NORAD will help kids track Santa Claus trip

The Santa watch has begun at NORAD, the United States Air Force and Canadian command responsible for scanning the skies for airborne threats -- as well as for St. Nicholas.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command's Santa Web site, is now active.

"NORAD Tracks Santa" (www.noradsanta.org), features holiday games and activities that change daily.

Updates on Santa's flight will be posted on Christmas Eve. On Dec. 24, the Web site also will stream videos, captured by NORAD "Santa Cams," from numerous cities along Santa's journey.

Beginning at midnight MST on Dec. 24, visitors to the "NORAD Tracks Santa" Web site can watch Santa as he prepares his sleigh, checks his list, and goes through all his preparations to ensure he has a successful journey.

As soon as Santa takes off from the North Pole, children can track him with up-to-the-minute Google Maps and Google Earth reports.

Santa trackers will begin answering phones and replying to e-mail at 4 a.m. MST on Christmas Eve. Children of all ages can call 877-Hi-NORAD (877-446-6723) toll-free, or can send an e-mail to noradtrackssanta@gmail.com.

Santa also can be tracked on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and TroopTube.mil. To follow on any of those Web sites, type in @noradsanta into the site's search engine and start your tracking.

New this year, OnStar subscribers also can get updates in their cars, and noradsanta.org will show Santa's preflight preparations early Christmas Eve. OnStar subscribers can simply push the blue OnStar button to get status reports on Santa's whereabouts.

It's the 54th year NORAD and its predecessor have tracked Santa. The tradition started on Dec. 24, 1955, when a child dialed a wrong phone number. A Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa had misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the commander-in-chief's operations "hotline" at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The director of operations at the time, Col. Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole and gave the youngster the information requested -- Santa's whereabouts. Other children who called were given updates on his location.

That began the tradition of tracking Santa, a tradition that was carried on by NORAD when it was formed in 1958.

See the Mountain Home News for the complete story.