We all know that, regardless of what the calendar says, Christmas Eve is the longest day of the year. (Assuming you’re a Christmas celebrator, obviously). The anticipation of waiting for Santa to arrive was often so great you couldn’t even get to sleep that night!
Of course, by now most of us have grown up a little, and while there’s still a lot of anticipation, we’re not waiting for the man in red to come down the chimney any more. But sometimes it can still be fun to pretend, and if you decide you want to believe this Christmas, there’s no better place to indulge than NORAD’s annual Santa-Tracker!
Some of you are probably already aware of this, but for those who aren’t, noradtracksanta.org is home to a live stream of Santa’s journey around the world on Christmas Eve, and it’s run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint effort by the U.S. and Canada to monitor air traffic and watch for any airborne threats against North American safety.
That’s right, the Government is even watching Santa.
“But why?” you might be asking, “Why do they do this?” Well gather around, children, and let me tell you a tale.
‘Twas the night before Christmas in 1955,
And all the good children thought they’d give it a try
To give Santa a call, for he’d lend them his ears,
Or so said an ad at their local Sears.
But there’d been a mistake, a bit of an “oops”
And the kids were all calling up old Colonel Shoup!
They’d hoped for North Pole, they got Colorado,
But the Air Defense workers showed tons of bravado.
Sure, at the start, they were all quite confused,
But no one could say Harry Shoup was a Scrooge
When the calls started coming from small boys and girls
He had his staff tell them Santa’s place in the world!
The kids were delighted to learn Santa’s position,
And ever since then it’s been a tradition!
In case my verse is too obfuscating, basically what happened is that a Colorado Springs Sears store put up an add with a number for kids to call Santa, but there was a misprint on the flyers, and the kids wound up calling the NORAD (then called CONAD) base nearby. The boss, rather than disappointing the kids, improvised, and gave the kids “live updates” on where Santa was at the time of the call.
Since then, the NORAD Santa Tracker has been a volunteer-run program (and no, nobody’s wasting your tax dollars on this—it’s funded through corporate ads and donations), branching out into radio programs and, more recently, the Web site, which has a Google Earth-based app that updates Santa’s whereabouts and even has CGI videos of him flying around the world! (They’re pretty clearly animated, but the really little kids will buy it). He has stops in most major cities and some smaller locations, even ones where Christmas isn’t really observed
The site’s expanded in recent years and now includes a bunch of flash games and bonus content. Between those and the tracker itself, NORAD Tracks Santa can be which can be lots of fun for your little siblings, nieces and nephews, and a great way to keep them entertained at family gatherings, or convince them to go to bed, if he’s getting close! (Newfoundland was always bedtime in my household).
So keep NORAD’s Santa Tracker in mind when you’re surrounded by tons of children this holiday season. Or, you know. Check it out yourself. Nobody’s going to judge.