[1stPickSites] (12/22/06) Tracking Santa

From: "Christy" <snowy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: 1stpickSites@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:02:31 -0500
Tracking Santa 

www.noradsanta.org/
www.noradsanta.com/
www.northpole.com/NoradSanta.asp
(all three sites are basically the same just helps lighten the
load)

Here is a seasonal site that the children (and maybe some of the
grownups) may enjoy.  

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the
Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa. The
tradition began after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck &
Co. store advertisement for children to call Santa on a special
"hotline" included an inadvertently misprinted telephone number.
Instead of Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD
Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of
Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, received the first "Santa" call
on Christmas Eve 1955. Realizing what had happened, Colonel Shoup
had his staff check radar data to see if there was any indication
of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Indeed there
were signs of Santa and children who called were given an update
on Santa's position. Thus, the tradition was born. In 1958, the
governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national
air defense command for the North American continent called the
North American Air Defense Command, known as NORAD. Canada and
the U.S. believed they could better defend North America together
as a team instead of separately.

NORAD carried out its first Santa tracking in 1958 after
inheriting the tradition from CONAD. Since that time, Canadian
and American men and women who work at NORAD have responded to
phone calls from children personally. Additionally, media from
all over the world call NORAD on Christmas Eve for updates on
Santa's location. Last year this Website was visited by millions
of people who wanted to know Santa's whereabouts. This year, the
information is provided in six languages.
NORAD relies on many volunteers to help make Santa tracking
possible. Hundreds of volunteers spend part of their Christmas
Eve at the Santa Tracking Operations Center answering phones and
emails to provide Santa updates to thousands of inquiring
children worldwide.





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[1stPickSites] (12/22/06) Tracking Santa

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