Just as Santa knows what every girl and boy wants for Christmas and brings different gifts for different kids, he also knows that a letter from Santa Claus is a special gift where a “one size fits all” approach doesn’t work. That’s why there are a variety of companies available on the web to make sure you get the Santa letter that’s perfect for your child. Here are three of the best Santa letter sites, all of which offer something special that you won’t find at the others.

Best Santa Letter Site If You Like Options (Lots of ‘Em!)

If you’re the kind of person who likes options, then you’ll love Santa’s Official North Pole Mail. With 20 background designs and more than 40 Santa letters to choose from, including the ability to write your own letter, you’ll never have to worry about two kids in your family having letters that are too similar. And if you want to accessorize your letter, they have options for that, too, with an a la carte menu of upgrades such as Santa evidence kits, Nice List certificates, magic snow and other fun stuff.

Best Santa Letter Site For “Over the Top” Extravagance

If you’re willing to spend money on your child’s Santa “letter,” Package from Santa will turn it into a complete package that goes far beyond anything you’ll get from a company that sells plain ol’ letters. Their Platinum Package is a colorful box of goodies that will impress any child. Inside the box your child will discover magic North Pole snow, an autographed photo of Santa, a sugar cookie from Mrs. Claus in a gift tin, a letter from Rudolph, a personalized Nice List certificate, a Santa Claus window decal, a piece of St. Nick’s suit, magic reindeer food in a tin and, last but not least, a personalized Santa letter. They also include a free video greeting from Santa.

Best Santa Letter Site for Printable Variety

This is a great site for Do-it-Yourself-ers. Rather than just offering the standard printable letter from Santa Claus, as most sites offering print-at-home letters do, Printable Santa Letters.com goes the extra mile and allows you to print extras such as a Nice List certificate, an autographed photo of Santa Claus, and a personalized letter from Rudolph, as well as the standard personalized letter and envelope. They also give you plenty of options for the type of letter you want to send. You can select from eight different letter options, including special letters for baby’s first Christmas and a child’s first year in kindergarten, as well as six background designs, including a Christian theme that goes well with the Christian letter option.

All of these sites offer something that qualifies them as the “best Santa letter sites” for someone’s needs, and all of them can also be considered the best Santa letter sites for another reason – they will all bring a smile to your child’s face.

Adapted with permission from Best Santa Letter Sites by Type

Having one of Santa Claus’ “scout” elves visit during the Christmas season has become a popular Christmas tradition for many families since Elf on the Shelf was published in 2005. Since then, the children’s story written by Carol Aebersold and her daughters, Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts, has sold more than 2 million copies. Now kids who love the story of these special elves who help Santa knows who’s naughty and who’s nice can get a chance to see a special movie featuring the special elves.

“Elf on the Shelf: An Elf’s Story” will be aired on CBS on November 25, 2011 and “An Elf’s Story” DVD will go on sale the next day. The 23-minute special will be broadcast on November 25, and the DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the special will be available the next day. According to the official Elf on the Shelf and CBS websites, “The Elf on the Shelf: An Elf’s Story” will star Chippey, one of Santa Claus’ scout elves. Chippey’s job is to visit little kids and report to Santa Claus on their behavior so St. Nick knows who has been naughty and who has been nice. Chippey is assigned to a family with a young boy named Taylor McTuttle. The CBS press release says Taylor “struggles to believe in the magic of Christmas.” Chippey’s job is not only to report on the boy’s behavior, but to restore his faith in Christmas magic, too. But when Taylor breaks the rules, Chippey loses his magic powers.

The Elf on the Shelf website says that what happens then is “through the power of love and forgiveness, both of them learn that true belief cannot be taught.” CBS says the special carries the “timeless message that Christmas is something we carry in our hearts.”

Look for Elf on the Shelf: An Elf’s Story on CBS later this year!

He may be as cuddly as a cactus and as charming as an eel, but it’s hard not to love the grouchy green Grinch from the classic Dr. Seuss tale, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And now you can own your very own Grinch. Manhattan Toy makes a plush stuffed Grinch doll in three sizes, so every child (or child at heart) can have a Grinch of their own.

Almost everyone enjoys the Christmas holidays, but buying gifts at this time of year can really strain your bank account, and that can take some of the fun out of the season. Fortunately, you can find ways to save money without sacrificing a lot.

Here are three ideas for saving money during the Christmas season.

Find Online Discounts
Your local shopping mall is not always the best place to look for deals. It’s too tempting to purchase items you see without comparing prices. Shopping online, on the other hand, gives you time to compare prices using sites such as BizRate.com or to look for coupon codes.

