Tracking Santa

Santa checking the names of all those children who have been good.

"A few more hours that's all the time we've got
A few more hours before we get a visit from you know who...." to misquote the words of a Lerner & Loewe Song.

I've just returned from playing for the Nativity & Christingle Service, and one of the highlights for the children was the candle in an over sized Christingle, which wouldn't blow out! Whatever else they may remember about what a Christingle stands for I am sure they will remember the everlasting candle!

Now what about that "A few more hours" bit? well as all good children know Santa will be visiting very soon. I discovered that Santa has been well and truly dragged into the technological age. A Track Santa programme has been developed and you can track him from his home in the North Pole as he whizzes across the skies.

The programme, developed by the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) and the search engine Google, has become an Internet sensation with close to a billion hits since its inception last year.



The Colorado-based centre usually provides aerospace warning and control for North America every day but on Christmas Eve they traditionally turn their attention to Santa's journey from the North Pole.


Last year the organisation and Google developed the Internet programme "NORAD tracks Santa" to allow excited children to log on to see how Father Christmas is getting on delivering their gifts.


So far about 10 million people from more than 200 countries have visited the website this year.


NORAD, which is also responsible for defending the US and Canada from incoming nuclear missiles, claims it can follow him with their radar and satellite technology as well as the infra-red signature left by Rudolph's red nose.

Just put Santa tracking programme into your search engine and Hey Presto! there is all the information you could possibly want.