TORONTO- Parents dreading the cold weather and long lineups for mall Santa can now connect with Father Christmas in more modern ways.
Since just after the turn of the century, the Toronto Eaton Centre has been the hotspot for kids to meet Santa and give him their Christmas wish lists.
But changing times and fortunes mean Santa won’t have such prime real estate this year.
Instead of lining up to meet the jolly old man, children will instead be asked to sign up with the Eaton Centre to attend a weekend story time session and get a photo on Santa’s knee if they choose. Santa is also now cool with cyberspace. Parents can register their
kids for a 10-minute Skype session with him-all the way from his
workshop in the North Pole-by arranging a session through the Eaton
Centre.
But a Skype chat with Santa isn’t the only way you can connect with the man in red this year. Here’s a look at other ways Santa has gone high-tech.
North Pole goes mobile
For a fee, textsanta.net allows parents to sign their children up for personalized text messages from Santa Claus. If your child does not own a cell phone, parents can receive the message through their own mobile.
You can also make any child believe in the magic of Santa by having Old Man Christmas send a picture of himself in your child’s home. Don’t worry; it’s not as creepy as it sounds. Simply take a picture of your mantle, fireplace or Christmas tree with your phone or digital camera. Save the image to your computer, upload the image to PicSanta.net and elves in Santa’s image editing department will handle the rest.
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Tracking Santa
Just as Santa has been keeping tabs on them all year, kids can keep an eye on him Christmas Eve as he delivers gifts to kids in more than 200 countries and territories.
On the NORAD web site, children can track Santa’s movements and watch video of him flying past world landmarks.The tracking is done using Google Earth-a virtual globe that allows you to view almost any location in the world. Intrepid kids can go to the site and import the Santa-tracking information on Christmas Eve.
This year, you can count the days left to Santa’s takeoff with the official NORAD Tracks Santa iPhone and Android apps.
VIDEO – NORAD Tracks Santa in 2010
Twitter Claus
Canada’s Post “Letters to Santa” has traditionally allowed kids to get in touch with Santa through regular mail and e-mail. According to a press release, The Santa Letter Writing Program is expected to break the 20 million letter mark this year.
A special Twitter account has also been set up to help Santa communicate directly with children, 140 characters at a time.”
“Santa is no slouch when it comes to using the new technology,” says Sheldon, Santa’s chief technology elf. “Santa will be using Twitter and YouTube to share stories and letters from the North Pole.”
– With files from The Canadian Press
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