8 Ways Kids Can Digitally Connect With Santa

1. 1. Portable North Pole

   Use the Portable North Pole app to send your daughter, son, niece or nephew a personalized message from Santa while he's preparing for his Christmas Eve flight around the world in the North Pole.

   Sugary sweet and naughty children alike will be delighted to see and hear a heartwarming message from Santa. Thanks to special customization features, Santa will be able to commend the little girl or boy about all the great things he or she has done all year. For the badly behaved, Santa has a few words of encouragement, so he or she can still make the good list before December 25.

   Portable North Pole is available online and as an $2.99 iOS and $3.01 Android app.

   Image courtesy of Flickr, David Blackwell.

   

2. 2. Pearl's Ask Santa

   When Santa isn't helping his Christmas elves build toys, sneaking into the kitchen to eat Mrs. Claus' sugar cookies or feeding his flying reindeer, he's trying the clear out his inbox like the rest of us.

   Kids can ask Santa anything on the free platform. When Santa has some free time, he'll respond immediately by email.

   

3. 3. Email Santa

   For 15 years, Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus have been answering emails that come to their EmailSanta.com inbox. Christmas' number one couple recently embraced tweeting from festive Twitter handles @KringleClaus and @NorthPoleMrsC.

   Well-behaved children should send Santa their Christmas wish lists and turn on the Santa Claus Christmas WebCam to see what the elves are up to in the North Pole. Kids who aren't sure they've behaved can check the "naughty or nice" list online.

   Image courtesy of Flickr, Pierrot_le_Fou

   

4. 4. iCaughtSanta

   Parents have done many crazy things to keep the magic of Santa Claus alive (dropping bells in the snow and answering handwritten letters). iCaughtSanta is a cute mobile app that lets you upload a photo of your living room to create photo proof that Santa Claus was there, collecting your family's wish lists in person and dropping off gifts.

   Image courtesy of iCaughtSanta

   

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7. 7. SaintNick.org

   Tell Santa what you want for Christmas on SaintNick.org and he'll personally write back to you. On the simple website learn the "physics of Santa" -- how one man delivers toys to 2 billion children worldwide -- and learn about global Christmas traditions.

   Image courtesy of Flickr, horizontal.integration

   

8. 8. SantasGoodList.org

   Santa's best elves Benson, Olivia, Gilbert, Phoebe, Riley and Yvette are available to chat anytime. All kids have to do is get their parent's permission (via access email code) to start their festive holiday chat. On Santa's Good List, children are situated in a chat room with an elf at the North Pole Elf Support Center.

   Young users are guided through a quiz to see how they're doing this year and whether they'll make Santa's nice or naughty list.

   

In the digital age, Santa Claus is more connected than ever. We imagine the jolly man's North Pole abode is outfitted with holographic displays, touchscreen walls and Bluetooth-connected wireless speakers that play Christmas music everywhere he goes.

On his person, we assume Santa carries at least a smartphone, tablet, language translation device and GPS navigation system (in case Rudolph needs a break). Thanks to tech advances, Santa's easily available to respond to questions, letters and inquiries from children around the world by Skype, Twitter and email.

We wouldn't expect anything less from a man who traverses the globe in a futuristic sleigh equipped with wireless health sensors, carbon fiber composites and intelligent-tracking systems.

Did we miss any of your favorite ways to contact Santa online? Tell us in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, horizontal.integration