It's that time of year again where kids painstakingly craft gift lists for Santa Claus. It's also the season where frustrated aunts, uncles and grandparents try to figure out exactly what to buy the little ones.

Sounds like a problem that only technology could solve. And two laid off Seattle techies believe they have figured out a nifty solution to that age-old dilemma with the creation of IamSaintNick.com, a new Web site that allows relatives to covertly gather intelligence on what their loved ones want for Christmas

It does this through calls from Santa Claus.

It works like this: Those seeking gift ideas input the phone number of the family member into the IamSaintNick.com Web site, which initiates a call to the unsuspecting individual. If the call connects, a voice recording from Santa Claus asks the person what they want for Christmas.

The response is recorded and -- within a few seconds -- the voice recording (hopefully complete with dozens of gift ideas) is available on the IamSaintNick.com Web site. Problem solved.

Matt Steckler, a developer who lost his job at a technology startup two months ago, started tinkering with the idea last week after reading about a new telephony service from Seattle-based Twilio. Shortly thereafter he pulled in Andres Krogh to do some of the design.

Using Twilio's telephony tools on the back end, Steckler said he was able to figure out the basics of the service in a few hours . Asked why he chose a gift service that utilizes recorded voice calls from Santa Claus, the father of an 18-month-old said: "I think it is neat and it is within the spirit of the holidays."

At this point, IamSaintNick.com is just a fun little project to consume time between freelance gigs, he said.

But, at the same time, he thinks the idea could catch on given the way things spread on the Web. Already, the site flashes gift ideas from Amazon.com to those who are waiting for the recorded responses from family members or friends. (I didn't ask about speech recognition technology to identify possible gifts, but I am sure the idea has crossed Steckler's mind.)

The 33-year-old Web developer also is considering a sponsor for IamSaintNick.com, similar to what the folks at Jackson Fish Market have tried with some of their quirky Web applications. And he's kicking around ideas to create an online gift list inventory so various family members can claim different toys for the child.

Not be a scrooge, but there are a few possible lumps of coal in the way. After all, recording phone calls without the other person's consent is illegal in some states (including Washington). The issue gets even more sensitive when dealing with children.

Steckler -- who was still ironing out those details Monday -- said they were considering having Santa notify recipients that the calls would be recorded. (Nothing gets you in the holiday spirit quite like this message: "Ho, ho, ho. Santa Claus here and this call may be recorded for quality purposes.")

Still, Steckler said that issue is surmountable. And he said he's committed to making the site safe, fun and easy-to-use for families during the holiday season.

"We have cleared the issue of privacy and children with our lawyers, and will ensure we provide a safe experience for children and adults," he said.

UPDATE: I just gave the service a try this morning and it worked well, though the folks at IamSaintNick.com would be better served with a more convincing Santa Claus. And they get around the recording issue noted above by having one of Santa's "elves" introduce the service and ask people to hang up if they don't want to be recorded.