Tracking Santa Claus
Santa Claus is amazing. As you’ll read in this week’s paper, he can wear many faces and be in many places, all at the same time. So you’ll have plenty of opportunity to meet with him from now to Christmas Eve. Then Santa gets down to business, and where he’ll be when is of intense interest to every girl and boy.
It’s up to the North American Aerospace Defense Command to track his progress.
The usual business of the North American Aerospace Defense Command is protecting the U.S. and Canada by detecting and warning of attacks from aircraft, missiles or space vehicles. On Christmas Eve, the Command also tracks Santa as he travels around the world in his sleigh.
“Every year on December 24, 1,500 volunteers staff telephones and computers to answer calls and e-mails from children (and adults) from around the world,” www.norad.mil reports. “Live updates are provided through the NORAD Tracks Santa website (in seven languages), over telephone lines and by e-mail to keep curious children and their families informed about Santa’s whereabouts and if it’s time to get to bed.”
Santa Tracker began accidentally in 1955, when a department store in Colorado posted NORAD’s phone number as its tracking hotline. On duty that night, Colonel Harry Shoup answered the numerous phone calls, with his team reporting Santa’s location to each one. The typo led to a tradition eagerly anticipated for over 60 years.
The service has expanded greatly.
“Each year, the NORAD Tracks Santa website receives nearly nine million unique visitors from more than 200 countries and territories around the world,” the Command reports. “Volunteers receive more than 140,000 calls to the NORAD Tracks Santa hotline from children around the globe.”
Work begins in May to ensure that everything goes smoothly on the big day. On Christmas Eve, satellites, high-powered radar and jet fighters track Santa.
Follow Santa by visiting the Santa Tracker website at www.noradsanta.org/ or get live updates through the Command’s Facebook, Twitter, You Tube or Google+ pages. There’s also a NORAD Santa Tracker app. A phone number will be listed as Santa’s big night approaches.