and 10,000 were delayed, many at Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia International, and Cleveland's Hopkins International, according to the travel website FllightStats.com. American Airlines had to cancel 500 flights, while Delta scrapped 200. 

Read more at The Weather Channel

The forecast called for heavy snow from Indiana to New York and by mid-afternoon it was piling up: The National Weather Service reported 14.5 inches in Marion, Ill.; 11.8 inches in Bloomfield, Ind.; 9 inches in Brookville, Ohio; 7 inches in Bardwell, Ky.; and Frostburg, Md. Up to 3 inches of rain had fallen in North and South Carolina.

The National Weather Service said Wednesday night that spotters had reported up to a foot of snow in some Pennsylvania counties. Forecasters predicted 10 to 12 inches of snow in western and central Massachusetts. 

The system was expected to taper off into a mix of rain and snow closer to the coast, where little or no accumulation was expected in such cities as Philadelphia, Boston and New York. 

The storm left freezing temperatures in its aftermath, and forecasters also said parts of the Southeast from Virginia to Florida would see severe thunderstorms. 

After the storm socked little Albion, Ill., with 18 inches of snow, city worker Renee Galen’s SUV got stuck and she got to her office the only way she could.

"One of the city guys came by with a snowplow and I flagged him down and rode to work with him," Galen told NBC News.

"I had to get to work because today was the last day to file for city elections. Believe it or not, I’ve had three people come in to file."

In Indianapolis, seven inches of snow fell in three hours Wednesday morning, bringing post-Christmas shopping to a halt, the Indianapolis Star reported. 

Stephen Canter, 44, ventured out before 8 a.m., and the roads were thick with snow when he headed back 30 minutes later.

"By the time I got home, the street was covered," he told the newspaper. "I don't remember snow like this since Valentine's Day of 2007."

Indiana State Police received 100 calls of crashes or cars sliding off roads before noon and warned motorists that if they got into trouble it could take a while to get them help, NBC affiliate WTHR.com reported. 

Cars and several 18-wheelers were stuck in the ice along 1-70, and the snow fell faster than crews could clear the roads.

"The biggest problem is the blowing. We got some high winds and the roads are really beginning to drift bad," Ron Sharp with Wayne County Emergency Management told the station.

Parts of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are also forecast to get hit with more than a foot of snow, and New England could get up to a foot.

The blizzard warning in Ohio prompted United Airlines to cancel at least 60 percent of their flights at Cleveland Hopkins Airport beginning at noon on Wednesday, according to NBC affiliate WKYC.com. About 1,000 people spent the night on cots at Dallas/Fort Worth after their Tuesday night and Wednesday morning flights were scrapped.

Hundreds of flights delayed, canceled as holiday storms travel across country

With Rochester, N.Y., slated to get up to a foot of snow, hordes of worried residents descended on the hardware stores.

“Un-freaking-believable! We’ve sold 225 shovels since 9 o’clock this morning,” said Tom Green, owner of Mayer Paint and Hardware. “Rock salt – I couldn’t tell you how many thousands of pounds I’ve sold today. People are very concerned.”

Green noted that snowstorms are hardly rare in Rochester.

“But this is the first big one,” he said. “And it’s happening at Christmas.”

The weather system, which started over the weekend, wreaked havoc on Christmas. It knocked out power to tens of thousands of people and was blamed for at least five deaths.

In Enola, Ark., two toddlers were killed when a car lost control on an ice-slicked highway and spun into oncoming traffic, state police said.

Wind-toppled trees killed a pickup truck driver near Houston, Texas, and a 53-year-old man in north Louisiana. NBC affiliate KJRH reported that a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy highway near Fairview, Okla.

Christmas Day tornadoes –- the preliminary count was at least 21, according to the Weather Channel -- battered Southern states. And Little Rock, Ark., didn’t just have a rare white Christmas –- it had its snowiest day ever, with nine inches on the ground.

