Tomten -
Astrid Lindgren introduced us to the Scandinavian tomten with her books The Tomten and The Tomten and the Fox,  and lately Jan Brett with her book Hedgie's Surprise. Melissa Peterson also includes a tomten in her book Hannah's Christmas.

Jan Brett's News Notes: http://www.janbrett.com/newsnotes/hedgies_surprise_newsnotes.htm

The Tomten Page - http://members.tripod.com/~auntida/tomte.html

Trolls, Elfs, Näcken, Tomten, Vittran, and Huldran - http://www.lysator.liu.se/nordic/scn/faq247.html

Jenny Nystrom's illustrations of the tomten: http://www.kalmarlansmuseum.se/cafe/jenny/katalog.pdf (This site is in Swedish, but if you scroll down, the catalogue contains many images of tomtens that could be used for visual research or reports.)

Trolls-
Jan Brett has made the troll, a being who is SOOOO ugly that he is BEAUTIFUL!,  popular again in her books - Christmas Trolls and Trouble with Trolls. If you students are fascinated with these little creatures, here are some sites to extend their learning.

Legends of the Trolls Think Quest - http://www.thinkquest.org/library/site_sum.html?tname=12924&url=12924/nr1.htm Quiz, stories, and Norwegian culture.

Troll Moon - http://users.skynet.be/fa023784/ Wonderful illustrations and ideas for stories

Troll Collector's Corner - http://www.trollshop.net/trolls/ For the serious trollster!

What are Trolls? http://nv.essortment.com/whataretroll_rxyn.htm A succinct summary.

Troll Illustrations - http://www.lysator.liu.se/nordic/ill/titta/troll.html Wonderful in their uniqueness.

Field Guide to Trolls in North America - http://www.trolls.com/guidetable.htm A one page summary.

Jan Brett's Piggyback Page for Trouble with Trolls - http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/piggybacks_trouble_with_trolls.htm

Jan Brett's Troll Pencil Topper - http://www.janbrett.com/make_a_pencil_topper.htm

How to Make Trolls' Clothing - http://www.ehow.com/how_9673_make-felt-clothing.html - If you are creating your own trolls!

Trollforest - http://www.trollforest.com/ An amateurish site, but it does give good examples of how students can create their own troll stories.

Elves - This was so hard to research! You either get the Dark side, or the ELF movie... but these sites are reasonable.

Wikipedia - Definition of Elves - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf

Commonly Asked Questions About Elves - http://petcaretips.net/santa-claus-elf-questions.html

Elves - A Short History by National Geographic - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2003/12/elves.html A great, but brief research article.

Jan Brett's Drawing of Santa and his Elves -  http://www.janbrett.com/santa_and_his_elves.htm

Elf Exam - http://www.northpole.net/games/exam.htm Gr. 1 or 2 kids will get a kick out of reading and answering the questions.

Concerning Elves - http://gotelves.bravepages.com/concerning_elves.html Definitions about what categories elves fall into; go from here to Elf Art. Not to do with Santa's elves but folk lore.

We Are Santa's Elves - http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/xmas/wearesantaselves.shtml Burl Ives lyrics.

Meet Santa's Elves - http://www.angelfire.com/vt/thenorthpole/elves.html 4 elves are introduced and are wonderful prompts for writing!

Elf Cam - http://www.santas-workshop.org/elf/elfcam.shtml  A cartoon “elf cam” – cute – with opportunity for students to write about the life of an elf.

Elf Entrance - http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/211.shtml Instructions on making an "elf" doorway.

Elf Academy - http://www.northpole.com/Academy/ The elf school has wonderful activities for you to print off and use in your class.

Elf School - http://www.claus.com/elfschool/index.php A few interactive activities.

Elf Holiday Math Question - http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/764.html For gr. 2-3

Elf Costume Shoes - http://sewing.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa120799a.htm

Elf Costume - http://sd.essortment.com/christmaselfco_rkqw.htm No photo.

Grinch -

I wonder if Dr. Seuss ever imagined how this cranky character could become so ingrained as a popular Christmas folk character?

The Grinch Page for Teachers - Carol's Favorite - 2004
http://www.teachingheart.net/grinch.html

How the Grinch Stole Christmas - http://www.santas.com/grinch/grinch.html Can hear this one read aloud online.

Seussville - Grinch - http://www.seussville.com/grinch/home.html Interactive coloring games...

Grinch Coloring Pages - http://outer-limit.net/coloring/grinchpages.shtml

Grinch Craft - http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/cartoons/mgrinch.html Includes a template

Absolute Grinch - http://www.everwonder.com/david/thegrinch/ Assorted sound and video clips.