Back in 1955 there was a Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement in a Colorado Springs newspaper. The ad promised a direct phone line to Santa, but due to a misprint, the number actually connected to the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), NORAD’s predecessor. Colonel Harry Shoup, the officer on duty that night, received a call from a young child looking for Santa. Embracing the holiday spirit, Col. Shoup assured the child that CONAD would guarantee Santa’s safe journey from the North Pole. This heartwarming response sparked an annual tradition.
Initially, the tracking was shared via phone calls. Each Christmas Eve, volunteers manned phones to update children on Santa’s location. As technology evolved, so did the Santa Tracker. In the age of the internet, NORAD launched a website where children around the world could follow Santa’s journey online.
You can Track Santa yourself live at https://www.noradsanta.org/en/ alternatively if you have younger kids and want to get them to bed earlier you can find recordings of previous years on YouTube and play it back at a time of your choosing.