The storms contributed to a 21-vehicle pile-up Tuesday that shut down a major highway in Oklahoma City, as well as tens of thousands of power outages. Emergency service provider MedStar told NBCDFW.com it responded to 71 crashes in the Fort Worth area between 5 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. Tuesday evening.

As it tracked east, authorities were taking the storm seriously.

In Indianapolis, Mayor Greg Ballard ordered "non-essential" workers to stay home and off roads. Cleveland asked businesses to send workers home by 1:30 p.m., NBC affiliate WKYC.com reported. Homeowners in coastal Long Island, ravaged by Superstorm Sandy in October, were told to take precautions to prevent flooding with seas expected to peak at 15 feet, NBCNewYork.com reported.

By the time it leaves the New England coast Friday, the storm will have left snow from coast to coast –- and there could be another wallop coming soon.

Weather Channel meteorologist Guy Walton said a weather pattern with the potential to become Winter Storm Freyr is poised to enter the West Coast on Wednesday and move through the Rockies on Thursday. It could then head for the lower Mississippi Valley, then the Southeast and hit the Northeast on Sunday.

Read more at weather.com

The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A major winter storm pummeled large parts of the U.S. on Tuesday, killing two people as it dropped heavy snow on the Southern Plains and spinning off damaging winds and tornadoes in warmer areas southward. A state of emergency was declared in Mississippi.

Treacherous holiday travel was expected to become even more of an ordeal by the time the storm arrives in the Northeast later this week.

Read more from weather.com

A weather map of the U.S. looked like a child's coloring book, with a variety of advisories, watches and warnings spreading across the middle and the southern half of the country:

• Blizzard warnings were in force for parts of Indiana, Texas and Oklahoma. Two people were killed Tuesday when high winds toppled trees in Tomball, Texas, near Houston, and in Richland Parish, La., while 21 cars and tractor-trailers crashed in a massive pileup on roads coated with freezing rain in Oklahoma City.

• Winter storm warnings stretched from those states north and east to Arkansas and Ohio. Almost 150,000 customers were without power late Tuesday across Arkansas, Entergy Arkansas said.

• At least 31 tornadoes were believed to have been spotted across the South from Texas to Alabama, the National Weather Service reported. Numerous tornado-related injuries were reported in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, but, remarkably, none of them were believed to be serious, according to preliminary reports.

Hundreds more flights canceled as Christmas storm moves east

The worst of the tornadoes hit Tuesday afternoon in Mobile, Ala., where about 21,500 customers remained without power Tuesday night, Alabama Power said.

"The people of Alabama are strong," state governor Robert Bentley said in a statement released by his office. "We will recover together. First responders are doing a tremendous job helping people in areas impacted by the storms, and those efforts will continue."

The statement added: "I also want to offer my prayers for everyone impacted by these storms. We will work on the state level to do everything we can to help communities across the state."

Rick Cauley's family was hosting relatives for Christmas when the tornado sirens went off in Mobile. Not taking any chances, he and his wife, Ashley, hustled everyone down the block to take shelter at the athletic field house at Mobile's Murphy High School in Mobile.

It turns out, that wasn't the place to head.

"As luck would have it, that's where the tornado hit," Cauley told The Associated Press. "The pressure dropped and the ears started popping and it got crazy for a second." They were all fine, though the school was damaged, as were a church and several homes, but officials say no one was seriously injured. 

Mike Kittrell / AP

Firefighters go door-to-door on North Carlen Street in the Midtown section of Mobile, Ala., after a tornado touched down Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012.

Suspected tornadoes also damaged homes and other structures Tuesday in or near Centreville, McNeill, Maxie and Janice in Mississippi; and in or near Luverne, Wilmer and Riderwood in Alabama, according to The Weather Channel.

A state of emergency was declared in Mississippi late Tuesday by governor Phil Bryant, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency told NBC News in a statement. Homes, roads and businesses were damaged in at least nine counties.

