A woman monitors the progress of Santa Claus in Washington, DC, using the Santa tracker at right set up by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). — AP PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colorado — Volunteers at a US Air Force base monitoring Santa Claus' progress around the world answered a record number of calls from children — and some adults — wanting to know 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 Monday at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, headquarters of the North American Aerospace Command's annual Santa-tracking operation. NORAD, a joint US-Canada command responsible for protecting the skies over both nations, says its Santa-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 Santa but inadvertently listed the phone number for the Continental Air Defense 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. Spokeswoman 1st Lt. Stacey Fenton said that as of midnight, trackers had answered more than 111,000 calls, breaking last year's record of 107,000. 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. 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.” — AP
