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Courtesy photo from NORAD

Renowned toy distributor Santa Claus (above) is expected to make his annual trek sometime in the evening hours of
Dec. 24.
(Click picture for full size image)

U.S. military to track Claus’ trek to Arizona
Staff reports

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN, Colo. – U.S. military officials say they are uncertain exactly when Santa Claus will enter Maricopa County airspace on Dec. 24. They are confident, however, that the legendary toy giver will arrive in the evening hours.

We can’t predict exactly when he (Claus) will be making his way to Arizona,” said Air Force Maj. Stacia Reddish.“We can just say at this point that he generally comes to North America when most of the children are asleep.”

Reddish, who recently spoke with The Desert Advocate, is public information officer for the North American Aerospace Defense Command–or NORAD, as it is commonly known. The command is headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado and has a tracking facility at Cheyenne Mountain.

NORAD has tracked Claus’ flight path each year around Christmas since 1955. The tradition started when a catalog misprinted a Santa hotline number that turned out to be NORAD’s phone number.

Santa Claus, age unknown, is believed to make his home at an undisclosed location at the North Pole, where his toy manufacturing operation is also headquartered. Claus and his wife employ an unspecified number of Elves who design and produce the toys that Claus delivers to children worldwide each year on Christmas Eve.

Claus reportedly maintains a comprehensive list of children’s names categorized as to whether those children are “naughty” or “nice.” Over the years children have been advised to be “nice,” if they wish to receive toys from Claus.

His method of transportation and distribution remains a matter of speculation, but Claus is widely believed to travel via a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer that posses the ability to fly. A ninth reindeer, “Rudolph,” is the lead reindeer and has a shiny red nose–a feature which plays a major part in NORAD’s ability to track Claus’ flight path.

“We are able to hone in on Rudolph’s nose,” Reddish revealed, adding Santa’s mode of transportation has not changed over the years.

Reddish related that despite heightened U.S. security measures during the war on terror, Claus will have “unlimited, unrestricted access” to airspace worldwide. “He seems to have no enemies internationally and enjoys free and safe travel,” she said.

The defense command activated their special Santa tracking Web site on Nov. 17. Since then, the site has had 25 million hits, according to Reddish.

The Web site is at: www.noradsanta.org.

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