Greg Forbes, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel, said thunderstorms with damaging winds and hail would make their way across the Deep South into Wednesday.

By the time it leaves the New England coast Friday, the storm will have left snow from coast to coast.

The National Weather Service said blizzard conditions were possible in parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, which could get 4 to 7 inches of snow. Whiteout conditions were forecast for stretches of Interstate 44 in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas into the evening.

Ten to 15 inches of snow was expected in parts of Indiana. In Indianapolis, Mayor Greg Ballard ordered "non-essential" workers to stay home Wednesday.

Read more from weather.com

With more than 93.3 million people expected to take to the road during the holiday season, according to AAA, many travelers made last-minute changes of plans and decided to hit the road before the snow hit.

"You definitely have to worry about everyone while you're driving, especially out here," Dallas resident Jerdal Whitaker told NBC 5 of Dallas. "We're not used to the weather that comes, especially when it's ugly, so you definitely have to drive slow."

Travel delays could persist into Thursday morning along the East Coast because of "low clouds, wind, and potential changeover to light snow," The Weather Channel reported.

More than 500 U.S. flights had been canceled by 11 p.m. ET, the travel site flightaware.com reported. Many of them were into and out of Dallas, where as much as 3 inches of snow fell Tuesday, NBC 5 of Dallas reported.

NBCDFW.com: White Christmas brings delays, cancellations to DFW airport

A low-pressure system intensified as it moved across the Southern Plains toward the Lower Mississippi Valley on Tuesday. That sucked in arctic air from the north and the west to mix with warmer, wetter air in the southern half of the country, the National Weather Service said. 

The system is forecast to track east-northeast, getting stronger by the hour, as it moves into the Mid-Atlantic. From there, snow and freezing rain are expected to spread quickly northeast, reaching New England by Thursday morning. As much as a foot of snow was forecast later in the week across western and upstate New York.

Ioanna Dafermou and Meredith Placko of NBC News, Jim Cantore, Greg Forbes and Scott Kurtz of The Weather Channel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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NEWTOWN, Conn. — Christmas has helped the grieving Connecticut town of Newtown cope a little better with the shooting tragedy earlier this month and allowed some people to finally smile.

Though more somber than a typical Christmas, the holiday has given Newtown a respite from the mourning. All the funerals for the victims have concluded.

"We're getting through this with our faith and our prayer. People are smiling a little more now," said John Barry, owner of an information technology staffing company. "The week was so horrible. Now it's time to celebrate Christmas."

This largely Christian town was shaken on the morning of Dec. 14, when a 20-year-old gunman armed with a military-style assault rifle shot and killed 20 children ages 6 and 7 and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

The sounds of silence: Church bells toll 26 times to honor Newtown victims

Little is known about the shooter, Adam Lanza, who also killed his mother before the rampage and later himself to create a death toll of 28 in a tragedy that has revived the debate over U.S. gun control laws.

'Spreading some cheer'
The sadness has moved some to act. Makeshift monuments to the dead have popped up all over town, funds have been raised, and many visitors have made a pilgrimage to Newtown, offering support.

Husband and wife Dan and Michelle McAloon of Newtown decided to go Christmas caroling this year for the first time, gathering other families and children to roam a neighborhood where the families of three victims live.

"We were just spreading some cheer, trying to make the situation a little better," Michelle McAloon said.

"They all smiled, and they all cried a little," she said of the victims' families.

Images of silence: Remembering the Newtown school victims one week later

"Everybody said we are doing it again next year," Dan McAloon said of the carolers. "It's going to become a tradition."

Barry and the McAloons were among those in an overflow crowd that attended Christmas Eve Mass on Monday night at Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which held its biggest service at the high school auditorium.

Nine families from the parish lost someone in the shooting, and at least four of those families came to the big Christmas Eve Mass, Msnr. Robert Weiss said.

Michelle Obama: My heart aches for you

"Everything is just a lot more somber. Some people are just going through the motions because it's Christmas. Others are trying to make it special," Weiss said after the service.

