All I want for Christmas is ...

If Jesus were born today, what kind of presents would the Three Wise Men give him? An iPod? A netbook? A games console?

Technology has not spared Christmas, which had to adapt to the new ways we communicate and celebrate. Some say technology has changed Christmas for the worse, taking away the personal touch and replacing it with the cold mouse click. Others contend that on the contrary, it brings people who are far away together, at least virtually.

Just take a look at how we approach the festivities and you'll see people sending e-cards, tech gadgets topping wish lists of young and adults alike, online shopping galore in search for bargains, the sending of scores of SMS with greetings, and the omnipresent fibre optic Christmas trees. Receiving real presents as an e-mail attachment is the only thing we are still waiting for.

For some this may be too much. Writing cards and sending them by post and singing carols in the cold outside are ghosts of Christmas past, the good times indeed, and they regret the fast and easy with which you can send wishes today. Too fast, too easy, too little personal time invested. But this is nothing compared to couples proposing on Twitter instead of the man kneeling down in front of his girlfriend to pop the question.

On the other hand, sending e-cards saves on paper which means less trees being chopped. So sending e-cards is actually an act of love towards the environment. Computers consume electricity, and this comes from power stations emitting carbon, harmful carbon, but then again our computers today are always on and always connected to internet, so it's just a question of making the most of them. For example, you can listen to the reindeer clattering to the tune of "We wish you a Merry Christmas". This flash animation has been around for some years but it is still a favourite. It is accessible at http://dpkgi.free.fr/files/ deerz2.swf. It's the Christmas lights with incandescent lamps that are the real tree-killers.

The Energy Saving Trust Wales estimated that a typical string of tree lights is left on for 10 hours a day which throughout the 12 days of Christmas produces enough CO2 emissions to fill 64 party balloons. LED lights, several times more efficient, should replace the old Christmas lights.

Speaking of the environment, until late last week it was the Copenhagen summit on climate change that dominated Twitter, at a rate of almost 100 Tweets a minute. Christmas was just one item out of top 10 trending topics, sharing a place with #snow as large parts of the US and Europe were blanketed under the snow. Then the #TitlesThatCanBePorn secured Copenhagen's spot. On December 19 the number of Tweets exceeded the world population, passing the 6.8 billion mark. Pity millions round the world are celebrating Christmas in abject poverty, let alone exchanging Tweets.

As we approach November of each year the international tech news services all report about the run-up to Christmas, especially the opening of the Christmas shopping frenzy on Black Friday, following Thanksgiving Day in the US. Having no such a day in Malta, we tend to wait for the first public holiday on December 8 to get started.

The most wanted gifts this holiday season? According to Christmasgifts.net, in the top 10 we find, in order, clothes, dolls, Nintendo Wii console, mobile phone, toys, Nintendo DS, laptop, iPod, household and DVD. Six out of ten are electronic gifts.

Many other websites present different lists but the trend is always the same. Electronics are the most wanted and the trend is quite clear: gadgets for personal use and not the family are the most wanted (read iPhone, iPod) and gadgets that help people stay online and keep up with the social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

It's a pity that the appeals by the Maltese National Book Council to give books as presents this Christmas sounded like a lonely voice in the desert.

For the past few weeks Timesofmalta.com has published a special Christmas feature brimming with content updated daily. What's on, tips on celebrations, and information on local and international traditions made it an ideal guide to the festive season.

Google provides around 500 million links for the keyword "Christmas", starting with the Wikipedia entry at the very top of the rankings. So there's no shortage of related websites, including the most bizarre and unusual. Toptenz provides the top 10 list of everything, and the list of the top 10 most bizarre Christmas traditions include putting "El Caganer - The Great Defecator" in the Catalan crib. Maybe he is related to the għaġeb (wanderer) in the Maltese crib.

The same goes for YouTube, where you can find videos about Christmas around the world. There are some videos about Malta too, including Christmas carols, cribs, and decorations.

Your mobile will come in very handy over the next few days. SMS greetings are easy to send, and Maltese mobile operators register a surge in use over Christmas and the New Year, though MMS and video calling has not taken off in Malta.

Proof that internet has a say on Christmas was given this week when Rage Against The Machine outsold X Factor winner Joe McElderry to take the Christmas number one UK spot a few days ago. This was achieved thanks to a Facebook campaign that brought a surge in downloads.

It's not the end of Christmas if we break the Silent Night with a few mouse clicks or touchscreen taps.