CLICK AND DOUBLE CLICK: GET SOME CHRISTMAS SPIRIT FROM HOLIDAY WEB SITES

Are you in the Christmas mood yet? Perhaps it's the weather or the rushing around, but I've had a hard time getting into the holiday spirit this year.

But a trip to St. Louis Sunday night for the Amy Grant/Michael W. Smith Christmas concert at Kiel Auditorium changed all that. I'm humming Christmas songs and checking my list. It's hard to believe Christmas is only 11 days away.

If you're still in the "humbug" mood, the Internet can help put you in the spirit with a number of holiday sites.

First off, let's fill the air with a little Christmas music.

www.mp3.com

On the right hand side of the page, click on Christmas music as a choice under featured artists.

You can listen to a radio stream of great Christmas tunes at home, school or work. You can choose Lo Fi for 28.8 modems or faster or Hi Fi for high-speed connections.

You'll need to provide an e-mail address the first time. You also need an mp3 player, such as RealPlayer. Don't forget to adjust the volume.

MP3.com boasts of more than 570 holiday songs that it can play through its Christmas radio. Be sure to pick auto play or you'll have to click to play each song. You can play these songs, e-mail them to a friend or download them to your hard drive.

www.christmas.com

What's the exact time until Christmas? Under World View, you can check out the Countdown page. It will count the days, hours, minutes and seconds to Christmas from locations around the world.

This site also has a large collection of Christmas songs you can download as .mid files. There are tips on holiday decorating, gift suggestions and office party etiquette.

Under the Fun category, there's some games. Some require Shockwave; others work with your java-enabled browser. There are coloring book pages. You can also become an EIB (Elves in Black) agent. This organization is dedicated to preserving the spirit of Christmas, or you can fly the EIB Cybersleigh training simulator.

www.happychristmas.com

There's so much to do this holiday season you may wonder how you'll get it all done. Sometimes a sense of humor is what you need most, according to this site, which offers Christmas with a humorous twist.

This interactive site wants to know your favorite stories: What's the most useless gift you ever got or gave? What would you give the person who has everything? Ever have a Christmas catastrophe? You're not alone. You can read these wacky tales or add one of your own.

There were some funny stories about Christmas memories both recent and long ago. I liked the one entitled "My Last Home Tree," which actually dates back to 1956. The tree was too big to fit and kept falling over. It fell on her dad. The writer and her sister will never forget how their dad was covered in tinsel with an ornament hanging off his ear. It made me remember some of our less-than-picture-perfect tree experiences.

Read some of the stories in catastrophes, useless gifts or battle stories from the Shopping Mall wars and it will be sure to bring a smile.

www.christmas-cookies.com

Hungry? Then you might want to check out the Christmas cookie for recipes and homemade gift ideas.

You can browse both traditional and modern recipes. They run a Top Ten list. Today's favorite cookie is Cranberry Decadent Cookies, followed by Apricot Foldovers.

If you're in search of a special recipe, you can post your request on the Cookie Exchange bulletin board.

www.4christmas.com

A site called 4anything.com has thousands of Web guides for anything you're looking for. Mostly, this site provides links to other Christmas sites, but it's a good starting place to find out more about celebrating the Christ in Christmas or finding Yuletide clipart and graphics.

It can link you to holiday recipe or decoration sites. You can also learn more about selecting or taking care of your Christmas tree, or send a holiday e-mail greeting.

Are you done with your Christmas cards yet? Instead of throwing in the towel, find out if those on your list have e-mail addresses. You can send wonderful cards free of charge from Hallmark.

www.hallmark.com

Yes, the folks that bring us those commercials that bring tears to your eyes also offer an Internet site with sentiment and holiday cheer. You can send e-cards for Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year, Chinese New Year or any occasion.

You can send the same e-card to up to 50 people with their multiple-addressing option. It's free.

You can send cards in a number of Christmas categories and can personalize the greeting. Some of these cards require the Flash plug-in to view.

www.apple.com/trailers

Another fun part of the holidays is the rush of blockbuster movies. When I was growing up, my family always would see a movie on Christmas afternoon after the rush of present opening.

If you want to preview some of the big movies now in theatres or opening in the next week, check out Quicktime Movie Trailer Theatre.

You need QuickTime 4 to view previews for such films as "The Green Mile," "Toy Story 2," "Man in the Moon," "Magnolia," "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and many more. A fast connection also helps.

What's your favorite Christmas site? E-mail your suggestions to click@semissourian.com.

See you in Cyberspace.

~Joni Adams is managing editor of the Southeast Missourian.