Baby Sanity Tips

Track Santa's Trip on Christmas Evel

Using four high-tech systems to track Santa - radar, satellites, Santa Cams and jet fighter aircraft - NORAD tracks Santa's sleigh as he makes his way around the world leaving presents for all the good little boys and girls.

You can watch along on Christmas Eve at http://www.noradsanta.net. 

Until then however you can go play some games, listen to Christmas music, and read the history about the man himself.

(This is a great tool to convince kids it is time to go to bed, BTW.  Can't be awake if Santa when Santa gets there don't ya know!)

Winter WonderFest on Navy Pier

From December 10 through January 2, Navy Pier's Festival Hall will be transformed into a winter wonderland featuring breathtaking decorations, hundreds of trees, and thousands of sparkling lights, creating the most stunning event in town. Families with children of all ages will have the opportunity to celebrate the season with a wide variety of games, activities, holiday entertainment, and much more.

That is the pitch from the website anyway. We were over at Navy Pier today to go to the Children's Museum and it looked like the WinterFest was very popular. We didn't go check it out ourselves because it sounds like most of the activities are more appropriate for older kids. So maybe next year for us...

http://www.winterwonderfest.com/

While you are at Navy Pier - you can also take the kids to see Santa through Christmas Eve in the main pavilion.

Marshall Fields on State Street

I remember getting on the El with my grandmother every Chhristmas season to make the trek into the city to see the windows (and Santa) at Marshall Fields on State Street. It is a memory that opens a floodgate of emotion every year for me as I recall the excitement and anticiation in the hearts of every child as they wait anxiously for Santa's arrival.

You can't help but be overwhelmed with the Christmas spirit when you walk in the door of the store. But the decorations in the stores main atrium are just the beginning. In the Walnut room, there is a 45 foot tree decorated with over 1,200 ornaments and 25,000 twinkling lights, and just around the corner is Santa - live and in person!

I can't wait to take Sadie next year when she will finally catch the Christmas bug.

http://www.fields.com/common/state_street.jsp

21st Century Santa

Now we're talking!  How about sending Santa an Email! Your chhild can craft an email to Santa, and he'll send back a personalized reply lickety split!

http://www.emailsanta.com/

There are also some other fun things for your kid to do here. THey can check and see if they have made the Naughty or Nice list, send Christmas e-postcards to their friends, read elf jokes, play Christmas games, and even send a letter from their pet to Rudolph.

By the way, Blitzen is leading the vote for who should pull Santa's sleigh this year by a landslide!

Phone Calls from Santa!

Snail mail from Santa?  Pashaw!  This is the 21st Century.  Who gets mail anymore?  How about a phone call?  Ok - that's more like 20th Century technology, but cool nonetheless.

Check out http://www.christmas-santa-letters.com/ where you can have Santa call your child in addition to getting a letter.  AND it is a LIVE call, not a pre-recorded message.

Ah - old school.

Getting a Letter from Santa the Cheap Way

You can actually have a letter sent to your child easily via the good ol' United States Postal Service.

Basically what you do is have your child write their letter to Santa...and you keep it.  Then, have someone else actually write a response so your child doesn't recognize the handwriting.  Then you put the response in a letter sized envelope with a stamp on it addressed to your child.  You place that envelope into a larger envelope and send it off to:

North Pole Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
5400 Mail Trail
Fairbanks AK 99709-9998

Then it will receive the official Santa North Pole postmark and be delivered to your home.  Pretty sneaky...huh?

Letters have to be received in Alaska by December 15th - so hurry up!

You can see all the details on the USPS website here: http://www.usps.com/communications/news/press/2003/pr03_094.txt

Holiday Resources - Greetings from Santa

So - every day from now through Christmas I am going to put up some fun resources to visit on the web and in Chicago.

My first one is Greetings From Santa - http://www.greetingsfromsanta.com/

I remember getting one of these when I was a kid and still remember how excited I was.  What you get is a personalized letter from Santa with your child's name on it telling them what a good girl or boy they were all year. There are six different designs and letter styles to chose from. And, for the $9.99 you also get a follow up postcard from Santa in January telling your child all about his beach vacation where he will be relaxing after his long night of work.

There are actually a couple sites you can go to for the same service, but I think the postcard is a unique touch.  Other sites are:

http://www.santamail.org
http://www.mydnyte.com/santaletters/
http://santaletters1.tripod.com/ (not taking any more orders for 2004)
http://www.santa-letters.net