COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (WBTW) – The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has started their countdown to the 2019 “Santa Tracker.”
On December 24, NORAD tracks Santa as he makes his journey around the world.
“24 hours a day, 365 days a year, NORAD tracks everything that flies in and around North America in defense of our homelands.,” NORAD’s website says. “On Dec. 24, we have the very special mission of also tracking Santa.”
“The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa,” NORAD’s Santa Tracker website says. “Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD [Continental Air Defense Command] 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 a tradition was born.”
Click here to visit NORAD’s Santa Tracker website, which has a countdown to the “Santa Tracker,” holiday games for kids, holiday music, and information about Santa and NORAD.
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