This year, a joint US-Canadian military monitoring organization carried out its long-standing Christmas custom of tracking Santa’s location, assisting kids all around the world in determining when his present-filled, reindeer-driven sleigh will be arriving in their community.
At www.noradsanta.org, a 3-D interactive map with interactive elements depicted Santa Claus and his reindeer on a fictitious path throughout the world, with interactive elements that let visitors click and discover more about the cities they passed.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Santa tracker originated in 1955 when a Colorado newspaper ad included a phone number for kids to get in touch with Santa, but it accidentally led them to the military nerve center’s hotline.
Colonel Harry Shoup, the NORAD director of operations at the time, gave his personnel the order to check the radar to see where Old Saint Nick might be and to inform the kids of his whereabouts so as not to disappoint the small ones.
When not bringing joy to the masses, NORAD carries out control and warning activities related to aerospace and marine matters. One of its duties involves keeping an eye out for missile launches from North Korea, which might have been on Santa’s mind this year because the most recent intercontinental ballistic missile test occurred a few days ago.
Sixty-eight years later, NORAD was still answering children’s urgent queries by operating a temporary phone center out of its Colorado headquarters.
The group shared a picture of themselves on Facebook, showing rows of individuals answering phones—some wearing red Santa caps, some in uniform.
President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden were among the prominent US leaders who participated in the holiday festivities.
“This evening, the President and First Lady participated in the North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa tracking calls with children and families across the country,” the White House said in a statement.
Earlier Sunday the tracker went down for a short while, leaving children in the Pacific region in the dark about his exact position.
“Hey #SantaTrackers! We may be having a couple of technical difficulties with our tracking map, but #Santa is still flying! He is headed to Fiji next!” the group which runs the tracker said on its Facebook page, before announcing a fix one hour later.
According to NORAD, Father Christmas started his tour with an incredible first stop: the International Space Station orbiting Earth.
In addition, the reindeer-drawn sleigh was observed flying over southern Gaza, circling Africa, and traveling south to Palmer Station, an Antarctic research station.
After that, Santa traveled up through South America on his way to the United States, delivering almost 100,000 gifts every second.
Kris Kringle and his reindeer were seen entering US airspace around Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at around 10:00 p.m. local time (0300 GMT), and they proceeded to travel the remainder of the country, delivering approximately 5.5 billion gifts globally so far.