"There is reason to celebrate. Hopefull,y when people start to see their extended families or people from outside of Newtown or even go out of town, they will be able to. You can't get away from it in this town," he said.

Christmas Eve Mass featured a pageant that told the Christian story of Jesus' birth. One of the more poignant moments came when people applauded two dozen little girls dressed as angels. They all knew that shooting victim Olivia Engel, 6, was supposed to be among them.

"I highly recommend that before you rip open those gifts, say a prayer for those children," Weiss told parishioners. "Then give your own children a hug."

Adrees Latif / Reuters

A man pays a visit on Christmas Day to the snow-covered grave of 6-year-old Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, one of 20 schoolchildren killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

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A 'Grinch' has struck again—this time just west of Fort Worth, Texas.

Police in Parker County, Texas have arrested an ex-con for the alleged theft of Christmas decorations in Aledo after surveillance video captured the thief in action, NBCDFW.com reported.

Authorities received a number of tips from viewers after local media, including NBCDFW.com, published the surveillance photos and video on Tuesday. Police arrested the suspect Dana Brock, 43, at her home Wednesday morning, according to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler told the Star-Telegram that investigators believe Brock may have been hanging the stolen lights on other houses as part of a holiday-lighting business.

"[A Hurst, Texas resident] said [Brock] strung lights (on her home) and then they heard about her arrest and said, 'Uh-oh, maybe these lights on our home are stolen,'" Fowler told the newspaper.

Investigators also found a number of laptops inside Brock's home and she remained in jail Wednesday afternoon, the Star-Telegram reported.

This is not the first time Brock has had a run-in with the law. She has served at least three prison sentences, NBCDFW.com reported: Her sentences include convictions for injuring a child, for credit card abuse, for possession of meth and for solicitation to commit murder.

Related: Phoenix cops replace sick girl's Christmas lights stolen by 'Grinch'

The surveillance video was captured by area resident Ashley Starnes and her husband, according to NBCDFW.com. On the video, they reportedly saw a grown woman stealing the wreath off their front door in the wee hours of Dec. 7 and then some Christmas lights from their yard a week later.

"I was mad at first, but Merry Christmas," Ashley Starnes told NBCDFW.com. "I guess she needs it more than I do."

The Starnes' were not alone. Police said at least four other area residents fell victim to the decoration thefts in recent weeks, according to NBCDFW.com.

"It's funny because it's unusual," Parker County Sheriff Lt. Mark Arnett had told NBCDFW.com.

"But the bottom line is, people could die over this," Arnett also told NBCDFW.com, adding his fear that a startled homeowner with a weapon could confront a thief.

Slideshow: Holiday season lights up

NBCDFW.com's Frank Heinz and Scott Gordon contributed to this story.

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MIAMI -- A Festivus pole made of beer cans has been installed at a large South Florida intersection, just a few feet away from Baby Jesus.

Deerfield Beach activist blogger Chaz Stevens wanted to express his nonreligious beliefs, so he cited his adherence to the made-up holiday celebrated on a famous episode of the 1990s sitcom “Seinfeld,” the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports.

The holiday was touted in an episode as a "Festivus for the rest of us!" Character Frank Costanza puts up the totem of the holiday, an unadorned aluminum pole, in protest of Christmas' commercialism.

With permission from the city, Stevens on Thursday assembled his metallic pole, consisting of 23 beer cans, at Hillsboro Boulevard and Federal Highway, the newspaper said. Stevens put the pole about six feet from a Nativity scene, which he for years unsuccessfully tried to have the city take down.  

"Think of how many people have died over the years to give us our freedoms," Stevens told the Sun Sentinel. "So I've got to push back a little."

Also on NBCMiami.com: Millionaire asks Santa For "Latina Girlfriend" via billboard

A city attorney declined to comment. 

One key ritual of Festivus is accusing others of being a disappointment, known as an airing of grievances.  

