Key Takeaways:
- NORAD will celebrate 70 years of tracking Santa’s sleigh on December 24, 2025.
- The tradition of tracking Santa’s sleigh began in 1955 when a child accidentally called Colonel Harry Shoup of Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) instead of a Sears, Roebuck & Co. store’s Santa hotline.
- NORAD’s mission to track Santa’s sleigh illustrates the military’s ability to protect the citizens of North America by tracking an object traveling from the North Pole.
- Over 1,000 Canadian and American military personnel, Defense Department civilian workers, and local participants volunteer to answer over 100,000 phone calls from children around the world on Christmas Eve.
- The tradition has become a testament to the longstanding U.S.-Canadian friendship and a way to create a magical world for children.
Introduction to NORAD’s Santa Tracking Tradition
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, will celebrate a significant milestone on December 24, 2025: 70 years of tracking Santa’s sleigh. This beloved tradition has its roots in a chance phone call made by a child in 1955. According to legend, the child was trying to reach Santa on a telephone hotline advertised by a Sears, Roebuck & Co. store in Colorado, but accidentally transposed two digits, connecting with Colonel Harry Shoup of Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) instead. Shoup, who was initially brusque with the child, later recognized the opportunity to use the interest in Santa to call attention to the air defense system that would protect the U.S. from potential Soviet bomber attacks over the North Pole.
The Early Years of NORAD’s Santa Tracking
In the aftermath of World War II, many Americans were hoping to turn away from world affairs, but U.S. and Canadian leaders were concerned about the vulnerability of North America to an attack from the USSR over the polar region. To address this concern, Colonel Shoup and his team at CONAD began to track Santa’s sleigh as it traveled from the North Pole, using the exercise to demonstrate the military’s ability to track and respond to potential threats. The following year, reporters began to call CONAD to see if the trackers would be operational again, and the tradition was born. By 1957, Canada and the U.S. had formed the North American Air Defense Command, or NORAD, which would continue to track Santa’s sleigh and illustrate the military’s mission to protect the citizens of the continent.
The Evolution of NORAD’s Santa Tracking
Over the years, NORAD’s mission has expanded to include collecting information about the Earth’s atmosphere, coastal waters, and intelligence, but the tradition of tracking Santa’s sleigh has remained a beloved and enduring part of the agency’s work. By Christmas Eve 1960, NORAD was posting updates and tracking the flight of "S. Claus," and even reported an emergency landing on the ice of Hudson Bay, where Canadian fighter jets stopped by to check on the incident and found Santa tending to a reindeer’s injured foot. Since then, fighter jets have frequently intercepted the sleigh to salute Santa, who reins in his team to let the slower jets catch up. Today, more than 1,000 Canadian and American military personnel, Defense Department civilian workers, and local participants near Colorado Springs, where NORAD is headquartered, volunteer to answer over 100,000 phone calls from children around the world on Christmas Eve.
The Significance of NORAD’s Santa Tracking
The tradition of tracking Santa’s sleigh has become an important part of NORAD’s work, and a testament to the longstanding U.S.-Canadian friendship. For one night a year, the hard-edged world of international alliances, intelligence, radar, satellites, and fighter jets turns into a night for adults to create a magical world for children. The tradition has also become a way for NORAD to connect with the public and demonstrate its commitment to protecting the citizens of North America. As Liza Donnelly’s book "Seeing Things" notes, the tradition is a key part of understanding this moment in history, and the ways in which the military and the public have come together to create a sense of wonder and magic.
Conclusion
In conclusion, NORAD’s tradition of tracking Santa’s sleigh is a beloved and enduring part of the agency’s work, and a testament to the longstanding U.S.-Canadian friendship. From its humble beginnings as a chance phone call in 1955, the tradition has evolved into a major operation that brings joy and magic to children around the world. As NORAD celebrates 70 years of tracking Santa’s sleigh, it is a reminder of the importance of creativity, community, and the human spirit, and a celebration of the ways in which even the most unlikely events can bring people together in a shared sense of wonder and joy.
