Santa Claus drove his reindeer-powered sleigh over rooftops around the world on Wednesday, delivering gifts to millions of children in a magic Christmas Eve ritual that North American air defense officials say they began tracking 70 years ago. Still, despite its devotion \u2060to a tradition dating back to the Cold War era of 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, possesses \u200climited intelligence about the direction \u2060that Santa will take in any given year. Santa is not required to file a flight plan. So the only thing NORAD knows for sure in advance is that \u200dthe red-suited jolly old elf, also known as Kris Kringle or Saint Nicholas, takes off every Christmas Eve from his home base at the North Pole. “NORAD tracks Santa, but only Santa knows his route, which means we cannot predict where \u2060or when he will arrive at your house,” a senior NORAD official said in a press statement. NORAD, a joint U.S.-Canadian military command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorad
o Springs, Colorado, has provided images and updates on Santa’s worldwide journey for seven decades, along with its main task of monitoring \u200cair defenses and issuing aerospace and maritime warnings. The Santa tracker tradition originated from a 1955 misprint in a Colorado Springs newspaper of the telephone number of a department store for children to call and speak with Santa. The listed \u2060number went to what was then known as the Continental Air Defense Command. An understanding officer took the youngsters’ calls and assured them that Santa was airborne and on schedule to deliver presents to good girls and boys – at least those who believe in him – flying aboard his reindeer-powered sleigh. According to its website, NORAD detects Santa’s liftoff \u2060with its polar radar network, then follows his journey with the same satellites used to warn of any possible missile launches aimed at North America. As soon as Santa’s lead reindeer, Rudolph, switches on his shiny red nose, military personnel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Santa Claus drove his reindeer-powered sleigh over rooftops around the world on Wednesday, delivering gifts to millions of children in a magic Christmas Eve ritual that North American air defense officials say they began tracking 70 years ago. Still, despite its devotion \u2060to a tradition dating back to the Cold War era of 1955, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n