How-To Geek
Answer: A Sears Advertisement
NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) is a joint operation between the US and Canadian governments designed to monitor and protect the sovereign airspace of the two nations. The precursor of NORAD was CONAD (the Colorado Springs’ Continental Air Defense Command Center)–both located in the U.S. military’s hardened Cheyenne Mountain base.
On December 24, 1955 a local Sears store ran an ad in a Colorado Springs newspaper with a telephone hotline that purported to be a direct line to Santa Claus. The only problem was a huge typo in the Sears ad routed the phone calls not to the Sears staff but to the CONAD switchboard. Colonel Shoup, the commanding office on duty that evening, instructed his staff to answer the calls from hopeful children and give them the location and status of Santa Clause as he completed his wild around-the-world toy delivery run.
When CONAD converted to NORAD the tradition was passed on. Every year since then NORAD has faithfully answered phone calls and emails from all over the world updating curious children on the location and status of Santa Clause. What started off as a handful of soldiers answering the calls of Colorado Springs children has grown to include a large crew of volunteers that handle roughly 12,000 emails and 70,000 phone calls from children the world over. The operation even has a website with a virtual radar system and social media presence. If it’s Christmas Eve and you absolutely need to know where the Fat Man is, you can count on NORAD to assure you he’s out, about, and delivering toys to all the good girls and boys.
- By Jason Fitzpatrick on 12/23/11
I thought it was because of the threat posed by Robot Santa.
That advert actually looked pedo-creepy
Haha, that’s epic. Do they do it outside the US?
Well, first off, it’s C L A U S, not Clause. I guess reading what you’re writing is a lost cause ;-0
But thanks anyway, for remembering my 1994 movie,
Tim Allen
Thank you, Mr. Allen, for the needed correction, an indication of the impact of that very funny movie.
You mean to say? That they spend all this Money on a special Web site. For a Fat Little Guy from Fantasy Island? HO-ha-Hee-HAW.
There’s no “E” in “Santa Claus.”
i think there efforts are wonderfully heartwarming, it took no red tape or congressional debate just some folks giving in their own way and in such a way no one else can, to a little kid this is gi joe making sure santa has a safe trip, god bless all of them for keeping the magic alive, in this callus self serving world we live in.
Great job! Keep it going.
Tracking Santa on the NORAD site has been a family tradition for my kids for nearly a decade now. They quite enjoy the little video clips and seeing where Santa is as the evening and night progresses. I think it’s a great little project that they do very well to help support the holiday season.
But but Daddy told me Santa’s not real!