Over the years, Festivus has been cited in protests across the country. 

One case occurred in 2010, when a convicted drug dealer invoked the holiday to get better meals in a California jail. The inmate disliked the jail’s salami meals, so he used his Festivus devotion to get kosher meals reserved for inmates with religious needs.

Courtesy Salvation Army

An anonymous donor left this gold coin worth almost $2,000 in a Red Kettle in Houston on Tuesday.

Modern coins go "plink" when they drop into a Salvation Army kettle. But gold is a softer metal; it goes "plonk." And in a Christmas tradition that's 30 years old this year, the gold coins are once again starting to plonk into the iconic red kettles. 

M. Alex Johnson is a reporter for NBC News. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

It happened Nov. 9 in Bettendorf, Iowa, when a 1/4-ounce gold coin worth about $500 was dropped in a volunteer's pot outside Schnuck's Market. It was nestled in a cardboard setting with cellophane wrapped around it, so it stood out when the kettle was opened, said Holly Nomura, development director for the Salvation Army's Quad Cities Corps.

Then on Tuesday, outside a Sam's Club in southwest Houston, someone — no one but the donor knows who — left a 1-ounce gold coin worth almost $2,000 in the pot, wrapped inside a $1 bill. Attached was this note: "A child is born, Jesus! Merry Christmas!"

It's at least the 15th straight year that's happened in the Quad Cities and the fifth year in a row in Houston. And it's always "a wonderful start to our holiday fundraising efforts," said Lt. Josh McKain of the Salvation Army's Irvington, Texas, corps.

So far this season, gold coins worth many times their face values also have been left in Salvation Army kettles at a Sam's Club in Mishawaka, Ind.; at a Jewel-Osco store in Kankakee, Ill.; and in a kettle somewhere in Johnson County, Tenn. (It wasn't discovered until the bank started counting donations, so the precise location isn't known.)

The Red Kettle donation campaign began in San Francisco in 1891, and presumably gold coins — which were legal tender until 1933 — were part of the haul from the beginning. 

But the specific tradition of anonymously leaving a single gold coin in the pot is more recent. Most accounts say it began 30 years ago, in Quincy, Ill., but there's a friendly dispute over that — the Quad Cities unit in Iowa says it believes that the tradition began there, though it acknowledges it can't prove it.

For years, someone would anonymously leave a single 1-ounce gold coin in a kettle in the Quad Cities (besides Bettendorf, the three other cities are Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline, Ill.). That anonymous donor is believed to have died about four years ago, but not the tradition, as smaller gold coins have continued to pop up.

"Every year we have one," Nomura told NBC News.

U.S. Mint

U.S. Gold Eagles come in four denominations: $5, $10, $25 and $50. But their real value is tied to the market price of gold. A $10 piece like this one fetches about $500.

'Huge motivation'
The national Salvation Army says it's gotten more than 400 gold coins from anonymous donors over the last three decades. They come from several countries. Someone has left a South African Krugerrand in a pot in Mason City, Iowa, since 1997, for instance.

But they're often Gold Eagles, which are U.S. coins minted in four denominations: $5, $10, $25 and $50. They're 92 percent gold (and 3 percent silver), so their real worth fluctuates with the market price of gold. They're intended for collectors and for transactions involving precious metals, not for general circulation. 

The condition and age of a coin can lower (or raise) its final value, but the U.S. Mint said that at Thursday's gold price, a 2012 1-ounce $50 piece in uncirculated condition would cost $1,978. A 1/4-ounce $10 piece (like the one donated in Bettendorf) would command $515.50, the Mint said. 

Obviously, you can't just throw one of those into a coin roll and drop it off at the bank. Eventually, the coin left in Bettendorf will be taken to a dealer to be appraised and then sold, with the proceeds going toward the chapter's $725,000 fundraising goal for 2012.

Until then, it's in a safe, "except when the media wants to film it," Nomura told NBC News. 

