- Share This Post
- submit
- 0
-
Sparkle (0)
Last month, the news hit that the US Postal Service would no longer be forwarding mail addressed to Santa at the North Pole to North Pole, Alaska for response and postmark. While this is not good news for North Pole, it does not mean that your child won't get an answer to his or her letter to Santa. There are plenty of for-profit operations that will answer the letter, and many post offices participate in the Postal Service's Operation Santa Claus project.
Even better: have a male friend call your house to talk directly to your child as Santa. We did this for Doug when he was four. A colleague's husband called the house, asked for Doug and did a brilliant job playing Santa. It was a huge hit and I highly recommend it once your kids are old enough to talk on the phone.
Although there are tons of for-profit Christmas sites online, here are some of the fun -- and free -- ones.
Starting with NORAD Santa. This is an absolute classic. Starting in 1955 as the result of a typo in an advertisement and a perfect response by an Air Force colonel, NORAD and its predecessor CONAD have tracked Santa on Christmas Eve every year since. Originally they answered children's Christmas Eve phone calls, then progressed to email and now track Santa in realtime online. If you celebrate Christmas, it is a Christmas Eve MUST. They also have games and so on, but the best part is tracking Santa on the 24th.
Another, more modern classic, is OfficeMax's Elf Yourself. This year with singing. Here's our effort. Make your own. JibJab, the company that powers Elf Yourself, also offers some pretty twisted holiday animated cards.
ABC Family is promoting 25 days of Christmas programming, about which I really have no comment. They do however have a neat snow globe application that is not holiday specific.
The Today Show has a matching game that reveals its holiday card. Not that exciting, but hey, I like the show, even without Katie Couric. So there.
No holiday is complete without the songs. For your Hanukkah enjoyment, Adam Sandler.
And for Christmas, check out Straight No Chaser.
Have you found a fun holiday website? Let us know about it in the comments. And Merry Chrismukkah!
Susan Getgood is a marketing and social media consultant. She blogs professionally at Marketing Roadmaps and also writes a personal blog Snapshot Chronicles and a family travel blog Snapshot Chronicles Roadtrip. She is a co-founder of BlogwithIntegrity.com, and recently started work on her first book.
Beyond Cyber Monday, how is the Internet fitting into your holiday celebrations? Tell us in the Family Connections Group.
