Written by Keith Kaufman
Santa Claus sets out early on Christmas Eve aboard a sleigh pulled by reindeer to deliver gifts around the world.
That's according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint U.S.-Canadian military command at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, which for 69 years has filed a whimsical report tracking Santa Claus.
The tracking would have continued even if the federal government shut down, a crisis that the US Congress averted at the last minute last weekend.
“Santa is operating in the spirit of Christmas, so any potential government actions will not impact his mission,” Royal Canadian Air Force Maj. Jenny DeRenzis, a NORAD spokeswoman, said Tuesday.
Military personnel at the base, which monitors air defenses and issues air and sea warnings, would be happy to track Santa anyway, and the people who answer children's phone lines as part of the tradition are mostly civilian volunteers, DeRenzis added.
The tradition began in 1955 when an advertisement in a Colorado Springs newspaper invited children to call in to speak to Santa. However, she inadvertently gave away the phone number of the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor.
An officer on duty received calls from children and assured them that Santa, also known as Kris Kringle or St. Nick, was making his gift-giving rounds as scheduled.
The software is optimized along with tracking technology for all types of vessels.
Followers of the jolly old troll can get real-time updates on . The website features Santa's North Pole Village, which includes a holiday countdown, games, movie theater, holiday music, and online store, and is available in multiple languages.
NORAD Tracks Santa is also available on Facebook (NASDAQ:), Instagram, YouTube, X, and Amazon (NASDAQ:) Alexa, SiriusXM and OnStar platforms.
