A well-connected way into Santa's grotto

By CHRIS DANIELS

Santa Claus is coming soon and nowadays it isn't too hard to keep track of him and contact him about what presents you really need.

He is well and truly connected with the world's children through the internet, so here are a few hints to getting in touch online with the big man in the red suit.

* Claus.com - check out your naughty or nice rating, play games at an elf school, visit a toy workshop or sing festive songs. You can also make your own Christmas cards, do mazes and singalong with some crazy new Christmas songs.

* Norad tracks Santa - The North American Aerospace Defence Command - those eagle-eyed people who watch out for nuclear missiles and bomber attacks coming over the North Pole keep a close eye on some pretty important airspace - which happens to also be where Santa lives. Come Christmas Eve, the radar technicians track Santa and his reindeer team on behalf of millions of children across the globe.

* santa.net.nz - a New Zealand site, which includes a countdown of the days, hours, minutes, seconds (and sleeps) until Santa arrives. Includes details of Santa parades throughout New Zealand and one of the nicest replies from Santa to an email request for presents. It seemed very personalised and appeared to have been written by Santa himself. This site even includes a Santa chatroom.

Another pretty good address to email Santa is santa@xtramsn.co.nz - although the reply comes from auto-replyfromSanta@xtra.co.nz. His message for the season is not too personalised - so specific advice about the correct colour of roller skates you want for Christmas may be missing.

You can also find the man in red at the White Pages site. Simply type in Santa Claus and North Pole in the location field, then up comes the info needed.

* Santa's Net - Christmas recipes, songs and Yuletide traditions from around the world, with an interesting take on Christmas in this part of the world. Did you know, for example, that Santa Claus has become more popular in New Zealand than Father Christmas? Or that: "The spirits and creatures of the Maori culture resemble the elves and gnomes of European Christmas traditions."

"We also celebrate the story of the birth of Jesus Christ with a special service, which is appropriate to New Zealanders' way of life as they had no motels, and they have many shepherds who take care of their flocks. In doing so they can see the true meaning of Christmas".