NORAD’s Santa Trackers Have Record-Breaking Night
NORAD’s Santa Trackers Have Record-Breaking Night
…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.
Volunteer Sara Berghoff was caught off-guard when a child called to see if Santa 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 Santa 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…