For years now, I've been offering great Web sites to visit in the days before Christmas. Sites aimed at the young and the young at heart. Sites that highlight the fun and origins of the season. Sites that help enhance the real world holiday experience.

Many are perennial sites, others are newcomers or change every year.

Here are some of the best time-tested holiday Web sites worth visiting on Christmas Eve:

The History of Christmas

http://www.holidays.net/christmas/story.htm

Good overview of the history and traditions of Christmas.

History of Christmas

http://www.history.com/minisites/christmas/

From the History Channel, a well produced look at the evolution of Christmas, complete with photos and short videos you can watch in your browser.

Google Directory: Christmas

http://www.google.com/Top/Society/Holidays/Christmas/

A mini search engine specific to Christmas. If you want to wander the Web in search of Christmas sites, start here - you'll eliminate a lot of unrelated Web site results in your searches.

Hymns and Carols of Christmas

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/HTML/The_hymns_and_carols_.htm

A large site with hundreds of Christmas songs and lyrics. We're talking hymns and carols ranging from the popular to the barely known. If you're looking for the words to a particular tune, it's probably here. In addition to lyrics, you can find history about the songs, links to sheet music, downloadable MIDI and mp3 versions of many of the songs, additional Web resources and more.

Christmas Lyrics

http://www.mikeleal.com/christmas/

Lyrics to more than 100 popular Christmas songs. A quick, easy guide to songs you don't remember all the words to or for verses beyond the first that everyone knows.

Christmas Carols

http://www.carols.org.uk

A good collection of Christmas carols, featuring the origin of each song and the lyrics.

Christmas Songs and Carols

http://www.nevada.edu/-blake/Christmas.songs.html

http://www.nevada.edu/-blake/Christmas.carols.html

One section features popular Christmas songs, the other features traditional Christmas carols.

Christmas Symbols and Traditions

http://www.allthingschristmas.com/traditions.html

A brief overview of the origins of many Christmas symbols, icons and traditions, from religious to secular.

Christmas Traditions Around The World

http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm

A great collection of how people celebrate Christmas and the Christmas season around the world.

The Claus That Refreshes

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp

An interesting article detailing the origins and evolution of Santa Claus. The focus of the article is debunking the myth that the Coca-Cola Co. created the modern image of Santa.

The Origin of Santa Claus

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=35

Another good overview of the transformation of Saint Nicholas into Santa Claus.

Rudolph History

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/rudolph.asp

An excellent overview of Rudolph's origins as a 1939 Montgomery Ward Christmas promotion.

NORAD Tracks Santa

http://www.noradsanta.org

Since 1955, the North American Air Defense Command, known as NORAD, has been tracking Santa by radar and relaying the information to boys and girls who want to check Santa's worldwide flight on Christmas Eve.

The Yule Log

http://www.theyulelog.com

In 1966 on Christmas Eve, New York TV station WPIX broadcast a film loop of a burning fireplace, decorated for the holidays, with Christmas music playing in the background. The "program" ran for three hours and became an immediate holiday favorite for millions of people. This is the fan site for the WPIX-TV Yule Log and largely responsible for bringing back the Yule Log broadcast to the TV station after a 10-year hiatus. Everything you need to know about the Yule Log film (history, trivia and more) is here.

MP3 Player Yule Log

http://cw11.trb.com/entertainment/wpix-yulelog-download,0,737367.htmlstory

WPIX-TV in New York has made a free, downloadable version of its yulelog for people to put on their iPods or other portable video player. In this way, you can take the warmth of the holiday fireplace with you wherever you go. Take a look - it's worth downloading.

A Christmas Carol

http://www.literature.org/authors/dickens-charles/christmas-carol/

A nice online reading version of the classic Charles Dickens holiday story.

A Visit from St. Nicholas

http://www.bartleby.com/248/27.html

The well known poem by Clement C. Moore that begins, "Twas the night before Christmas …"

Yes,Virginia

http://www.beebo.org/smackerels/yesvirginia.html

The famous 1897 New York Sun editorial answering a little girl's query on whether or not Santa Claus exists.

(Keith Darnay is the webmaster and designer for bismarcktribune.com. His Web site, featuring this column going back to 1995, is at www.darnay.com.iec.)