But according to Jeff Westover, founder of My Merry Christmas.com, it was this non-belief in Santa that has led to a virtual empire of associated Christmas websites (including this one).

Back in 1991 Westover married a woman with a five year old child. In today’s world where blended families are common Westover found himself challenged to keep his beloved tradition of Santa Claus alive because his intended and her child had never had the Santa tradition in their holiday celebration.

“She opened her presents on Christmas Eve,” Westover recalled. “Can you imagine my horror at that? But she was insistent. It was a terrible parental challenge to deal with right off the bat. She didn’t believe in Santa and I had to make that happen.”

To make a long story short, Westover got some help from a higher source: the North Pole. Back then, the Internet wasn’t a reality. He had to do it the old way. But somehow he got the help he needed — with direct contact from Santa himself.

Santa, it seems, does a lot of mailing. He usually sends letters but is known to send packages containing all manner of goodies specifically to serve the needs of just one particular person, if necessary.

He will use his computer, like many of us do these days, but he actually has more methods of contact that almost anyone else in the world. He uses fax machines, telephones, cell phones, short wave radios, Morse code and even the good old fashioned method of smoke signals. Santa is big on communication. But his preferred method — like to due to the promise of guaranteed delivery through sleet and snow — is through the post office.

“It took one special elf and Santa at the North Pole himself to convince my eldest daughter about Santa Claus,” Westover triumphantly reports. “I couldn’t do it alone. That singular effort led to sharing what we know about Santa and the North Pole with the world. We use to send out our Santa updates by fax, but that was very expensive. Then we discovered the Internet. That made it cheaper and easier to reach millions.”

For as much as we love the Internet, Westover says that nothing does it for his kids (he has seven!) than actually getting something in the mail from the North Pole. “Oh yes,” he recalls, “that first Christmas my daughter’s first gift from the North Pole was a map of the world. She got it a couple of days before Christmas and she was instructed by her elf to hang it on the wall and use it to track Santa.”

She did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

What does that actually mean?

Dressing up, of course. And adult Halloween celebration means serious costuming.

After days of discussing it with my wife we have decided on the best of all costumes: I’ll be Santa and she’ll be Mrs. Claus.

We are, after all, the ultimate Christmas freaks. We hang out lights (thousands of them) starting in September. Our tree is the first to go up and the last to come down. We actually go Christmas caroling. We hang stockings, track Santa Claus and put Christmas marshmallows in our Christmas cocoa.

I was tickled recently to see an obvious connection between Halloween and Christmas. Seems that in the old days wassailing was all the holiday rage. In that old world tradition folks would go house to house drinking and singing and seeking treats — all in the name of celebrating Christmas. So of course I can dress up as Santa for Halloween. They go together like peas and carrots.

Besides, everybody loves Santa. I’ve already tried on my costume, you see. A little stroll around the neighborhood brought fans out from all over. Of course, I was approached by every living thing under four feet in height. But I was also equally popular amongst the adults, too. Women hugged me and even men asked to sit on my lap.

I’m going to be the hit of the adult Halloween party. I just know it. Everybody loves the Big Guy and wants a piece of him. Santa, you see, is a serious fantasy for more that just those with sugar plums dancing in their head or for those playing the part for a Halloween party.

Evidently, there are people out there now who want to apply for work at the north pole and wear the red suit. For real.

The mail coming to the north pole now in advance of the season often includes such merry job seekers, Elf Hugo tells me. More than any other question that is asked there is one that is most commonly posed: just what does it take to become an elf and might I have a shot at becoming Santa himself?

Every CEO has people who want to take their job. Even Santa, I suppose.

Hugo says Santa spends a lot of time on this kind of mail. He knows he cannot answer it all. But he does help folks as much as he can. Next week, I’ll share a little more about Santa’s mailing practices as he attempts to reach believers one-on-one.

His name is Elf Hugo. (Or so they tell me, it’s not like I could ask him for his government issued ID, eh?). I don’t know if that is his real name or if it is like a code name. I can tell you he is a real person, because I talked to him on the phone. And trust me — he’s the real deal (and a real Patriot’s fan who is very upset about Tom Brady).

“The letters we get at the north pole run the gamut during the season,” Elf Hugo says. “But at this time of year, it is a completely different crowd. There are basically two kinds of letters to Santa right now: questions and deep, burning desires”

“Ooohhh“, I think. “Deep burning desires!” That sounds tantalizing. Yes, Elf Hugo do tell!

