From the Telegraph:
"NORAD Tracks Santa"
The most wonderful time of year is nearly here, with fewer than 50 days remaining until Christmas Day. During the festive season millions of children count down the days of December and go to sleep on Christmas Eve, excitedly awaiting the delivery of their presents from the beloved Santa Claus. Before the arrival of December 25, children (and adults) can track Father Christmas' journey around the world using the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Google's Santa trackers. From the history behind NORAD's festive role to finding out what time you can expect an appearance down your chimney, here is everything you need to know about Santa's journey on Christmas Eve. Once Santa has made his list, checked it twice and finds out who has been naughty and nice, he sets off on his sleigh with his trusty reindeer, travelling an estimated 510,000,000 km on Christmas Eve - approximately 1,800 miles per second. Christmas Eve is a busy time for Father Christmas as he needs to visit 390,000 homes per minute - or 6,424 per second. From sherry, mulled wine and beer, to mince pies, gingerbread men and fruit cake, Santa won't be short of energy during his journey, consuming a total of 71,764,000,000 calories. With plenty of driving involved throughout the night, let's hope children opt to leave him non-alcoholic beverages. Father Christmas' journey begins in the South Pacific, with his first stop to the Republic of Kiribati, a collection of 32 atolls in the Pacific Ocean. He will next travel west, delivering presents to those in New Zealand and Australia, followed by Japan. Santa will then visit Asia, Africa and Western Europe, concluding with Canada, the US, Mexico and South America. Throughout the year, the US and Canadian organisation NORAD, monitors aerospace in event of nuclear attack, but when Christmas Eve comes around they monitor the skies for Santa's sleigh. Every year, the NORAD Tracks Santa website receives nearly nine million unique visitors from more than 200 countries and territories across the globe. On December 24, 1,500 volunteers respond to emails and receive more than 140,000 calls regarding Santa's exact whereabouts. This year, keen followers of Santa Claus can track his journey of delivering presents on the NORAD website from 8am GMT on Christmas Eve. But before NORAD begins tracking Santa's journey the website will launch on December 1, with a holiday countdown, games and activities, all available in a range of languages Following the success of NORAD's festive role, Google launched Keyhole Santa Radar in 2004 as part of Keyhole Earth Viewer, now known as Google Earth. Google later developed the Santa Tracker website and each year on December 1 Santa's Village launches with an array of fun games for children and educational resources for teachers. On Christmas Eve, Google's Santa Tracker goes live, allowing children to monitor his progress of delivering presents from 10am GMT on their desktop, mobile, tablet and Chromecast devices.
History:
On a Christmas Eve shift back in 1955, Colonel Harry Shoup answered a call made to the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) in Colorado Springs, USA. To his surprise, a young child had phoned the top secret line after finding a newspaper advert about 'Santa's Toyland' from department store Sears, with the number of CONAD, NORAD's predecessor, printed by mistake. Colonel Shoup, dubbed "Santa Colonel", later received multiple calls that night from other children, all looking for the whereabouts of Father Christmas. He and his fellow call operators together informed the children calling throughout the night of Santa's exact location. The Santa tracking tradition, later continued by NORAD, was born. NORAD has carried out it's Christmas role for over 60 years and since 1997 children across the globe have been able to track Santa's journey of delivering presents online. More than 50 years after the night of calls from children, Colonel Shoup's granddaughter Carrie Farrell, who worked for Google, announced their partnership with NORAD to track Santa in 2007 - although the companies have since parted ways, carrying out their roles separately.
While Britons often picture Father Christmas to be a jolly character with a white beard, wearing a red suit and big black boots, other countries around the world visualise the beloved festive figure differently. In Belgium and the Netherlands, Santa is known as Sinterklaas, who wears a bishop's alb and cape with a ruby ring and travels on a white horse. In Russia, Grandfather Frost arrives on New Year's Eve to deliver gifts whereas in Finland, Joulupukki knocks on children's doors on Christmas Eve to ask if they have been well-behaved. In France, Pere Noël rides a donkey called Gui, putting sweets inside children's shoes left near the chimney while in Italy, an old witch called La Befana delivers presents to good children.
^ I have used NORAD's Santa Tracker ever since I was a little kid. It is a very cool and interesting way to bring the US and Canadian Militaries to the public (Americans, Canadians and those from around the world.) Here's the link to NORAD's site that will start on December 1st: http://www.noradsanta.org/ ^
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