[hey it's the holidays, after all -- and so close to Christmas, so no ranting today...]
... three cheers to the employee who started the tradition of NORAD tracking Santa (credited to Colonel Harry Shoup, USAF). I have to admit that when I heard the story, I choked up a bit ...
"The calls have been a tradition since 1955 ... the local Sears ran an ad that year in Colorado Springs telling local children they could call a number to hear where Santa was. But the number listed in the ad was one digit off and instead the red hotline phone rang at what was then Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD's precursor ... in the spirit of Christmas, instead of telling them they had the wrong number, [the employee] told them where Santa was, and that's how the tradition started."*
I have to tell you -- it's kind of inspirational when the innocence of youth meets a typographical error meets a person who has a giving spirit and generous heart and thinks quickly on his feet. May we all be as holiday spirited as Colonel Shoup this season!
MY SOURCE FOR THE TELLING OF THE STORY:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/story/2011-12-22/santa-tracking-norad/52166662/1
THE OFFICIAL TRACKER SITE:
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/
IN MEMORY OF COLONEL SHOUP, USAF:
http://noradsanta.wikia.com/wiki/In_Memory_of_Colonel_(Retired)_Harry_Shoup,_USAF
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