World Wide Christmas offers just two option: first is a page with 26 Christmas carols, categorized by their place of origin around the world. Some you can listen to, others just have the lyrics or even perhaps the sheet music. The site makes no bones about it not being a comprehensive resource but it does carefully delineate where each of the songs comes from.

The other option centers around a simple contest of photos submitted of site visitor Christmas trees. And the images from their 2010 campaign are stunning.

It never ceases to amaze me how the simple sites are the best. With their first option I was listening to Deck the Halls and while that was running I was browsing photos of outstanding Christmas trees decorated from places all over the globe. (Last year’s winner was from Spain).

I’ve bookmarked World Wide Christmas because I’m anxious to see the follow up for 2011. This is supposedly their 7th year of collecting such images.

The great music and the festive sharing of Christmas trees makes WorldWideChristmas.com our site of the week.

A hobby is something that not only swallows time, grows talent and gives pleasure. It is an activity that begs to be shared and shouts to be showcased. Christmas isn’t a hobby for every one — many are content to be mere bystanders, enjoying the sights, sounds and seasonal highlights around them. And that’s fine, we’re not critcal of that. But for many — be it the hobbyist light hanger, crafter, scrapper or tree themer — it is a call to action. It just seems that for some Christmas is a verb.

At Christmas Tree Lane — a lovely blogspot destination — Christmas is definitely a hands on art. Operated by an elementary school principal from the midwest, Terri Steffes, Christmas Tree Lane is a joyful celebration of family, food, recipes, traditions and all things related to Christmas.

I like Christmas Tree Lane because it doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t. It isn’t an encyclopedia, a portal, a search engine or the end-all-be-all of Christmas online. It is the Christmas experience USA-style as appreciated and celebrated by one who is as American as they come. Terri has an abiding love for the season and she’ll share whatever Christmas she finds.

It helps that she is an educator and actually knows how to write, too. In fact, I delight sometimes in her shared experiences:

Hark, the Harold Angels sing…When I was a little girl, I had all the lyrics to many songs confused. This was just one of them! I never knew any one named Harold and why I assumed this, I have no idea. Just like the Lord’s Prayer…and Howard be thy name….. again, where did that come from? I don’t know anyone named Howard, either!

See what I mean? Entirely genuine.

Christmas Tree Lane could well be a part of the Organized Christmas crowd that is so popular online. Primarily women and happy homemakers this group has for years flourished with their year round discussion of organizing for Christmas. While Christmas Tree Lane has no shortage of reminders when it comes to key calendar dates in organizing it is flush with images of ideas picked up here and there, no doubt much of it from that tight network of merry women.

But men can enjoy Christmas Tree Lane as well (I am exhibit “A”). The photography of food alone would enough to inspire any male but honestly there are enough ideas in decorating that any aspiring Clark Griswold can get ideas from Christmas Tree Lane.

Christmas Tree Lane is a great reminder that the Internet doesn’t have to be populated with shops, marketers or techno geeks to enjoy Christmas online. In fact, Christmas is what gives the Internet warmth in an otherwise cold, selling-centric kind of environment so common to seasons online.

Christmas Tree Lane, like Christmas itself, has none of that. It comes from the heart.

When you bring up the site it seems harmless enough. The site is full of festive images with lots of buttons that scream “click me!”. The site offers graphics, MySpace layouts, countdowns, buttons and other Christmas-related images for use on websites and social networks. Nearly everything there is a temptation to click.

Don’t do it.

Wish Merry Christmas.com is full of viruses, malware, hidden links and annoying popups. Their purpose is not provide you with Christmas freebies that are really free. Their purpose is to get inside your computer to track your surfing habits, take your information and sell what they know of you to web marketers who will target you relentlessly no matter where you go on the Intenet.

Don’t be fooled by these kinds of sites. Your best defense against sites of this type is to always run current anti-virus software on your system and consider running anti-malware software at all times. The anti-malware programs are worth their weight in gold and as it works you will over time begin to notice patterns websites like Wish Merry Christmas.com adopt to lure in users. They usually perform the same way, often share the same kinds of advertisements and trigger the same alarms from the security programs.

If you’re looking for trusted resources for Christmas graphics start with the other sites of Christmas you know. Visit Link Christmas.com, one of the largest hand-compiled Christmas directories online which works to avoid pointing users towards legitimate resources and away from dangerous venues, and discuss via The Merry Forums of My Merry Christmas.com and other trusted Christmas communities with other Christmas fans about their better resouces for Christmas graphics.

The problem with sites like Wish Merry Christmas.com is that they are backed by big money marketers and enjoy very targeted engineering that get them exposure on the large search engines and in social media. They go crazy with advertising at seasonal times and draw maassive amounts of visitors into their trap. Unfortunately for them Wish Merry Christmas.com is the type of site where they are the gift that keeps on giving with phantom browser tools installs, ad hyjacking and eventual total system flooding with advertisements and redirects.

Other signs that sites like this are dangerous come from the fact that there is no “About” page, no privacy policy and that their “contact us” page asks only for your information and gives none of their own. Just because they don’t sell anything on the site doesn’t make them safe.

Avoid, avoid and avoid Wish Merry Christmas.com.

After all, not everyone has the exterior illuminating talent of Clark Griswold. Some actually are very bad at it.

And that is what Ugly-Christmas-Decorations.com is all about. Despite the bold title there is nothing mean spirited about the site at all. In fact, it is fairly light hearted in presentation and usually quick to point out that their postings of over-the-top ridiculous decorating antics are meant to share in the fun and frivolity of the season.

The site design is spartan, making navigation quick and painless. It is a quick visit. The site appears to be about five years old and it is only occasionally updated. We’re guessing it gets the typical season attention of many Christmas websites. We’re sure submissions only come in during a short period of time.

Still it gives you a smile to visit and if you’re one who feels that your own decorating talents are lacking this site is sure to make you feel better.

Not just for kids, the site allows an amazing amount of customability, even getting names pronounced correctly (in some cases). It has categories for messages from Santa for loved ones, business associates and friends. According to the site, more than 10 million video messages from Santa have already been sent. It is a free resource, though checking the privacy policy for what they use your email and other personal information is advised.

We’re pleased to highlight a new online resource for folks looking for their own Santa train ride this holiday season, found at NorthPoleTrains.com. If you want to take in scenery of a winter wonderland, have a Santa experience on a train or enjoy the full-blown Polar Express fantasy this site will tell you where to find it anywhere in the world. In fact, if there is anything about Christmas, Santa and trains to be found online, this site has it.

This is the kind of Christmas resource the Internet was made for. The site is simply done, a quick read and a fun diversion.

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.