CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: INTERNET OFFERS THE SITES AND SOUNDS OF HOLIDAY SEASON

CyberTip: In case Santa delivers a new computer this Christmas, we're taking registration for Beginning Internet Training classes in January. An evening class will be held from 7 to 9 on Jan. 12 and a day class will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Jan. 21. Call Joni or Peggy at 335-6611 to register.

Christmas countdown is already under way: 16 days. Santa's sack includes an abundance of Internet sites for kids and adults.

Peggy: LEGO has a cute Advent calendar for kids. They have 24 LEGO friends who are sad because they have lost something. Every day your job is to find what is missing. Try your skills at

209.1.196.86/xmas

Joni: I found Day 1 and got a coloring page I could download or print. One slight problem we found with the calendars is they're a day ahead on the advent countdown. I would add that young eyes would be beneficial. The images are kind of small.

Peggy: Each award is a coloring page. The site offers lots of congratulations and encouragement.

Joni: Let's look at the Amazing Animated Advent Calendar. Let's see if it lives up to its name.

www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/9087

Peggy: You'll uncover such things as a spinning star, a winking angel, a meowing cat with a Christmas hat, Santa going down the chimney and the next day coming out the chimney.

Joni: Well, we don't want to spoil it all for you, but it's cute. If you stay on the front page long enough, you'll hear a computerized version of music from the Nutcracker Suite.

Peggy: The tune made our webmaster dance through the office. That's quite an impact. Now, let's head to Santa's Net and his favorite songs.

www.santas.net/songs.htm

Joni: Let's click on Frosty the Snowman. Let's see if it is songs or words. It's the words. That's good. Sometimes it's hard to remember all the words. It was a little pokey when I hit the back key, but it eventually came up.

Peggy: You can also read Christmas facts, myths and legends. It tells you how to say Merry Christmas in several languages.

Joni: According to the site: the common abbreviation of Christmas to Xmas is derived from the Greek alphabet. X is the letter Chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name in the Greek alphabet.

Peggy: Here, too, you can e-mail Santa and get some tips on letter writing. Be humble. Please let Santa know how much you appreciate his visit. Be polite, and consider bribery. Promise to leave milk and cookies. Let's look for Christmas tunes on the net at

www.netzone.com/(tilde)medic/carols.html

Joni: Oh no! Santa broke the Goodnet Internet network. This site of music got over 280,000 hits in one day. You can listen to many songs online and see the lyrics for many others.

Peggy: Feliz Navidad. Oh dear it's not in my key. But here's the theme song from The Grinch. This site is slow because of the sound files, but it's a lot of fun. It's like online Karaoke.

Joni: Here's another site celebrating Christmas. It does a countdown in days, hours, minutes and seconds to Christmas. It has a quote from Dickens' "I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year."

cyou.com/(tilde)christmas

Peggy: You can find Christmas clipart available to copy to your hard drive, and some of it is animated. There are lots and lots of clipart here, free for the taking for your e-mail Christmas cards.

Joni: They also have songs and lots of links to other holiday sites, including a link to a reindeer adoption center.

www.vikimouse.com/stable.htm

Peggy: Fill out the adoption paper, and you too can have a virtual reindeer to put on your home page. The reindeer, stable, and assorted reindeer games are all available.

Joni: Still looking for more Christmas fun, try the homepage for the holidays at

www.merry-christmas.com

They have links to a lot of games if you need to pass some time until the big day. You can also link to track Santa and follow him minute-by-minute on Christmas Eve or you can find a Christmas tree construction site.

Peggy: Also on this site you can write to Santa. They help you out by starting "Dear Santa..." There are several coloring book pages you can download and print.

Joni: Here's a story about Bippo, the magic wonderdog. You can personalize it with your child's name, the weather and something they want for Christmas. Isn't that cute?

Peggy: I think I'll print one for each of my children. Now let's visit Reader's Digest Christmas at

www.rdchristmas.com

Joni: The featured story is about Frank Capra's classic "It's a Wonderful Life" as told by the late Jimmy Stewart. These are his memories of this classic holiday film. I love this movie.

Peggy: I've seen soooo many times, but it's still good. You can e-mail the page to a friend. At this site, you will find recipes, heartwarming stories, craft projects and eight electronic Christmas cards.

Joni: What's your favorite holiday site on the Internet? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

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