Children call the US Air Force base asking where fAther Christmas is and when he will deliver presents to their house
The calls from children – and some adults – asked everything from Saint Nick's age to how reindeer fly. Oh, and when are the presents coming?
Hundreds of volunteers were answering the phones ringing nonstop on Monday at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, headquarters of the North American Aerospace Command's annual Father Christmas-tracking operation.
Norad, a joint US-Canada command responsible for protecting the skies over both nations, says its Father Christmas-tracking rite was born of a humble mistake in a newspaper ad in 1955.
The ad in a Colorado Springs newspaper invited children to call Father Christmas (known as Santa Claus in other countries) but inadvertently listed the phone number for the Continental Air Defence Command, Norad's predecessor, also based in Colorado Springs. Officers played along.
Since then, Norad Tracks Santa has gone global, posting updates for nearly 1.2-million Facebook fans and 104 000 Twitter followers. Spokesperson 1st Lieutenant Stacey Fenton said that as of midnight, trackers had answered more than 111 000 calls, breaking last year's record of 107 000.
US First Lady Michelle Obama, who is spending the holidays with her family in Hawaii, also joined in answering calls as she has in recent years. She spent about 30 minutes talking with children from across the country. Norad got calls from 220 countries and territories last year, and non-English-speakers called this year as well.
Challenging questions
Volunteers who speak other languages get green Father Christmas hats and a placard listing their languages so organisers can find them quickly. "Need a Spanish speaker!" one organiser called as he rushed out of one of three phone rooms.
Volunteer Sara Berghoff was caught off-guard when a child called to see if Father Christmas could be especially kind this year to the families affected by the recent Connecticut school shooting. "I'm from Newtown, Connecticut, where the shooting was," she remembered the child asking. "Is it possible that Santa can bring extra presents so I can deliver them to the families that lost kids?" Sara, just 13 herself, gathered her thoughts quickly. "If I can get ahold of him, I'll try to get the message to him," she told the child.
Other questions required the volunteers to think fast: "How do reindeer fly?" "How many elves does Santa have?" "Does Santa leave presents for dogs?" "How old is Santa?"
The answer to that one is in the FAQs that Norad hands out to volunteers: "It's hard to know for sure, but Norad intelligence indicates Santa is at least 16 centuries old."
One little boy phoned in to ask what time Father Christmas delivered toys to heaven, said volunteer Jennifer Eckels, who took the call. The boy's mother got on the line to explain that his sister had died this year. "I think Santa headed there first," Eckels told him.
Norad suggested that its volunteers tell callers that Father Christmas won't drop off the presents until all the kids in the home are asleep. "Ohhhhhhh," said an 8-year-old. "Thank you so much for that information," said a grateful mom.
A young boy called to ask if Father Christmas was real. Air Force Major Jamie Humphries, who took the call, said, "I'm 37 years old, and I believe in Santa, and if you believe in him as well, then he must be real." The boy turned from the phone and yelled to others, "I told you guys he was real!" – Sapa-AP