It began 70 years ago when a five-year-old called a top-secret emergency line reserved for the U.S. president and four-star generals and asked, “Hello, is this Santa?”
It was December 1955 — the height of the Cold War. The phone that rang was big and red, only to be used during an international emergency.
That wrong number — and many others that followed because of a simple typo in a newspaper ad — ended up launching a mission like none other for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD: to develop a tracking system allowing families to follow Santa’s journey around the world.
Since then, the Santa Tracker has become a source of joy for millions of children.
“Santa Claus” doesn’t come down the chimneys but his helpers do, and he doesn’t come in the night after Christmas Eve, but the night between 5 and 6 December.
Here, Christmas is people giving each other presents. Santa Claus is only a thing in commercials. I’m sure some families try to follow the American version for their kids, but i don’t know any. We don’t put up Christmas decorations until Sinterklaas has left, but that unwritten rule is slowly disappearing.