The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been tracking Santa Claus' journey on Christmas Eve for 69 years, starting with an accidental phone call in 1955. This heartwarming tradition has evolved into a massive operation involving thousands of volunteers.
For 69 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command — known as NORAD — has tracked Santa Claus ' global gift-giving journey every Christmas Eve .The annual tradition started in 1955, when, according to NORAD and Col. Elizabeth Mathias, U.S. Northern Command public affairs director, a child hoping to speak with Santa dialed the wrong number and ended up on the line with a U.S. colonel instead.
The child had mistakenly called the operations center of NORAD's precursor, the Continental Air Defense Command, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.Col. Harry Shoup, the commander on duty, asked his staff to check the radar for jolly old Saint Nick's whereabouts, and thus began the first incarnation of the Santa tracking program, NORAD says. Now, what began as an accidental phone call has grown into a sprawling operation involving more than 1,000 volunteers. When I meet perfect strangers, and they ask what I do, and I say that I'm in the military, and that I'm stationed at NORAD, they always ask me about NORAD Tracks Santa,' Mathias told CBS News in a 2023 interview. 'It really has been amazing how it brings people together who maybe have no knowledge of the military.'Mathias, who oversees the Santa tracker project but prefers to call herself a 'steward of the program' out of deference to its storied history, started her role in 2022. 'I actually remember calling into NORAD as a child and asking NORAD where Santa was,' Mathias said. 'When I was able to come back here in my job and find out that this was part of my main duties, my husband actually said to me, 'Just make sure you don't break Santa.'' Months of planningAlthough the Santa tracker is only live for less than 24 hours a year, preparations begin months in advance. 'My team and I think about all year long,' Mathias sai
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