And that's not uncommon — the tradition has turned into a terrific publicity tool for the Salvation Army. If a gold coin shows up in a kettle somewhere, a press release is sure to follow.

But it also serves a larger purpose, said McKain, of the Texas chapter that got Tuesday's Gold Eagle.

"It's not only a significant boost for us this year as a monetary donation, but also a huge motivation for all of our kettle workers," he told NBC station KPRC of Houston. "Really, for all of us who are involved in the Red Kettle campaign."

NBC station KPRC of Houston contributed to this report.

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Frederic J. Brown / AFP - Getty Images file

In this file photo taken on Dec. 17, 2011, pedestrians walk past a Christmas display in Santa Monica, California.

Efforts to force Santa Monica, Calif., to reopen spaces in a city park for Christmas Nativity scenes were denied by a federal judge on Monday.

The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins allows the city of Santa Monica to bar seasonal displays in public, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A controversy erupted after Santa Monica officials stopped a long-standing holiday tradition for groups to set up private, unattended displays in Palisades Park, including a life-size Nativity display that has been a Santa Monica fixture for decades, according to The Associated Press. Atheists have previously protested alongside the displays with anti-God messages in the park. Santa Monica's city council voted to ban all private unattended displays back in June, according to the LA Times.

Previous story: Churches sue California city to bring back nativity scene

The Santa Monica Nativity Scene Committee sued for freedom of speech violations, arguing that while atheists have the right to protest, that freedom doesn't trump the Christians' right to free speech, the AP reported.

"This amounts to an erosion of First Amendment liberty for religious speech in this country," an attorney for the Nativity Scene committee, William Becker, told NBCLosAngeles.com. "It's just one more step in the slippery slope."

The city is reportedly "very pleased" with the ruling, Santa Monica's attorney Barry A. Rosenbaum told the LA Times.

"(The judge) understood the government interests and that (groups wanting to put up displays) have a number of alternatives to erect displays," Rosenbaum told the newspaper.

Last year, Santa Monica held a lottery to determine which groups could have displays in city's Palisades Park, according to NBCLosAngeles.com. The atheists won 18 of the 21 available spaces, while the Nativity scene was limited to only two spaces.

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Churches are still allowed to go caroling in the park, hand out literature or stage plays about the birth of Jesus there, Santa Monica Deputy City Attorney Jeanette Schachtner told the AP in an email. Displays on private land are of course permitted.

The parties in this case are all due back in court Dec. 3 for additional arguments, the LA Times reported.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and religion, but also states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." According to the AP, that has been interpreted by courts as providing for separation of church and state, barring government bodies from promoting, endorsing or funding religion or religious institutions.

The Associated Press, as well as NBCLosAngeles.com's Patrick Healy and Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report.

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This Dec. 4, 2011 photo shows avowed atheist Damon Vix in front of the display he set among other, traditional holiday displays in Palisades Park in Santa Monica, Calif.

Damon Vix didn't have to go to court to push Christmas out of the city of Santa Monica. He just joined the festivities.

The atheist's anti-God message alongside a life-sized nativity display in a park overlooking the beach ignited a debate that burned brighter than any Christmas candle.

Santa Monica officials snuffed the city's holiday tradition this year rather than referee the religious rumble, prompting churches that have set up a 14-scene Christian diorama for decades to sue over freedom of speech violations. Their attorney will ask a federal judge Monday to resurrect the depiction of Jesus' birth, while the city aims to eject the case.

"It's a sad, sad commentary on the attitudes of the day that a nearly 60-year-old Christmas tradition is now having to hunt for a home, something like our savior had to hunt for a place to be born because the world was not interested," said Hunter Jameson, head of the nonprofit Santa Monica Nativity Scene Committee that is suing.

Missing from the courtroom drama will be Vix and his fellow atheists, who are not parties to the case. Their role outside court highlights a tactical shift as atheists evolve into a vocal minority eager to get their non-beliefs into the public square as never before.

