"IT'S CHRISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!" as Noddy Holder would say. Well, maybe not quite yet, but it's close enough for you to be opening your very own virtual advent calendar to count down the days till the man with the sack brings you loads of games-related goodies.

First, we've got an educational calendar from the British Museum to educate you on the countdown to Christmas. Featuring photos and information about artefacts with Christmas themes that can be found at the museum, December 1 features Franks Casket. This is a whalebone box with carvings of the nativity, with the three wise men carrying a casket. Helpfully, the site even tells you which room in the museum it can be found in so you can see it in person, if you like.

Those who'd rather forget the more serious side of the festive season should head over to the Rooney Design calendar site. This is a more traditional calendar, with all the doors set on a tree, with some nice sleighbell effects and some surreal dancing trees and candles popping out from behind the various doors. Not that we'd cheat and look through them all before we should. Oh no. Ahem.

Finally, a more surreal calendar. Tate's 1999 advent calendar site reveals a new part of a story every day. We can't tell you what this year's effort is like yet as we've only seen the first part of the tale, but it involves cheese so it can't be that bad. You can see if it's going to be to your taste by checking out last year's calendar story, called The Cat Who Laughed, a rather nice little tale involving a cat and a red cow. Oh, and more cheese.

The countdown to Christmas starts now!