Santa Has A User Name

Most people have something specific that they would like to have for Christmas. I know that some people ask for peace and good will toward men, and others ask for tickets to the first passenger trip to the moon, but the thing is, these days, who do you ask?

I’ve got you covered. Of course, you can stick to tradition and write a letter to Santa Claus and mail it to him at the North Pole. Nothing wrong with that. Folks like me though, who are barely hanging onto their handwriting skills, due to a chronic case of qwerty-itis (you’d think that would be easy to type), might find the following suggestions more conveniently for desperately seeking Santa.

The first thing I’ll mention, because so many kids and their parents spend a considerable amount of time on Facebook.com, is that Santa and a fair amount of helpers have accounts there. I made friends with one of the Santas there a few weeks ago. I didn’t want to wait until the last minute and risk getting lost in the bunches of other friends he’ll no doubt have. I can’t be certain that I’ve befriended the real Santa, since there are so many on Facebook, but I’m sure he knows my intentions. Use the search blank at the top right to find Santas on Facebook.

Santa also has a Twitter account. I’ve been on Twitter.com for what I thought was a long time, but Santa has been on there at least a year longer than me. He joined in his off-time, in March 2007. The very first thing he said there under the user name “SantaClaus” was “HO! HO! HO! Twitter sure seems like a nice way for me to communicate with all the true believers out there.”

I guess Santa was right, since he has kept up with his account, even during the summer. Here’s something that interested me. Twitter has a feature that allows you to categorize the people you follow. It’s called lists. We all know that Santa keeps lists, right? Sure enough, he had one list for the naughty people, one for the nice people, and one for his helpers. Yes, of course I looked to see if I was on one or the other list. It’s a pretty new feature, and I’m certain Santa’s busy this time of year, so the lists are still short. If you look at Santa’s post from around Thanksgiving though, you can tell he’s getting some idea of what names will go where.

There’s one way to get ahold of Santa that has been around for decades, but has expanded as technology has progressed. Maybe it was fate that in 1955, a Sears Roebuck ad, telling kids how to call Santa, misprinted the phone number. Kids ended up not calling Santa, but a place that knew exactly where Santa was at the time. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command has been the agency answering children’s calls for years. They have special equipment that monitors the skies, so that they’re able to tell kids when they had better get off the phone and off to bed, since Santa doesn’t deliver to looky-loos.

Now that NORAD has expanded their program, there are all kinds of things you can do to keep track of the sleigh. Just go to NORADSanta.org and there are links to the accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Picasa and more, all so that you can tell what that jolly old elf is up to. You can even find Santa’s current location on a Google Map, by doing a search for “NORAD Santa.”

Now that you can talk to Santa and track him through the Internet, you’re all set. Except… it’s still over a week until Christmas. What do we do until then? Fret none, Virginia. There are a few really cool places to go online that will have the time passing in no time. I know, that didn’t make sense, so let’s go to the next paragraph.

The first place you need to go is the North Pole. NorthPole.com, that is. It’s great fun for little people and big people. You can send Santa a letter there, and he’ll write back to you. I don’t know if Santa does it himself, or if elves help him, but that’s pretty cool to get a letter back from him. There are also Christmas stories, color pages, elf games and a page to watch Santa disco dance! You can also send a card to a friend or relative. Big people should check out the recipes, since according to this next Santa Web site, he’s a great cook!

I found that out at Santa100.blogspot.com. That’s where you’ll find a list of 100 things about Santa. Did you know that he loves pizza and football and is a terrible golfer? My guess is that his beard and belly get in the way of his swing. I also found out that he’s a Dallas Cowboys fan, and that he put Jerry Jones on the naughty list. I have no comment about that decision. Go to the site and find out more about Santa.

There’s another site that I played with in this past week called ElfYourself.com. You upload a picture of yourself and you can place your face on a dancing and/or singing elf’s body. I never knew I was such a good dancer – and I look pretty good in striped tights. Look me up on Facebook. I posted my video on my wall there.

Lastly, there’s something about the next several days that transcends Santa and the Internet. It’s the willingness to give and serve and help others to have peace because of your good will. A passenger trip to the moon? Someday, maybe.

This column originally published in the Benton Courier on November 22, 2009. See more of Shelli's columns.