(Atlanta) Tradition lives at www.northpole.com, where children send letters by the thousands to Santa each day during the holidays. Technology also reigns at this holiday Web site, enabling these youngsters to get a personalized reply from Santa. This is one mail route that is quick, secure, certain, and free. Now that's a pretty nice gift from old St. Nick!

Since 1996 northpole.com has attracted kids, parents, and teachers to the Web for traditional yet high-tech holiday fun. Last year the site had 2.25 million visitors between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, including 20 million page views--and more than a quarter-million letters to Santa. One of the site's original features, letters to Santa remain a popular activity. When children go to Santa's Mailroom, they are prompted to create a secret password to use in retrieving their answer from Santa. Children can later retrieve a personalized, memento-quality, full Web page reply letter from Santa, for free.

Parents searching for a child-safe Internet site that the family can enjoy will find a treasure trove in northpole.com. Each year the site increases its activities, and this year added Disco Dancing Santa and Elf Pal Academy. The dancing Santa is sure to elicit giggles from kids of all ages. Children can select the music, change the background and even select which slick moves old St. Nick makes.

Many elementary schools have adopted the site into their curriculum, allowing children to send letters to Santa while they learn basic skills of email and Internet investigation. So this year, northpole.com added the Elf Pal Academy--an animated classroom offering more than 80 different exercises that can easily be incorporated into teachers' lesson plans (Pre-K to 3rd grade) and also for home-schooling. The activities are fun, colorful, and can lead up to an Elf Academy diploma for teachers to hand out. There are also more than 20 new games, activities and even animated birthday greetings from Santa's Secret Village. Activities include connect the dots, mazes, word search, concentration, an interactive coloring book, and Santa's favorite Rubik's cube.

Also new this year is the Good Deeds Calendar, a printable calendar listing daily responsibilities for children. Just print out and post the calendar in the child's room or on the refrigerator. Collect each month and then set out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

The northpole.com site is richly illustrated with hundreds of original, detailed, hand-drawn artwork that create the characters and ambiance of Santa's Secret Village at northpole.com. Raymond, the loveable, young reindeer, leads guests through the village--the reindeer barn, workshop, den, mailroom, elf clubhouse, classroom, and even Mrs. Claus' kitchen. There's lots to do and see: original stories to read, personalized stories to create and print, animated holiday postcards, puzzles, games, recipes, a Christmas-only radio station, and even Elf Chat.

In the spirit of Christmas, all activities on the site are free, and the site remains without banner ads. Since its inception, northpole.com has been showcased on Good Morning America, is regularly listed on USA Today's Top Sites, and is highly acclaimed for its creativity, its traditional yet high-tech approach to Christmas themes, and for its generous free family entertainment.

Giving back to the community
Instead of selling advertising through the usual banner ads, northpole.com donates four million banner ads and links on its Web site to the following institutions: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America, The Silver Lining Foundation, and Ronald McDonald House® Charities. The site also provides schedules of Festival of Trees events in dozens of cities in the United States and Canada. Events primarily benefit children's charities. By giving these organizations free advertising, northpole.com helps promote public support and knowledge of pediatric cancer research and the treatment and opportunities available to help children with life-threatening illnesses.