Many people get Christmas Eve off from work, but that doesn’t include Santa Claus — and it also doesn’t include the hundreds of volunteers who spend the day using some of the world’s most advanced military technology to track his movements. (Note: For the purposes of this article, let’s just all agree that Santa Claus is real and delivers presents to good girls and boys the night before Christmas.)
For the 24 hours before Christmas, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (otherwise known as NORAD, previously known as CONAD) takes on the job of tracking Santa’s progress, a tradition that began in 1955 when, according to the official NORAD Santa site:
…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 a tradition was born.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Santa Claus Gets Social Thanks to NORAD : Video «
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