At the time of this writing it is still 15 days, 13 hours,22 minutes and some seconds before the North American Aerospace Defense Command launches what is perhaps its most important peacetime mission: To track, escort and assist Santa as he makes his way to North American homes and to children throughout the world with a sleigh loaded with gifts for all those who have been good…
But it is not too early for your children (or you) to mozie on over to the NORAD Tracks Santa website to listen to some great Christmas music, play games or watch movies about Santa and NORAD, such as the one below
Or this one:
Also, make sure you read some of the questions children ask NORAD about Santa every year and how Santa, his reindeer, Donner and elf, Bushy, answer them
NORAD has been faithfully and expertly performing this critical mission for over 60 years now, stating in 1955.
The story goes that, in 1955, a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.” The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and the tradition was born.
Since that time, NORAD men, women, family and friends have selflessly volunteered their time to personally respond to phone calls and emails from children all around the world. In addition, NORAD now tracks Santa using the internet. Millions of people who want to know Santa’s whereabouts now visit the NORAD Tracks Santa website.
In December 2013, Terri Moon Cronk at the American Forces Press Service told us:
Children ranging in age from 4 years old to early teens contact the “NORAD Tracks Santa” call center at 877-446-6723, [Navy Lt. Cmdr. Bill Lewis, a NORAD spokesman] said. Typically, the younger ones want to know when Santa will arrive at their houses, where he is at that moment, and what kinds of gifts he has in his sleigh.
Sometimes children want to know how Santa can deliver presents around the world so quickly.
NORAD routinely performs aerospace warning and aerospace control missions 365 days a year, and that’s where the “fighter jets” come into play when Santa approaches his first stops in the Northeastern Canadian provinces, Lewis explained. From there, he goes around North America, then north to south and back and forth along the poles, making deliveries as he goes across each of the time zones, he said.
Santa Claus reviews his flight plan for his annual Christmas Eve trek across the globe. (U.S. Air Force photo by Michael Kucharek)
The military and civilian volunteers work in two-hour shifts from 3 a.m., Mountain Standard Time Dec. 24 to 3 a.m. Christmas day, he said. Responses are available in eight languages — English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese.
“In just the call center alone, volunteers do anything from social media posting, pushing out tweets all night, posting on our Facebook page, and answering phones — which is the largest percentage of [the shift] — and they answer emails,” Lewis said.
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“It’s the joy of the season in your heart,” Lewis said. “When you get the first few phone calls from these kids and hear the innocence in their voices … if you step back and take it all in, it’s incredible.”
Finally, another video showing some of the tricky aereobatic maneuvers Santa and his crew will be doing Christmas Eve:
An early Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to the TMV family
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.