(Atlanta) Yes, Santa's lesser-known Mrs. Claus lists more than 800 "favorite" recipes on the much-visited northpole.com Web site. But no, selections don't come from a snowbound Arctic hideaway. They are the family favorites of scores of children and grownups from around the globe. You can view and print holiday-treat recipes sent from all over the world, OR, submit Grandma's favorite recipe for the elves to try, and maybe it will be published. More than 2,000 recipes have been submitted and more than 800 are published.

This northpole.com feature gives children--and adults--the unusual opportunity to be published on the Web. If your recipe passes the taste test, it is added to Mrs. Claus' online cookbook, with attribution if you want it. Santa's jolly wife isn't looking for culinary wizardry necessarily, just food favorites. (Recipes must be complete and reasonable to be considered.) Published recipes range from Cinnamon Sugar Toast to Charlotte Russe. Categories are Cookies, Fudge & Candy, Cakes, Pies, Breads, and Other Recipes.

After you've oohed and aahed over the mouth-watering recipes and printed some to try, enjoy the kitchen artwork itself with the smiling Mrs. Claus, falling snow, and crackling fire. Slide your mouse over to the cookie sheet or gingerbread house, and click to display two hidden children's stories: Chocolate Chick Cookies and Everyone's Important. Like other northpole.com stories, these are original stories for children with hand-drawn and painted illustrations.

You'll notice the kitchen and recipe pages carry ads for several charities. northpole.com, which accepts no paid advertising, donates 4 million banner ads to four national/international charities that provide help to children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Selected charities are St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Ronald McDonald House® Charities, Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America, and The Silver Lining Foundation.

During November and December last year, the northpole.com Web site had more than 2.25 million visitors, including 20 million page views, more than 250,000 letters to Santa (each receiving a reply letter from Santa), and 350,000 animated postcards sent from the site. Higher numbers are expected this year, said Barb Morrison, general manager of northpole.com, based on each year's increased traffic.

In addition to the recipes and stories in Mrs. Claus' Kitchen, northpole.com offers many FREE activities for families to share at home through the Christmas season: original and personalized children's stories, Disco Dancing Santa, Elf Pal Academy, Elf Chat, animated holiday postcards, puzzles, games, recipes, a Christmas-only radio station, and a quick, secure, and certain means to write Santa and get a reply. Activities are found throughout the Web site village, which includes Santa's Mailroom, Santa's Workshop, Elf Clubhouse, Santa's Reindeer Barn, Santa's Den, Northpole Weather Station, Toy Shop, Gift Shop, and Festival of Trees (one of the site's charitable promotions).

Tradition and Technology
"When Jim Clutter and Neal Starkey created the site in 1996, their goal was to provide a family-oriented, traditional Christmas site for children and their families to enjoy," said Ms. Morrison. "At the same time, they wanted the site to be an entertaining showcase for what could be achieved through computer technology. They have accomplished both, combining traditional 'warm and fuzzy' feelings of goodwill at Christmas with state-of-the-art computer technology."

All interactive features on the site use advanced technology, such as animation using Macromedia Flash and conversation simulators using artificial intelligence. Yet the underlying theme is a traditional look at Christmas. "From the beginning it's been important to us that this site have the 'true spirit of Christmas' and traditional family values," said Mr. Clutter. "But it must be entertaining and of high technological and artistic quality. Our site combines all these qualities, and that is what makes it stand out from other Santa sites."