For kids wondering where Santa is, NORAD will tell them

For 60 years, the U.S. military has had a special relationship with Santa Claus.

It started with connecting kids to Claus by phone back in 1955. This year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command tracks the old guy and shows what he’s up to by way of the Internet or mobile devices, with a website available in eight languages.

A long list of military and charity organizations puts all this together now, but it actually started with a mistake. In 1955, a newspaper ad in Colorado told children they could call Santa direct. But the number was misprinted and rang at the duty commander’s desk for the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center, the predecessor of NORAD.

They’re the folks with radar scanning the skies for any unexpected flying objects, so the misprint was a lucky coincidence. The Air Force wouldn’t want to scramble the fighters and ready the nuclear triad for a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, so they keep track of Mr. Claus, who is too busy to file a flight plan with all those stops. Staff at the command center fielded the calls and the operation grew over the years as military and personal technology got more sophisticated.

Starting at 11 p.m. PST Wednesday, the NORAD Santa website shows preparations for the big flight, and starting at 3 a.m. Thursday trackers can call 1-877-446-6723 (1-877-Hi NORAD) to speak with a live operator who can report on his location. Windows phone users can ask Cortana for Santa’s location, and OnStar subscribers can press the button in their vehicle to get an update. Kids can also get an update by sending an email to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com.

The Santa tracking app will be up on the Spin Control website through Christmas Eve.