Happy Holidays!! #googlemaps #christmas #santa

As another year draws to a close, I wish everyone a safe and Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. On this note I would like to share a Google Maps Mashup which I had created couple of years ago. This mashup shows the locations of towns and cities in United States which are named "Christmas" or Holiday season names like

• Santa in Benewah County, Idaho
• Santa Claus in Mohave County, Arizona
• Santa Claus in Toombs County, Georgia
• Santa Claus in Spencer County, Indiana

Towns and Cities named Christmas and Holiday Season names

Did you know that there is a town named

• Santa in Benewah County, Idaho
• Santa Claus in Mohave County, Arizona
• Santa Claus in Toombs County, Georgia
• Santa Claus in Spencer County, Indiana

Check out this Google Maps view of towns in United States with holiday season names.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The forecast calls for snow this week in South Eastern Michigan and then I see "Polar Express" DVD next to the TV and neighbors putting up Christmas lights.
What else?
Just found out (via Google Blog) that Google has

teamed up again this year with NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, to bring you the NORAD Santa Tracker.

Visit NORAD website on Christmas Eve and you can track Santa in both Google Maps and Google Earth and view videos of his flights over several landmark cities, captured by special "Santa cams."

Here's a video from last year's Santa Tracker

Christmas Decorations for your and/or a friend's house in Google Maps.

With the help of Coca Cola you can now decorate your house or your friends house with Christmas decorations. (details here).

I hope President George Bush does not mind, because I took liberty in decorating his current house (White House). Here's how it looks:

Track Santa in Google Earth

Google Blog is reporting that Google has teamed up with North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Starting at 1.00 am PST on December 24th

you'll be able to track Santa's trip in real time. You can download Google Earth and add the NORAD Tracks Santa iGoogle gadget to your iGoogle page anytime, but make sure to come back to noradsanta.org on December 24th to download the special Santa Tracking file (KML) for an enhanced 3D Santa-tracking experience in Google Earth.

But what do you do till December 24th?.

You can visit NORAD's website, where families can find a new kid-friendly game or activity every day until December 24th