Where is Santa? NORAD knows…

The Eastern Air Defense Sector is a North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) headquarters unit located at Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome. There’s a phone number to call Santa.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command’s (NORAD) has been tracking Santa’s progress since 1955.

The NORAD radar system, called the North Warning System, has 47 sites across north Canada and Alaska.

“Throughout the year, we can be pretty cynical”, Matthew Quinlan, marketing director for Bing, Microsoft s search engine, said in a blog post.

NORAD spokesman Mike Kucharek said a squadron of fighter jets briefly escort Santa’s sleigh when he enters Canadian and USA air space. All aircraft have a code to identify themselves.

For those youngsters who have had a couple of naughty episodes in 2015 they shouldn’t worry, because Santa has a big heart and is compassionate and doesn’t like to see anyone wake up Christmas morning with no presents to open.

Now in this age of apps, keeping an eye on Santa is a one-touch effort from your smart phone. “Then Mrs. Claus and I look at what we’ve done in the past year and start making plans for the next year already”. “That’s his call sign”. “Rudolph’s nose gives off an infrared signal that is picked up by radar and then precisely tracked by satellites”.

It takes 1,500 volunteers to man the hundreds of thousands of phone calls and emails from children wondering when their presents will arrive.

Today, NORAD relies on volunteers to make the program possible and the team typically handles more than 12,000 e-mails and more than 70,000 telephone calls from more than 200 countries and territories. But most children are probably savvy enough to follow Santa on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, either on computer or through a phone app.

As usual, the fun begins at NoradSanta.org, where you can find games, videos, music, and stories to pass the time.

On a day 60 years ago, a local Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD) store in Colorado Springs ran a dial Santa ad. Except the number was a misprint.