HILO — Santa Claus might not be a superhero, but there’s little doubt the feats attributed to him are magical, perhaps even miraculous.
That said, Santa can’t perform his holiday duties and make his appointed Christmas rounds without a great deal of help — from the elves, Mrs. Claus, eight flying reindeer and, of course, parents and grandparents worldwide.
Even the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint U.S.-Canada military organization, and the U.S. Postal Service are part of St. Nick’s elaborate strategic plans for “Operation Christmas.”
This year, NORAD is celebrating the 60th anniversary of tracking Santa’s yuletide journey. The NORAD Tracks Santa website is operational at www.noradsanta.org. It features Santa’s North Pole Village with a holiday countdown, games and activities.
And starting at 9:01 p.m. Hawaii time Dec. 23, website visitors can watch Santa make preparations for his flight. NORAD’s “Santa Cams” will stream videos on the website as Santa makes his way over various locations. Then, at 1 a.m. Christmas Eve, trackers worldwide can ask a live phone operator Santa’s whereabouts by dialing the toll-free number 877-Hi-NORAD (877-446-6723) or track by email at noradtrackssanta@outlook.com.
“We have a lot of assets here, from radars to satellites, other ways we can track Santa, from his heat signature to the speed that he’s going,” said Canadian Army Capt. Jennifer Stadnyk, a NORAD spokeswoman. “And we also have ‘Santa Cams’ set up all around the globe that will give us a glimpse of where he is and what he’s doing.”
Santa tracking started in 1955 when a Sears ad in the Colorado Springs Gazette directed children to call Santa — except the number was misprinted. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone rang through to a top-secret military hotline manned by the crew commander on duty at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center, U.S. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup.
In an undated NORAD video interview, Shoup, who died in 2009, said when the red phone rang he thought it would be either Pentagon brass or Gen. Earle E. “Pat” Partridge, a four-star general and Shoup’s commanding officer.
Instead, a child’s voice asked, “Are you really Santa Claus?”
“I looked around at my staff and I thought somebody’s playing a joke on me and this isn’t funny,” Shoup recalled. “I say, ‘Will you repeat that, please?’ ‘Are you really Santa Claus?’ I knew then there had been a screwup in the phones. And I said, ‘Yes, I am. Have you been a good little girl?’ ‘Oh, yes.’”
After that, the hotline was flooded with children calling Santa. The good-natured Shoup played along and a holiday tradition was born, one continued by NORAD when it was created in 1958.
Official NORAD Tracks Santa apps are also available in the Windows, Apple and Google Play stores, so parents and children can countdown the days until Santa’s launch on their smartphones and tablets. Tracking opportunities are also offered on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+. Santa followers just need to search for “@noradsanta” on each social media site to get started.
Also new this year, the website features the NORAD Headquarters in the North Pole Village and highlights of the program throughout the past six decades.
Although Santa’s legend was built on the hours of darkness on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the entire month of December is extremely busy for the jolly old man, who, while gearing up for his global gift-delivery service, answers letters from keiki everywhere — with a little help from the USPS.
Children who write letters to Santa can receive a personalized reply with a postmark from the North Pole, but there are strict procedures that need to be followed to make sure the postal service delivers the replies with Santa-like precision.
For your child or grandchild to receive Santa’s reply, Santa and his helpers at the postal service must receive the letter by Dec. 15. The post office will take care of the rest. Parents and grandparents, the address and the instructions for sending the keiki letters and receiving a reply from Santa can be found on the USPS website.
For the process to work, adults need to read the instructions before the keiki write their letters. The URL is https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2015/pr15_062.htm.
