The NORAD Santa Tracker Helps Kids Find Where Santa Claus is in Real Time

For years on end, children all around the world have been staying up late on Christmas Eve in hopes to find Santa Claus dropping down their chimney’s. Year after year kids end up falling asleep too early to have a chance and see Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. However, for the past few years, with the help of a website called the NORAD Santa Tracker located at http://noradsanta.org kids everywhere get the answer to their question, “Where is Santa Clause?”

The way that the Norad Santa tracker works, is that with the help of Google, kids can get help tracking Santa Claus on Google Earth.

NoradSanta.org has been on the internet dating back to 1999, although it has changed a lot since. For children visiting the NORAD Santa Tracking website, they can play fun games, watch up-to-date video of Santa and his reindeer as they make their journey around the globe, and even see an official countdown of how long it will be until Santa is in their neighborhood.

Most people do not know how NORAD has come about. It all started back in 1955, when Sears Roebuck & Company made a mistake by misprinting the phone number for a service where kids could call and speak to Santa Claus. Instead of reaching Sears, kids wound up calling CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s hotline. Colonel Harry Shoup was a good sport when he learned of the misprint. Instead of telling kids that they had reached the wrong number, he said he was using his radar to track Santa Claus. NORAD refers to the “North American Aerospace Defense Command.” People who represent NORAD have been receiving phone calls, and taking letters from kids around the globe since the 50′s, and all of their work has been done on a voluntary basis.

In 2010, there is no need to call Santa, when you can send him emails, and track him in real time on the internet. The NORADSanta project is made possible by a lot of companies, including Google, Globelink, Air Canada, Verizon Business, Avaya, Toys for Tots, Santa’s Traveling Workshop, OnStar, 5Star Bank, and several others.

The NORAD Santa website even attempts to answer the question of “Is Santa Real?”. Their answer, is stated below:

Based on historical data and more than 50 years of NORAD tracking information, we believe that Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of children throughout the world.

Santa Claus is known by many names, including Saint Nick. Historians claim that the history of Santa starts with the tradition of Saint Nicholas, a 4th century Christian priest who lived in the Middle East in an area of present-day Turkey who became famous for his kindness. He was known for giving gifts to the less fortunate, sprinkling gifts of gold down people’s chimneys or hiding surprises in their stockings.

It may be that the Santa we know today emerged from the legacy of Saint Nicholas. Clearly, Santa’s basic approach to gift giving is strikingly similar. Could they be the same person? Only Santa Claus knows for sure.

If your children are wishing to wait up this Christmas Eve for Santa Claus, direct them to NoradSanta.org for answers to all their questions ranging from, “Is Santa Real?” to “When will Santa be here?”

What are your favorite memories of waiting for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve?

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all.

Source: http://www.usnewssource.com/headlines/the-norad-santa-tracker-help-kids-know-where-santa-claus-is-in-real-time_61626.html