“Kids in hard circumstances write early and often,” Elf Hugo said. “For example, a few years back we heard from folks affected in a big way by Hurricane Katrina. It would break your heart to know what these folks wanted. Most just wanted to go home. Many wanted to get something nice for someone who couldn’t get something for themselves. A few are really hard luck stories who want things not even Santa can provide — things like surgery or bringing a lost loved one back to life. It was like that after 9/11 too.”

Oh.

That’s not the kind of burning desire I was thinking of. And I never knew folks took Santa so seriously.

When I was a kid Santa was a rock star — for exactly one day and a night.

Then I pretty much forgot about him. But Hugo swears these people write and they do it in advance of the season — about serious stuff!

Perhaps that is why these days that Santa actually goes to lengths to write back. Sometimes, he has to do his thing well in advance of Christmas and long before he can hitch the reindeer to the sleigh.

For example, at a Los Angeles area hospital Santa visited a little girl with leukemia — in July of this year. Her family, friends, the doctors and the nurses all attending a Christmas party with all the trimmings and a surprise visit from the Big Guy during the heat of summer.

That Santa — he is always on the job. Who knew?

No wonder so many anticipate Santa each Christmas. If he is kind enough to be there in July, what’s not to look forward to come December?

True believers know, for example, that Santa hardly ever spends much time at the North Pole during the off-season. In fact, we have it on good authority that Santa actually holds an Elf Convention every October.

Why October?

The Big Guy won’t say. But we find it no coincidence that right after this big event is held the interest in Santa and Christmas starts to build up. And so does the anticipation.

For more than 17 years they’ve been processing mail for Santa online over at My Merry Christmas. They report MORE letters for Santa during the months of October and November than they do in December.

Interesting, isn’t it? Who are these people? And why the urge to write Santa months and weeks ahead of the holiday season?

With all of these questions the folks at My Merry Christmas made us an interesting offer: why don’t we just interview the main mail elf at the north pole as these letters come in? They set it up for us and this is exactly what we will do in the weeks ahead.

Who are these Santa freaks and what do they want of him? Stay tuned.

We have reasons to hate topsites, too. Topsites are just scripted sites that track visitors to certain websites. When a website enrolls for membership in a topsite they put a voting graphic back to the topsite on their website. (Following this? Hang in there). When someone clicks on the graphic they, in essence, register a vote for that site. The more votes a site gets, the higher up on the list a site will go. (Still with me?). There are, however, three problems with many topsites: cheaters, sites that aren’t really in the topic genre and topsites that simply are run on autopilot.

And that’s why we love ChristmasJunkie. It’s actually managed day-by-day year round. Cheaters are eliminated and old sites are purged. Every site on Christmas Junkie is a legitimate Christmas site. No games, no bull, no kidding.

So if you are a — ahem — Christmas Junkie, give them a click. We’re sure you’ll be delighted with the variety of Christmas sites they list.

This site has nothing to do with scrapbooking. This site is merely a diversionary celebration of Christmas that combines 1990s era Internet technology of music, animated graphics and old fashioned good humor.

Built in 1999 — and firmly stuck there — Christmas Scrapbook will give you chuckles with it’s hokey artwork and blaring midis. By today’s flashy standards online this site is decidely behind the times. But Christmas is best celebrated in “classic” mode, we think. We’re hoping the creators of this site stick to never updating this collection of dancing artwork.

Is it Christmas? solves this dilemma by cutting through all the fluff to simply, well, answer the question.

I was delighted and oddly informed when I clicked on their link. It gave me a good laugh. That makes it our site of the week.

The site oozes Christmas spirit. It shares stories with charming clip art. It has activities almost any kid and kid-at-heart will enjoy.

We tip our hat to the makers of this little site. Year after year it is there. And year after year it spreads Christmas cheer.

The ladies at Christmas All Year — or, for folks online in-the-know, CAY — literally live up to their name. Throughout the year they celebrate the goodness of the season with ongoing spontaneous conversations about Christmas. They talk recipes, new music and movies, decorating the home, and the thorny issues of Christmas in public.

Though site hosting issues and other Internet troubles have moved them around for years these are still that same great folks year after year online. We give their community two thumbs up!

Though active only during the fall months of the year, Christmas Rants has been live with Christmas chatter since 2005. Discussing everything from Christmas humor to recipes to whathaveyou, Christmas Rants is an ongoing conversation about Christmas that any self-respecting Christmas fanatic would greatly enjoy.