Sleep peacefully tonight. NORAD is tracking Santa.
One of my real pleasures in talking to an elementary school class recently was telling them something that they had never heard: NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracks Santa Claus! Of course SOME of those kids think that I’M Santa (I have received LISTS! 
), with my white beard, especially if I have my motorcycle boots on, but I always tell them that I’m NOT, I’m just a good friend of his… so they had better be GOOD! 😉
Sure, NORAD has tracked Santa for a long time, but none of these kids have been on earth for a long time, and many of them have not been in the United States for very long at all! Now, NORAD teams up with Google (Mountain View, California [I’ve worked in Mountain View a time or two!]) to present a special map on Noradsanta.org, which just informed me that Santa is in Columbus, Ohio, where we used to live before moving to California!
Merry Christmas, Columbus, Ohio!
The map launched at 2 AM EST on Friday (still today, where I am) and uses little red and yellow presents to show the places that Santa has already visited. Click each of the presents to learn a bit about each location. A tiny Santa icon shows Santa’s current location, and a countdown clock below the map shows where Santa will visit next!
You can also track Santa on Google Earth, where it looks like Santa had just delivered presents to Toronto, Ontario, Canada!
Merry Christmas, Toronto!
On NORAD’s Twitter page, it asks: “Do you have an OnStar-equipped vehicle? On Christmas Eve day, press the OnStar button and locate #Santa!”
“The bi-national air defense command began tracking Santa in 1955 because of a typo in a Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement, according to NORAD’s website. The ad, reading, “Hey, kiddies! Call me direct on my telephone,” accidentally printed the wrong number, directing children to the phone of the former NORAD director of operations.”
“Adding to the holiday excitement, first lady Michelle Obama teamed with NORAD to take calls Friday from children eager to know Santa’s whereabouts, according to a NORAD press release.”
“Hello, this is first lady Michelle Obama with NORAD Tracks Santa. How may I help you?” she said, according to the release.
Just make sure that you good little boys and girls get off the computer and off to bed, so that Santa can visit YOUR house.
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
-Bill at
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