Christmas is almost here, and for those of you with endless hours of winter break free to sit in front of your computers (or children), the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has you covered. Beginning at 4:00 a.m. MST (6:00 a.m. EST) on Christmas Eve, Santa trackers will begin answering phones and replying to email on Santa’s progress.
NORAD even has a website where you can count down to Christmas and receive updates from the North Pole. According to the website, “Santa’s elves have been busier than usual this year,” so you can visit each and every day to receive holiday updates and even watch him prepare his sleigh and reindeer before you track his every movement on Christmas Eve.
According to NORAD, the program began:
…on Dec. 24, 1955, after a phone call was made to the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The call was from a local youngster who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a local newspaper advertisement. The commander at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Colo. who answered the phone that night gave the youngster the information requested – the whereabouts of Santa. This began the tradition of tracking Santa… the NTS Operations Center will be occupied for 25 hours with over 1,200 volunteers on Christmas Eve, who will be receiving hundreds of thousands phone calls and emails from families around the world.
So don’t be a Scrooge, give NORAD a call on Christmas Eve. Come on, it’s fun!
