Kids no longer have to wait in long lines at the mall to give Santa their Christmas lists, because Santa and his sleigh are flying through cyberspace these days. If you send him your requests on the Internet via e-mail, he'll reply right away.
There are several addresses:
santorthpole.net,
santorth.pole.org, or
elveorth.pole.org.
Even more sophisticated is Santa's World Wide Web site on the Internet, where you can read messages from Santa, the elves and the reindeer, and even get a weather report from the North Pole. To get there, point your Web browser, such as Mosaic, at http://northpole.net/santa.html.
At Northpole.net, Santa has been getting about 500 messages a day for the past two weeks; the service is provided by Internet Access, Inc., a Canadian Internet access provider. More than 50,000 people have visited Santa's Web so far, says Mary-Ellen Heney, Internet Access administrator.
Right now, Santa's elves at Internet Access are able to personally reply to the e-mail that has been coming in from all over the world. However, soon the replies may become more standard, so that the children get mail back quickly.
Ms. Heney says the girls most often ask for Barbies and the boys most often request Power Rangers. But then they remind Santa to bring presents for their family and other kids in the world, she says.
Although most parents help their children send their e-mail or send the letters from work, Ms. Heney says, "It's amazing how many adults are writing to Santa for themselves."
The No. 1 request from adults is for cars. "They even go so far as to ask for a specific color and interior . . .," says Ms. Heney. After cars, adults want new computers (with the software already installed) and peace on Earth.
"We've also gotten quite a few requests for Claudia Schiffer under the Christmas tree. But the elves just tell them that David Copperfield asked for her last year. Sorry."