CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: HO HO HO: INTERNET LETS YOU TRACK SANTA, HUM HOLIDAY TUNES (COLUMN 119)

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You can find them both at

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One reader recommended a site with an assortment of online games.

www.bonus.com

But back to the task at hand: Three days and counting until Christmas. It is hoped you have that last-minute shopping done and have a few minutes to actually enjoy the season. The Internet can provide some holiday cheer.

Peggy: OK. Here's my 1990s Christmas. We have no piano, but we have a computer. So we found a sing-along site online. Our family stands around the computer singing Christmas songs. You can sing-along too at

users.southeast.net/~itsvicki/christmas/index.html

Joni: The page is called the Wonders of Christmas. The site has five songs, and you can read about 'Twas The Night Before Christmas and Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus.

Peggy: In addition to the text, the page is full of dancing Santas and prancing reindeer. It's great fun.

Joni: I think we need some fun with everything that's going on in the world right now. Here's another fun spot

www.archervalerie.com/xmas.html

Peggy: This is the Christmas Audio Page. If you want, here Boris Karloff telling us why the Grinch doesn't like Christmas.

Joni: You can also hear Bart Simpson sing "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells," or Lucy explain how Santa gets down the chimney, or Mr. Ed sing "Jingle Bells." There's Jack Benny, Bob Hope and even the Beetles.

Peggy: These sound files are all short, under a minute. And bring back a lot of memories. Here's the Peanuts gang saying "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown."

Joni: Here's a site with a lot more Christmas songs. I like this music. The list includes the old favorites. They look like they are all instrumental versions. Good news, Peggy, you can sing along.

members.tripod.com/~newyearseve

Peggy: From the opening page, we clicked on the Christmas carols link. Once you click on the song the first time, it's easy to replay them. You don't have to wait a second time. For more holiday cheer, take a look at Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.

www.night.net/christmas/

Joni: You can listen to the Java Jukebox while you are surfing from page to page. You can listen to songs like "It's Beginning to Look at Lot Like Christmas," "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."

Peggy: The site also links you to the Christmas story according to Luke. It's available in several languages. While you're reading, you can pick background music and enjoy beautiful images.

Joni: From their list of links, you can click over to Radio Santa Claus, the official Santa Claus radio station and lots of others. This site also has lots of songs, with lyrics and music, Peggy.

Peggy: Oh good, more singing at my house. This site has traditional and some less serious songs, like "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Nice singing, Joni.

Joni: Here are links to other Christmas sites. Here's a link to a page devoted to "Silent Night," a song celebrating its 180th anniversary. This site you can find 108 versions of "Silent Night" in 67 different language. Wow!

silentnight.web.za

Peggy: Under multimedia, you can hear a number of different versions -- German, Netherlands, Hawaiian, Slovak. You can hear one of the first recordings of the song on an Edison cylinder.

Joni: They have links to Christmas fun from this site also. Here's a link to building a virtual gingerbread house. OK, what kind do you want.

Peggy: Let's build a gingerbread gazebo. It's kind of link computer painting. You have a choice of colors and candy textures to decorate the house.

www.michaels.com/crafts/ginger.html

Joni: Here's a fun site to keep track of Santa's deliveries Thursday night. NORAD Tracks Santa in five languages no less. They provide updates using satellite data and digitized images as Santa makes his trip.

www.noradsanta.org

Peggy: The scientists say they can track Santa using infrared satellites and the heat generated by Rudolph's red nose.

Joni: He starts his deliveries in New Zealand and Australia and works his way west. Did you know that?

Peggy: I didn't. This site is full of useful information, including a current photo of Santa, visiting NORAD headquarters to thank scientists.

Joni: NORAD has figured out how Santa gets down the chimney, based on 43 years of scientific data. They also give theories on how he can fly around the world so quickly and how he can eat so many cookies and drink so much milk.

Peggy: They have calculated that Santa eats an average four cookies a household, and he visits 750 million homes. So he consumes 60,000 tons of cookies, a Titanic amount by any standard. The Titanic only weighed 45,000 tons.

Joni: But the deal is that Santa needs all that protein to replenish his energy to get up and down all those chimneys.

Peggy: Protein from cookies?

Joni: Shhh. They have also determined how Santa gets down the chimney, but when we tried to access the information, it had been classified top secret by the elves. Instead we found some specifics of Santa's sleigh. At take off it carries 60,000 tons of presents. When Santa arrives home, the sleigh carries 60,000 tons of cookies. I'm impressed, Santa.

Peggy: Have a safe and wonderful Christmas season. Don't forget to e-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

~Peggy Scott and Joni Adams are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.