'Tis the season for holiday decorations, and many people are picking up their Christmas trees this week. Not sure where the nearest Christmas tree farm is? No problem - you can use Google Maps to find out. Here's how you do it:

• Navigate to Google Maps.
• Type in "christmas tree farms", then your city or zip code.
• Voila! You should see a tidy map of the closest Christmas tree farms in your area. If you need directions, click on the map marker; you should see a link that says "Directions" for each one.

More online Christmas tips

• Christmas Movies - 105 Christmas Movies You Can Watch For Free: Christmas just isn't Christmas without the classic TV specials, movies, and animated programs that we've come to know and love. Here are over one hundred Christmas movies and videos you can watch for free on the Web.

Can't find anything good to listen to on your local radio stations? No problem - go to the Web and you'll be able to find no end to the great free online radio stations that you can listen to for free. Here are just a few of the Online Radio Stations that you can find.

More free music

• Free Music Downloads: Free music downloads on the Web really does exist; as long as you're willing to listen to music other than what's on the radio and top 40 (for the most part). Here are a few places on the Web where you can find free music downloads.
• Last.FM: Last.fm is a unique way to listen to free music on the Web. In the words of Last.fm itself: "Last.fm taps the wisdom of the crowds, leveraging each user's musical profile to make personalised recommendations, connect users who share similar tastes, provide custom radio streams, and much more." Put simply, it's a social music platform.
• Pandora: Last Christmas I was able to listen to non-stop holiday music courtesy of Pandora. Just type in your favorite holiday song and Pandora will find similar tunes. Or, you could just type in the name of the artist followed by the word "holiday"; for instance, "bing crosby holiday".

Offensive search results are by no means anything new; we've probably all come across some pretty awful stuff in our searches, right? This week a particularly odious offensive search result, that of First Lady Michelle Obama characterized as an ape-like creature, came up first (first!) in Google's image search.

Many people reported this offensive image, and Google investigated (they're usually pretty good about doing that) the originating site and found that it did not meet Google's guidelines, so the image was kicked out. However, other sites that DID meet Google's guidelines had already picked up the image and hosted it. At that point, it was kind of like putting the toothpaste back into the tube.

If you search for Michelle Obama today, you might see the image, depending on where you're searching from. You'll definitely see an ad that Google is running about offensive search results:

The ad directs straight to Google's explanation of why search results are sometimes not very nice.

You'll also see a few interesting Related Search suggestions when you search for Michelle Obama in images: "michelle obama ape", "michelle obama monkey", "michelle obama gorilla"....you get the picture - pun intended.

Google offers up this same offensive search results ad for potential searches that will trigger offensive search results: just think of any controversial, racist, bigoted, prejudiced kind of word or topic and you'll most likely see that same ad.

What do you think of how Google is handling the Michelle Obama ape mishap? I'm conflicted, because I hate to see this kind of shameful stuff in the search results, but on the other hand, free speech is free speech, and I'm not sure if Google is the entity we want deciding how that will be handled. Vote in the poll below or leave your comment:

Related:

• How do I avoid porn sites on the Web?
• Need to send a naughty link? Try NSFW
• Did you delete those Google images ? Think again

Not much happened search-wise this week since it was a half-week/holiday weekend in the States, but there's always something going on on the Web. Let's get right to it:

• Search: Where Does It Go from Here?: Interesting article that looks at how search is useful (or not useful) now, and how far we need to go to achieve true serendipity.
• How to Make Your Address Book More Useful with Facebook: Great tutorial on how to sync your addresses via Facebook and a elite selection of helpful apps.
• Black Friday sales ads drive traffic to online retailers: Stores are seeing an increased level of traffic versus last year, which is good news for a troubled economy.
• News Corp May De-List Themselves From Google & Partner With Microsoft Bing: There's a bit of a controversy swirling around Rupert Murdoch of News Corp potentially taking his content out of Google and putting it in Bing.
• Why TV, Traditional News & Yahoo Might Yet Benefit From Social: A look at how social media changed the landscape of search this year.

Did I miss something? Do you have a hot news item related to the Web or to search in general that you'd like to share? Let us know about it in the comments below.