Christmas Eve is truly a day filled with excitement! The thought of Santa arriving at your home that night fills many children with a delightful flutter in their stomachs. The eager anticipation of Christmas morning and the mystery of what surprises await beneath the tree brings back a flood of cherished memories for me. 

As I stepped into motherhood, I embraced the opportunity to create new traditions that would enhance the enchantment of Christmas for our family. One cherished ritual I ensured to carry on from my own childhood was the tradition of calling NORAD to track Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. 

TRACK SANTA LIVE HERE

THE HISTORY OF NORAD AND SANTA

NORAD is short for North American Aerospace Defense Command. Under the leadership of a Four-star general, this joint organization, created by the United States and Canada, specializes in aerospace surveillance, and safeguarding the defense of Canada and the continental United States.

How does NORAD relate to Santa? The tale begins on Christmas Eve in 1955 with a 5-year old child and a misprint in a Sears newspaper advertisement.

The misprint Sears advertisement   credit: noridsanta.org

On that memorable evening, Col. Harry Shoup, the duty commander, answered the phone, expecting to hear from either the President or a four-star general. Instead, he was greeted by a child's innocent question: "Is this Santa Claus?" Rather than dismissing the call, Col. Shoup chose to spread some holiday cheer, telling the child that Santa was on his way. He then reached out to the radio station to report an unidentified flying object in the sky, humorously claiming it was Santa's sleigh! As the calls continued to pour in from excited children, the colonel assigned a duty officer specifically to inform callers of Santa’s current location.

Col. Harry Shoup, credit: noridsanta.org

Since its inception in 1958, NORAD has celebrated this remarkable event for almost seven decades! Each Christmas Eve, over 1,200 enthusiastic volunteers respond to more than 130,000 calls from children all around the globe!

Volunteers answer thousands of calls on Christmas Eve, image credit: noridsanta.org

HOW CAN YOU TRACK SANTA WITH NORAD?

You can easily track Santa through various methods:

1. Call NORAD at 1-877-HI-NORAD
2. Visit NORAD on their website. 
3. Download the official NORAD Tracks Santa app, which is available in the Apple App and Google Play stores
4. NORAD Track Santa is also available on Amazon Alexa, SiriusXM, and OnStar.

TRACK SANTA BELOW

YOU CAN ALSO CALL AND SPEAK TO A LIVE PERSON! 1-877-HI-NORAD

OTHER METHODS OF TRACKING SANTA

Here are other ways you can track Santa this Christmas Eve!

1. Email Santa Tracker
2. Track Santa with Google
3. iSpot Santa Tracker

^{Macaroni KID Cherry Hill strives to enrich the community and keep families active by providing a FREE Kid-friendly events calendar on our website. You can become an insider and receive our calendar along with craft ideas, recipes and enter giveaways by subscribing to our FREE weekly e-newsletter. Macaroni KID Cherry Hill is published by a local mom who lives, works and raises her children in the community. If you would like to join our network of family-friendly businesses and connect your brand with local parents in Camden County and the Southern New Jersey region, please email the Publisherand learn how you can share your business/services with our readers.}