Is Santa Claus Real? According to NORAD, Yes!

On December 24 1955, a Sears Roebuck & Co store ran an ad in a Colorado Springs paper giving a number children could reach Santa Claus on.  But the wrong number was printed and a flood of children got through to the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center in Colorado Springs. Kind- hearted Colonel Harry Shoup, was on duty that night. He told his staff to give any child who phoned a ‘current location’ of Santa.

It was the start of a tradition that’s still alive today, under the auspices of what is now the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and has become a Christmas entertainment program for children. The program, which relies on volunteers, now has a website where you can track Santa’s progress around the world through webcams and Google maps. The site has links to games, books, movies and music about Santa Claus. 

The program also has a twitter account and a facebook page with a million fans. Children can still phone 1-877-HI-NORAD or 1-877-446-6723 or send an email to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com and they do, from more than 200 countries and territories.

From mid-January to November 30, visitors to the website are greeted with a message to come back on December 1 when tracking begins using radar, satellites and Santa Cams. On Christmas Eve Santa Cam videos show CGI images of Santa Claus and his team of reindeer flying over famous landmarks.
The NORAD tracks Santa website has a whole lot of FAQ’s to reassure children that Santa does exist. These are some of them: 

When will Santa arrive at my house?

"NORAD tracks Santa, but only Santa knows his route, which means we cannot predict where and when he will arrive at your house. We do, however, know from history that it appears he arrives only when children are asleep! In most countries, it seems Santa arrives between 9:00 p.m. and midnight on December 24th. If children are still awake when Santa arrives, he moves on to other houses. He returns later, but only when the children are asleep!"

How can Santa travel the world within 24 hours?

"NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time the way we do. His trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa it might last days, weeks or even months. Santa would not want to rush the important job of delivering presents to children and spreading joy to everyone, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions within his own time-space continuum."

Is there a Santa Claus?

“Mountains of historical data and more than 50 years of NORAD tracking information leads us to believe that Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of people throughout the world.”

How does Santa get down chimneys?

“Although NORAD has different hypotheses and theories as to how Santa actually gets down the chimneys, we don’t have definitive information to explain the magical phenomenon.”