CNN
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Possible drone sightings are causing national anxiety in the Northeast, but the sightings could soon become Santa Claus bringing Christmas cheer across the country.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command is once again preparing to track Santa and his reindeer around the world.
NORAD, which is responsible for protecting the skies over the United States and Canada, will activate its Santa tracking system at 6 a.m. Eastern time on Christmas Eve. Santa watchers can follow Santa’s journey on NORAD’s website or participate in the annual Christmas tradition by calling the command center at 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) can.
NORAD says the tracking service can also be accessed through the NORAD Tracks Santa app, social media, Amazon Alexa, OnStar and SiriusXM.
This is the 69th year NORAD has tracked Santa’s Christmas journey around the world. According to NORAD’s website, the story began by chance in 1955 when a local newspaper ad advertised that children could call Santa directly, but the contact number was printed incorrectly. Ta. Instead of calling Old St. Nick, the child called the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
According to the website, Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, who answered the child’s phone call, quickly realized the mistake and assured the child that he was Santa. After more calls came in, Shoup assigned an officer to answer the call, “and a tradition was born.” That tradition continued when NORAD was founded in 1958.
According to NORAD, the Santa tracking site receives millions of visitors from around the world each year, and volunteers typically respond to more than 130,000 calls.
