Here’s How You Can Track Santa’s Path Starting Right Now!
The Coronavirus may be the Grinchiest Grinch there ever was, however, Christmas is still on and you can start tracking Santa now!
It seems like things are back to running mostly normal over at the North American Aerospace Defense Command when it comes to tracking Santa.
In fact, I just checked the NORAD site to see what Santa was up to and it is up and running, this is such a fun thing to do with the kids.
NORAD always begins tracking Santa on Dec. 24th and his is something they have done for 66 years!
Kids can still call and talk to volunteers to check on Santa, but they may not all get answered by a human due to Covid cutbacks on staff numbers
On a “normal” Christmas eve about 1,500 volunteers would spend over 20 hours at the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs just to answer the phone calls from excited children.
They would work with 150-160 volunteers at a time for 2-hour shifts. About 130,000 calls are usually taken by the volunteers.
We understand this is a time-honored tradition, and we know undoubtedly there is going to be some disappointment. But we’re trying to keep it safe for everyone involved.
Preston Schlachter – NORAD spokesman
This information was from last year, due to restrictions in place due to the Coronavirus, they will have maybe 10 people per shift answering phones.
As far as I can tell, it’s the same this year and there is really no way they could possibly answer all of the calls with such a smaller staff of volunteers.
You could still call, if you get a human, that’s great, if not you will get a recorded update on Santa’s current location.
If you do want to call, you can call the NORAD Tracks Santa toll-free number at 1-877-Hi-NORAD.
I’m so glad they are still doing this! Of course my children are grown past this stage, but this is such a treat for young kids!
Did you know that this whole thing started back in 1955 after a kid dialed a misprinted number?
A department store posted an ad in the newspaper with a number to call Santa, they accidentally printed the number to NORAD.
Air Force Col. Harry Shoup had answered that call, and when the child asked for Santa he quickly jumped into the roll! How awesome is that?
The NORAD Tracks Santa website is tracking Santa right now, so check it out with the kids throughout the day!
