In 1955, Sears, Roebuck Co. ran an ad in The Gazette that contained a phone number for children to call Santa. “Hey kiddies!” St. Nick says in the ad. “Call me direct on my telephone.” One of the digits in the phone number was wrong, and instead of calling old St. Nick, kids called t he on-duty commander at Continental Air Defense Command, later to be known as NORAD. Rather than hang up on hopeful youngsters looking to chat with the jolly old elf, Col. Harry Shoup played along, acting as Santa and giving birth to a tradition that is now in its 70th year. Each year, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) puts its state-of-the art technological and human resources to work in tracking the most anticipated journey of the year — namely, Santa Claus’ sleigh ride to deliver toys and Christmas joy to children around the world. The military-run, all-volunteer tracking operation has come a long way since Shoup answered the phone 70 years ago. What started as a gesture of kindness from a military officer has grown into an annual operation involving more than 1,000 volunteers, more than 50 corporate organizations, a bi-national homeland defense organization and millions of excited youngsters. In addition to (877) HI-NORAD, the call center’s toll-free phone number, “NORAD Track Santa” has Facebook, X and Instagram accounts, mobile phone apps and a website that went live earlier this month. Also, for the first time, Santa lovers will have web-based calling as an option. The 1955 Sears ad in The Gazette that started it all. “Now people will be able to contact Santa from the website, just like a phone call,” said NORAD spokesman John Ingle. “When they go to noradsanta.org on Dec. 24, they’ll see a button on the bottom of the page that says, ‘Call NORAD.’” With this added feature, NORAD officials expect even more phone calls to Santa than the 380,000 they received last year. Fortunately, the operation has more than 1,000 volunteers who are up to the task. “The volunteers have a great time answering multiple phone calls from around the world, and knowing they are part of bringing joy to children — and quite frankly, adults — around the world,” Ingle said. In celebration of the milestone anniversary, the Pikes Peak Military Affairs Council organized a display at Colorado Springs Airport. The display, which has been in the main upper lobby since Nov. 17, has features that illustrate the tradition’s decades-long history, including an enlarged copy of the 1955 Sears ad that started it all. Ingle said the Santa tracking operation gives him and other NORAD personnel an additional opportunity to talk about their mission. “Santa tracking is really just an extension of what NORAD does every day,” Ingle said. “What we do on Christmas Eve isn’t really different than what we do on the other 364 days of the year — tracking man-made objects in our airspace. We just happen to be tracking a very special aviator on Dec. 24.” ...read more read less