There were several outstanding sites this year, including both new offerings and some that have made the list in previous years.

The surprise, though, was that rather than recommending an individual listing or suggesting a single site, several of you chose to nominate links pages. One concentrated only on children's sites. One was a mix of family pages and another focused on offerings that were religious rather than Santa-oriented.

Several were marvelous, but one stood out. It featured simple but attractive seasonal art with well-organized links to hundreds of pages. And while the majority were Christmas sites, there also were lists for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa as well.

So congratulations to Jerry Daugherty of Independence, Ky., who described the site as: "Very friendly for all ages and faiths. Has links to many Christmas sites for research and info. Online activities for everyone, also off-line lessons and activities. Has games, cards, puzzles, stories, clip art, download music, how to say Merry Christmas in 350 languages."

And the winner is:

•  http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/christmas.html. Although I often add a links listing as the final entry in my column, I set some pretty high standards before doing so. As someone who spends hours searching sites every week, there is nothing more frustrating than links that are either out of date or ones to pagges that have moved with no means of forwarding to the new URL.

At any rate, before I was willing to agree that this one was the "best," I spent quite a bit of time exploring the 163 Christmas links, 31 Hanukkah links and 30 Kwanzaa links that are featured on this site.

Not only did the vast majority of them open without any problem, in the nearly 500 pages I looked at, only two had any content I found questionable -- and those were jokes pages that I thought were only a little more naughty than nice.

The sites listings are divided into categories, which make an easy task of finding exactly what you're looking for. Each address is followed by a brief description of what to expect. And the fact that Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are also included made this one a winner.

Here are some other top contenders from this year's entries:

•  www.sentex.net/~kdor/christmas.html. Volume alone makes this links page from Molly Dupine, formerly of Western Hills, a contender. It lists nearly 350 Christmas and Christmas-related sites. Like the previous offering, this one is divided into sections and includes a few words about each address. (One major difference, this list includes commercial sites.) Although not all the pages are created for children, if you're looking for ways to keep tots, tweens and teens occupied while you're busy wrapping, there is certainly plenty here.

•  http://christmas-world.freeservers.com. Bill Bonner from Morgantown, W. Va., nominated this interesting site by Bill Egan, who has been called the world's leading authority on Christmas around the world. The site includes text, photos and art about Christmas celebrations in dozens of countries. It also includes the authentic melody for "Silent Night."

•  www.santaland.com. Mercy Kunsler of Oakwood Village in Madison, Wis., sent in this page, which features "old-fashioned" Christmas themes including her favorite -- the letter from Virginia O'Hanlon asking if there was a Santa Claus and the reply from the New York Sun published in 1897. Nice art here as well.

•  www.cvc.org/christmas. Finally, I want to include this amazing site from the advanced computer classes at Central Valley Christian School in Visalia, Calif. You won't be disappointed.

Jan Perry is a Kentucky-based freelance writer for The Post. She welcomes your questions, comments and suggestions at SiteSeer2K@aol.com.