You can easily find coupon codes online that will help you save money during the holidays, or you can look for holiday-specific coupons and Christmas discounts at sites such as Christmas Coupons 365.com. This site lists coupons and deals for hundreds of popular stores and makes it easy for you to save money on gifts for everyone on your list.

Another way to save money online is to search for cheap gift suggestions. For example, here are 5 gifts under $5.

Create Personalized Gifts
If you’re craft-challenged like me, you might be tempted to skip this section, thinking that you don’t have the skills to make your own gift. Not so! Thanks to the power of the Internet, you can make personalized gifts with virtually no talent at all. If you’re making something personalized, you might feel ok spending less than you would on a generic gift? You can create mugs, shirts, iPhone and iPad covers, and much more on Zazzle and personalize them with your own photos, artwork and/or text.

Cut Down Your Gift List
One of the most obvious ways to save money is to buy fewer gifts. If you’re the generous type who likes to buy gifts for everyone, from your child’s teacher to the postal carrier, you can save money simply by cutting down your gift list or changing the way you give gifts.

For instance, if you’re from a large family and your family tradition is to buy one gift for everyone, including all the adult relatives, it might be time to suggest drawing names for the holidays. Rather than everyone buying gifts for every other adult relative, each person draws a name and then only buys one gift for that person, so each adult receives one gift, while children can continue to reap the rewards from multiple aunts, uncles, grandparents and so on.

With a little forethought, you can still give wonderful gifts and save money with a couple small changes.

Revised with permission from ,a href=”http://lisa42.hubpages.com/hub/Cheap-Christmas-Gift-Strategies”>Cheap Christmas Gift Strategies on HubPages.

guest post by Debora Dyess

“We never seem to write letters anymore,” I complained to my husband.

He glanced up. “You can fix that. Christmas is coming – perfect time for a family letter.” He returned to work, leaving me to ponder how to begin such a project.

For those of you who, like me, are not natural letter-writers, below is a list of family Christmas letter ideas. Hope they help if you decide to start a new tradition this year.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!
While you can fit a few photos into a newsletter, more is better for your family Christmas letter. Try including a CD of favorite photos and special events. For more pizzazz, try using online services such as Smilebox. You can pick out a background and song to lend emotion to your slideshow. Then have fun and create! Include a copy with each mailed newsletter (or at least with Grandma and Grandpa’s). You can also share your creation with email recipients online.

The Countdown!
David Letterman loves them, Johnny Carson loved them, and we all love them too. The Top Ten List is the hit of the show! Include it in your newsletter or family Christmas letter. Ideas for lists range from sports activities for the kids to best moments on vacation. Include baby’s top ten new words, or your kindergartner’s top ten favorite new books, movies or games. The top ten dumbest/cutest things said in the household is sure to be a hit, but keep careful notes through-out the year to make sure you get them all down!

Make Them Laugh!
Ask each family member to include their favorite joke, riddle or pun. Sharing humor is always a family favorite. For humorous holiday jokes, search online or visit Funny-Christmas.com.

Use a Template!
Trying to format everything just right can lead to frustration, un-Christmas-like obscenities and un-mailed letters. Using a template makes layout easy and allows for more time to write and less to try to fit-it-all-in. You can search for printable Christmas letterhead online or for less than $4, download an awesome Christmas letter template right here at Christmas Letter Tips.com. Using these formats, you can easily summarize important evens of the year, insert family photos and get it done in time to get it mailed. Or, to save a tree and ensure on-time delivery, email your newsletter.

However you choose to share your lives with family members far away, it will be appreciated all year long. Keeping the family tie alive may be the best gift you give or receive!

“A Charlie Brown Christmas,” which debuted on CBS in 1965, was the first animated TV special starring the Peanuts characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Although TV executives thought it would be a failure, the animated Christmas special won an Emmy award and a Peabody award, captured 50% of the TV viewers on its debut night, and is still popular today. Here’s some trivia you may not know about the special.

- The number of hairs on Charlie Brown’s head changes throughout the show. In some scenes, he has three hairs on the back of his head, and in others he has no hair at all.

- Composer Vince Guaraldi was invited to write the music for the special after a TV producer heard one of his songs while riding in a cab.

- Lucy calls Charlie Brown “Charlie” in a scene right before she talks about the commercialization of Christmas. This is the only time she ever calls him by his first name only in any Peanuts special. In all the other specials, she always calls him by his complete name – Charlie Brown.

- TV execs were sure “A Charlie Brown Christmas” would flop miserably. They didn’t like Guaraldi’s music, were concerned about Linus quoting the Bible, and wanted a canned laugh track to accompany the animation.

- The name of the Charlie Brown Christmas song that most people associate with the special is “Christmas Time is Here.”

- 50% of all TVs were tuned in to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” on the night it first aired in 1965.