National atheist groups earlier this year took out full-page newspaper ads and hundreds of TV spots in response to the Catholic bishops' activism around women's health care issues and are gearing up to battle for their own space alongside public Christmas displays in small towns across America this season.

"In recent years, the tactic of many in the atheist community has been, if you can't beat them, join them," said Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center and director of the Newseum's Religious Freedom Education Project in Washington. "If these church groups insist that these public spaces are going to be dominated by a Christian message, we'll just get in the game — and that changes everything."

In the past, atheists primarily fought to uphold the separation of church and state through the courts. The change underscores the conviction held by many nonbelievers that their views are gaining a foothold, especially among young adults.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released a study last month that found 20 percent of Americans say they have no religious affiliation, an increase from 15 percent in the last five years. Atheists took heart from the report, although Pew researchers stressed that the category also encompassed majorities of people who said they believed in God but had no ties with organized religion and people who consider themselves "spiritual" but not "religious."

"We're at the bottom of the totem pole socially, but we have muscle and we're flexing it," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation. "Ignore our numbers at your peril."

The trouble in Santa Monica began three years ago, when Vix applied for and was granted a booth in Palisades Park alongside the story of Jesus Christ's birth, from Mary's visit from the Angel Gabriel to the traditional crèche.

Vix hung a simple sign that quoted Thomas Jefferson: "Religions are all alike -- founded on fables and mythologies." The other side read "Happy Solstice." He repeated the display the following year but then upped the stakes significantly.

In 2011, Vix recruited 10 others to inundate the city with applications for tongue-in-cheek displays such as a homage to the "Pastafarian religion," which would include an artistic representation of the great Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The secular coalition won 18 of 21 spaces. The two others went to the traditional Christmas displays and one to a Hanukkah display.

The atheists used half their spaces, displaying signs such as one that showed pictures of Poseidon, Jesus, Santa Claus and the devil and said: "37 million Americans know myths when they see them. What myths do you see?"

Most of the signs were vandalized and in the ensuing uproar, the city effectively ended a tradition that began in 1953 and earned Santa Monica one of its nicknames, the City of the Christmas Story.

The Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee argues in its lawsuit that atheists have the right to protest, but that freedom doesn't trump the Christians' right to free speech.

"If they want to hold an opposing viewpoint about the celebration of Christmas, they're free to do that — but they can't interfere with our right to engage in religious speech in a traditional public forum," said William Becker, attorney for the committee. "Our goal is to preserve the tradition in Santa Monica and to keep Christmas alive."

The city doesn't prohibit churches from caroling in the park, handing out literature or even staging a play about the birth of Jesus and churches can always set up a nativity on private land, Deputy City Attorney Jeanette Schachtner said in an email.

The decision to ban the displays also saves the city, which had administered the cumbersome lottery process used to award booths, both time and money while preserving the park's aesthetics, she said.

For his part, Vix is surprised — and slightly amused — at the legal battle spawned by his solitary act but doesn't plan anything further.

"That was such a unique and blatant example of the violation of the First Amendment that I felt I had to act," said the 44-year-old set builder. "If I had another goal, it would be to remove the 'under God' phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance — but that's a little too big for me to take on for right now."

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and religion, but also states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." That has been interpreted by courts as providing for separation of church and state, barring government bodies from promoting, endorsing or funding religion or religious institutions. 

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Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

Matthew Badger, left, and Madonna Badger cry during the arrival of their daughters' caskets during their funeral service Jan. 5 in New York.

The father of the three girls killed in a Christmas morning house fire has sued the city of Stamford, Conn., his ex-wife's contractor boyfriend and several others who did work on the home, saying they all had roles into making it into a "firetrap."

Matthew Badger's lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Superior Court, alleges that contractor Michael Borcina failed to install a smoke detection system while doing renovations on the $1.7 million Victorian house in Stamford. Borcina escaped the blaze along with the girls' mother.

