LITTLE ROCK — Merry Christmas Eve to everyone!
I hope you’re at home relaxing and not having to do last-minute shopping. If you are, you may have a little time to have some fun online with the kids. As per the usual Christmas tradition at “Tech Spotlight,” here are a few places online to enjoy.
Let’s start with a spoonful of Christmas cheer at Spoonful.com.
This website, courtesy of Disney, includes a special page (www.spoonful.com/ christmas) of Christmas-related games, activities, recipes and gift ideas. Yes, you’ll have to get past some of the Disney/LeapFrog promotional stuff, but once you do, you won’t be disappointed.
I particularly like the ornament ideas on this site. There are a lot of cute ornaments to make, and most are quick and easy, requiring only a few household items. It’s one thing to buy ornaments for the tree.
Think how much fun it would be to make them with your children or grandchildren instead.
The site also includes dozens of recipes, homemade gift ideas and even coloring pages. It’s a fun site and can provide hours of entertainment.
Familyeducation.com also has a lot of fun Christmas activities on its website, fun. familyeducation.com/holidays/christmas/33097.html.
This also includes a lot of ornaments families can make together, including Christmas dough ornaments (remember those?).
This site also has a few things for parents, including articles on how to deal with holiday stress. It suggests things like delegating cleaning and decorating duties, and making sure that shopping isn’t all at the last minute.
It even has an article on what to expect when different family members arrive for a visit.
In addition, you can find recipes, crafts and entertainment activities, such as the top Christmas movies to watch.
This is a good site for children and adults.
If that isn’t enough Christmas goodness for you, then you might want to check out All Things Christmasat www.allthingschristmas.com.
This site includes, well, all things Christmas, from crafts and coloring pages to jokes, recipes and even the history of Christmas and its traditions.
For example, did you know poinsettias were named after the U.S. ambassador to Mexico who brought the plant to the United States in 1828? I didn’t, until I read it under the Traditions section of this site.
In addition to the history lesson, you can read about Christmas traditions throughout the world, listen to Christmas carols and even read the lyrics of those carols, so you can sing them properly.
It even includes famous Christmas stories that you can read online, such as Charles Dickens’ A Christ-mas Carol and O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi.
Finally, I cannot discuss Christmas on the Web without giving out one of the most important websites of all, at least as far as the children are concerned.
You have to know where Santa is on Christmas Eve, right? Otherwise, how will you know when to get to bed on time?
The best tracker, of course, is the one from NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command. NORAD, of course, keeps track of Santa starting Christmas Eve.
Before that, kids can partake in the website’s activities, including a snowball-fight game, holiday-lights puzzles and Santa’s “media player” that lets you listen to Christmas carols.
So if you want to keep an eye on Santa’s trip, try NORAD’s Santa Tracker at www.noradsanta.org.)
The holidays can be fun but also a time of absolute craziness.
Hopefully, you can find a few things on these websites to keep the children busy and the adults less stressed.
I hope all of you have a safe and happy Christmas.
Melissa L. Jones can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
Business, Pages 19 on 12/24/2012