Tracking Santa

santasleighWe’ll it’s that time of year again.  Children around the world will be waiting up late listening for the sound of hooves on the rooftop and a jolly, “Ho! Ho! Ho!” resounding down the chimney.  With the advent of technology you can now save your child some stress come Christmas eve.  The good people a the North America Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) take a break from watching for missiles launched from Russia, China or Iran and focus their efforts on tracking Santa on his journey around the world.  Now instead of wondering when Santa will appear in their neighborhood, your children can visit noradsanta.org and know when to throw water on the fire to help Santa make a clean and safe entrance.

This service started in 1955 with a typo by Sears & Roebuck and has continued ever since.  Last year 1000 volunteers answered almost 100,000 phone calls and 10,000 e-mails.  Their web site received over 11 million visits.  For more information on the background of this service visit this page on wired.com.

If you want to learn more about how Santa himself has gone high tech check out this article on HowStuffWorks.com.  You may be surprised at his modern innovations!