The fire killed 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year-old Lily Badger, and their grandparents Lomer and Pauline Johnson.

The lawsuit alleges that Borcina was to oversee installation of a hard-wired smoke detection system after beginning renovations at the three-story waterfront home but failed to complete the project as scheduled in April 2011 and left the ground floor without heating.

"The girls died before they could escape the home, which had become a firetrap as a result of months of substandard construction leading up to the fire," according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by The Stamford Advocate.

The lawsuit also says city officials knew or should have known that Borcina served as the home's general contractor but didn't have a state home improvement contractor's license.

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Borcina's criminal attorney, Eugene Riccio, said Thursday that another attorney was being hired to handle the civil case. Stamford's director of legal affairs, Joseph Capalbo, declined to comment.

The home's architect, electrician and general contractor listed on the building permit were included as defendants.

No criminal charges in Christmas fire

Last month, Stamford State's Attorney David Cohen said he found no criminal negligence in investigating the fire, which has been blamed on a bag of fireplace ashes that had been discarded in a mudroom.

The grandparents' estates have notified the city of their intent to sue.

Man died trying to save granddaughter

The girls' mother, Madonna Badger, told NBC's "Today" show last month that the bag of ashes didn't seem dangerous because Borcina ran his hands over them before putting them on top of a plastic bin.

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Tina Fineberg / AP

Five people were killed in a fire at this house on Christmas Day in Stamford, Conn.

The Connecticut state attorney has determined that no criminal charges should be filed in connection with a fire in Stamford on Christmas Day that killed a couple and their three granddaughters.

“This is not a decision made easily or lightly. In a tragedy of this magnitude, it is understandable that both the people affected by it personally and the public at large need to find that someone is responsible, that it is not just a senseless accident," David Cohen, the state’s attorney, stated in a report released Friday morning.

"However, my determination must be based solely on whether there is sufficient evidence to hold someone criminally responsible," he added.

The two other people present in the house when the fire broke out, the children's mother and her boyfriend, were able to escape.

For more, visit NBCConnecticut.com

In his report, Cohen said the investigation was hampered by actions of some Stamford officials.

He said the local fire marshal should have notified the State Fire Marshal’s Office and given them an opportunity to assist with the investigation, so that a second opinion about the cause and origin of the fire could be obtained. 

Man died trying to save granddaughter in Conn. fire

Cohen also recommended that both the Police Department and the State’s Attorney’s Office be consulted before any demolition is authorized and carried out.

Sometime between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on Christmas Day, Michael Borcina, who is described as the mother's boyfriend, is believed to have put fireplace ashes in a bag and left it either in or outside a mudroom and trash enclosure attached to the rear of the house, said Barry Callahan, Stamford's fire marshal. The fire was reported just after 4:40 a.m.

"The fire entered the house quickly and spread throughout the first floor and up two interior vertical openings, trapping the occupants on the upper floors," Callahan said.

There were plans for hard-wired smoke alarms, but they had not been hooked up, an official said. The home was demolished soon after the fire because of the damage and safety concerns.

"I am aware that many have emotionally judged this circumstance differently. That is understandable. There is no way that I could begin to conceive of the depth of loss by the Badger family,” Cohen wrote.

Insurer balks at claims in Christmas fire that killed 3 girls, grandparents

"However, where so much is unknown or in dispute, where the facts are inconclusive and where the safety of the public will not be enhanced, I have decided to exercise the discretion given to me by our State constitution and by my oath of office and decline, at this time, to prosecute,” he concluded.

Lomer Johnson, the children's grandfather, had appeared as Santa at Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship store in Manhattan. His daughter, homeowner Madonna Badger, a New York City ad executive, survived along with Borcina, who was staying with her while helping remodel the Victorian house.

Hundreds gather for funeral for 3 girls killed in fire

The girls' father, Matthew Badger, started a project that supports underfunded elementary school arts programs in memory of his daughters.

NBCConnecticut.com contributed to this report.

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