Christmas sites on the internet are a lot like the names on Santa’s list: there are good ones and bad ones. While we can’t send the bad ones a lump of cyber-coal, we’ve listed a few sites that really sparkle. We’ve visited each site on this list to see if the links work and omitted the ones that took an eternity to download. To easily access any of these websites, visit our own site at www.producer.com.
One-stop sites:
Pegging itself the internet’s “largest Christmas portal”, www.christmas.com seems to deliver on its promise. Look for crafts, songs, shopping links, interactive Christmas wish lists, an Advent calendar game, forums, an interactive map that pulls up information on how different countries celebrate Christmas, and more.
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If you want to know the story of Christmas, find out why the evergreen tree sits in so many living rooms or see what Santa looks like in various countries, try www.holidays.net/christmas/.
There is a link where you can hear “Merry Christmas” spoken in several different languages, including Dutch, Italian, Tagalog and Chinese (you must have RealAudio installed.)
Style maven Martha Stewart can show you how to make a bobeche (don’t we all need those?) from copper leaf, how to set the perfect table, and has mouth-watering recipes for everything from eggnog to prime rib.
Follow the holiday link on the bottom of the page at www.marthastewart.com.
For decorating divas and crafty folk:
It’s a pediatric website, but there are good safety tips to remember for those with little ones when choosing a Christmas tree and decorations at www.
drreddy.com/xmas.html.
There are some neat decorating ideas at www.christmasmoon.com/decorating_ideas.asp ranging from an outdoor lighted twig arbour to grapevine garlands. Some of the pictures overlap the text and make it a tough read, but use the mouse to highlight the text.
What can you make with doilies and pop bottles? Visit www.geocities.com/kraft
project/sub-holiday-christmas.html to find out. There are step-by-step
instructions and pictures of the completed items, too.
The creator of www.mychristmasprojects.com says he wanted to make crafts that wouldn’t break the budget.
One featured project is the holiday light ball, made of clear drinking cups and miniature lights. There’s a festive song that plays while you visit this site, if you have the appropriate plug-ins.
If you’ve ever seen Aleene’s Creative Living on television, you’ll have seen the incredible crafts you can make at home. The website at www.aleene.com is equally impressive, though you may need to pick up extra materials to make some of the crafts. There is a children’s section, too.
Though it’s largely a children’s website, there are crafts, puzzles, recipes and more at www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/index.html. You can send virtual Christmas cards from here.
If you visit www.makestuff.com/christmas.html you’ll find gift ideas (gifts in a jar seem to be popular), crafts to make from recycled items, recipes and decorating tips.
There are no pictures to accompany the finished products. It would be nice to see what a reindeer sandwich is supposed to look like.
Shopping on the net:
Whether you want an antique brooch or that hard-to-find toy, you can’t beat www.ebay.ca for selection. Registration is free and searching can be tailored by region. Ebay builds in security features to help safeguard your bids. Keep in mind most prices are in American dollars and shipping rates can be high. It’s best to ask about it before you bid.
Canadian department store, The Bay, has an on-line catalog at www.hbc.com where you can find everything from toys to fashions to flat-screened televisions. HBC-owned Zellers is also on-line at www.zellers.com.
Or shop Sears on-line at www.sears.ca – there is an outlet page here where you can scoop up clothes, appliances and more at great deals.
Ikea, the furniture store from Sweden, has a neat website at www.ikea.ca. It carries candlesticks to complete kitchens, and the 2002 catalog is on-line, too.
Yahoo Canada has put together a selection of links to Canadian online merchants like LaSenza, Radioshack, HMV, Canadian Tire and more.
Go to http://ca.yahoo.com/shopping/promotions/xmas01/index.html.
For kids of all ages:
We spent a long time playing at www.growley.com/main.html – you can decorate virtual Christmas trees, make virtual snowmen, create your own Nativity scene and more.
Download and print colouring pages for restless tykes at www.merry-christmas.com/coloring.htm. Be sure to set your printer to print landscape images.
It’s hard to know what to see first when you visit www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/christmas/christms.htm.
There are on-line games, interactive stories, crafts, screen savers and links for kids to e-mail Santa. Note: some features are for PC only.
And speaking of the Big Man, there’s not much time left for kids to write to Santa. Canada Post has a great site for kids at www.canadapost.ca/
personal/dec/santa/default-e.asp where you can find mailing addresses
(he’ll write back!), e-mail him, create letterhead and play games.
Songs of the season:
If you’ve ever wanted to sing “Here we come a wassailing” (or just want to know what wassailing is), you can find lyrics to this and other traditional Christmas songs at www.catholic.net/RCC/music/midi/christmas/lyrics.html.
For contemporary songs, check out the website maintained by KCCU, a public radio station in Oklahoma that dubs itself the “official radio station for Christmas” at www.cameron.edu/~mikel/christmas/.
One website promotes its list of Christmas songs as “the place for carolers” at www.heavenlyvoices.com/song-lyrics/.
If you want to listen to Christmas songs on your computer, you can download free programs that enable you to search for MP3 files. There are good ones at www.limewire.com and www.kazaa.com.
Food, glorious food:
What would be your first guess for a Christmas recipe site? Why, www.christmasrecipe.com, of course. Searchable by ingredient, by course and by alphabetical listing, the recipes are ranked by actual cooks. You can submit your favourite recipes to the site, too.
If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, visit www.santas.net/recipes.htm.
Among the intriguing titles were recipes for Amish sugar cookies, Australian Christmas damper and Egyptian ghryba. It’s a vegetarian Christmas at www.vegsource.com/christmas.htm where you’ll find recipes for antipasto, mock mince pie and more.
