For nearly 60 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and its predecessor, CONAD, has been “tracking” Santa Claus’ annual trip around the world. This year, NORAD has also created a virtual North Pole with music, movies, and an advent calendar of games from Santa’s Village for all to enjoy.
The defense organization first began keeping tabs on the jolly gift giver in 1955 after a Sears advertisement mistakenly printed a phone number belonging to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations hotline instead of one of its stores. The advertisement encouraged children to call the number so they could speak directly to Santa Claus (as well as to visit him at Sears Toyland); calls began coming in on December 24, and rather than turn them away Colonel Harry Shoup directed his staff to give every child who called in an update on Saint Nick’s current location.
The practice continued the next year, and grew into an annual tradition even as CONAD was replaced by the joint Canadian-American NORAD in 1958. It has even evolved, matching new innovations in media and communications along the way. After the first year of phone calls, NORAD’s Santa-tracking operations moved to include updates via radio, newspaper, television, and other methods. In 1997 it began to establish a web presence with a site dedicated specifically to tracking Santa, and also accepts e-mail inquires as to the big man in red’s whereabouts. With the advent of social media, NORAD have even started providing updates through Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.
A volunteer-team of NORAD officers and civilians alike help out every year to answer calls, reply to letters and e-mails, tweet, share, post, and otherwise help kids find out what Santa is up to. You can visit the official website, send an e-mail to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com, or—in keeping with Colonel Shoup’s original day of tracking—call 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) on Christmas Eve to find out exactly where Santa is heading next.