Reindeer on Radar

For Christmas, a brief history of Tracking Santa Claus, and a fun Christmas Eve activity for you and your kids.

When I was between the ages of 6 and 9 years old, I lived out in the country near a tiny village in central Ontario called Dwight, the kind of place situated in geographic perfection for the idyllic Christmas - deep in the woods, with snowy and cold Canadian winters.

Myself and sister Rebecca, 1986?

Many wonderful memories were made in my boyhood there, if not any money by my Old Man, which is partly why we moved on; that’s another story.

Me and the Old Man cross country skiing, roughly 1987

Of all those memories, one sticks out in particular, and that was of my Dad pulling out a map of Canada on Christmas Eve, tuning into CBC Radio, and listening with my sister and I for updates on Santa’s position, which the CBC relayed to us as part of a tradition started by NORAD. NORAD stands for North American Aerospace Defense Command, a combined organization of the United States and Canadian militaries whose task it is to monitor North American airspace.

I have recently made acquaintance with U.S. Army Colonel Chris Ellis, who works at NORAD headquarters on the Peterson Space Force Base near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Colonel Ellis will be on duty this coming Christmas Eve as Chief of Operations for NORAD and NORTHCOM, and in advance of this annual tradition, he graciously gave me a few minutes of his time to discuss the techniques and protocols involved in keeping an eagle eye on The Jolly Old Elf, as well as the logistics of handling so many phone calls into NORAD on Christmas Eve.

But first, some history of this tracking operation, care of the CBC -

When the red phone rang on the desk of U.S. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup one night in early December 1955, he took a deep breath before answering.

After all, it was the height of the Cold War and he was commander of the combat alert centre charged with watching for Russian threats in the skies over Canada and the U.S.

If that phone rang, only one of two people was likely on the other end: a four-star general at the Pentagon or the president of the United States.

Instead, Shoup heard the very small voice of a child who had a very big question: "Is this Santa Claus?"

That wayward phone call spawned by a newspaper misprint has since evolved into Norad Tracks Santa, a high-tech way for millions of children in Canada and around the world to share a little of the magic of Christmas.

Shoup, who died in 2009, was a fighter pilot who trained pilots in England during the Second World War. 

"He did a lot of really important things. He had a great career," his daughter Terri Van Keuren says from her home in Colorado. But the no-nonsense colonel also loved children — and Christmas. His involvement in launching what would become the Santa tracker program, "that's the thing he was most proud of," she says.

Col. Harry Shoup, the OG Santa Tracker

Another minor sidebar - during the Cold War, there were a series of radar bases arranged in lines running east-west across the high arctic and Canada, designed to detect any potential incursions into North American airspace by the Russians.

The most northerly was called the DEW Line, or Distant Early Warning Line, the next line south was called the MCL Line, or Mid-Canada Line, and the last line of radar defense roughly followed the 50th parallel, and was called the Pinetree Line.

One of the stations along the Pinetree Line was Canadian Forces Station Armstrong, just outside the tiny village of Armstrong, Ontario, where my late Uncle Bruce lived for so long he was considered the unofficial Mayor. My Old Man lived there on two separate occasions as well, and it is where I was conceived.

Many of those older radar stations, like the one in Armstrong, have been closed, while many have received upgrades. The system of early warning radar lines has since been consolidated into the North Warning System, that does the hard work of keeping an eye on Santa and his Reindeer Comrades as they make their way south from The North Pole. (Postal Code H0H 0H0)

Watch out, Santa! We have THUNDERBOLTS!

Aerial view of Armstrong. Note how town stretches along the CN rail line. My Uncle Bruce lived on a lake a few miles out of town, of course.

Dad and my late Uncle Bruce drove part of the circus across Canada with the Torch Relay for the Winter Olympics in 2010.

Dad with Uncle Bruce’s ‘Awful Car’ logging truck, Armstrong, 1988

Back to Colonel Ellis and the operations of tracking Santa Claus.

Per our phone conversation -

”As Santa Claus has no registered flight path, due to the vagaries of his delivery schedule, constant updates to the naughty and nice list, and wether or not children are yet in bed, we have to employ three different methods to track his sleigh.

It is extremely important to remember that Santa does not make deliveries to homes where kids are still awake.

Using ground based radar systems that are part of the North Warning System, we begin to track Santa after the reindeer have him in the air above the North Pole, which is usually our first contact with him.

Sometimes Santa is not detectable by our ground based radar, and we then move to tracking him via Satellites equipped with Infrared Systems, which easily pick up the red nose of his lead Reindeer, Rudolph, all the way from out in orbit.

Our third tracking system requires some co-operation on the part of Santa and his Reindeer; while he is over Canada and approaching population centers for deliveries, he slows down enough that CF-18 Hornets of The Royal Canadian Air Force can provide fighter escort. This is a good time for the Reindeer to catch a breather.

Likewise, various units of the United States Air Force and Air National Guard provide fighter escort for Mr Claus, using various aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and F-22 Raptor. It is believed that A-10 Thunderbolts move too slow, even for Reindeer at delivery speed. Sorry Warthog Bros.

While Santa is on delivery throughout Christmas Eve, approximately 1250 NORAD staff, in partnership with family, civilian employees, and various community members, man a public tracking phone line, so that children can check in on Santa’s wherabouts before they go to bed.

Depending on the volume of calls at any given moment, and the language chosen to call in, the kids may end up with a pre-recorded message.

You can call 1 877 HI-NORAD (1 877 446-6723) to talk directly to a NORAD staff member who will be able to tell you Santa's exact location. Operators are available until midnight.

You never know, you may even get to chat with Colonel Ellis himself. He is a really lovely guy, and to my mind, one of the best America has to offer. (More on him later.)


For more information, music, history, and fun online things to check out, please visit NORAD’s official Santa Tracker Website, and make sure you have that site open on a device somewhere in your home on Christmas Eve.

You can also keep up to date with the Santa Tracking Team at NORAD at their very own news website.

Hopefully your Christmas looks a little something like mine from last year.

Alright everyone, have yourselves a Merry Christmas, and enjoy yourselves and your families as much as you can. I look forward to bringing you much more writings and content over the holidays and into the New Year - many projects are underway, stay tuned.

(PS - A great stocking stuffer is to tell your friends about this Substack, and my podcast, Voice Of GO(r)D. There’s lots of great stuff here for everyone.)