Discovering Santa on the information super-highway

Santa has gone high-tech.

Instead of the traditional letter to the North Pole, children can e-mail their wish lists this year to Santa Claus at www.northpole.com, and receive a response.

The site opened nine years ago and has about 8 million visitors annually, said Barbra Morrison, who manages northpole.com.

Six million of those visitors came between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, though the site is open year-round.

Aside from being free, Morrison said what makes the site appealing to parents is the lack of advertising.

"Kids are very, very safe and parents know that," said Morrison. "They'll be entertained, they'll learn and they'll have fun and be safe at the same time."

The site features a variety of activities for children, including helping "Disco Santa" find his groove, playing cherry checkers, trim the tree and doing crossword puzzles.

According to Morrison, narrated stories allow children to follow words as Santa's elves read illustrated stories aloud. There's also sing-a-long karaoke with holiday songs and an Elf Pal Academy with games, puzzles and math riddles.

Morrison said one of the most interesting items is a good deeds calendar, which parents can print off to encourage children to brush their teeth, clean their rooms and do other chores each month.

"The whole idea is to print off the calendar each month and at end of the year, put the calendars next to Santa's cookies," said Morrison. "I think a lot of parents have used it."

About 3 million visitors also e-mail letters to Santa each year. Reponses back take between two and seven days, depending on what time of the year the e-mails are sent.