Holidays on Ice

We are much behind in our blogging, although we are even farther behind in sending holiday cards. But here's some holiday fun:

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus .... Just Ask Google
This year, Google is helping NORAD track Santa. Why, do you ask, does NORAD track Santa? Some background from the official Google blog about NORAD's Santa-tracking history:

It was more than half a century ago, on Christmas Eve in 1955, that a Sears Roebuck & Co. store in Colorado Springs advertised a special hotline number for kids to call Santa. What the company didn't know at the time was that they had inadvertently misprinted the telephone number. Instead of Santa's workshop, the phone number put kids through to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the bi-national U.S.-Canadian military organization responsible for the aerospace defense of the U. S. and Canada. Worse, it wasn't just any number at NORAD: it was the commander-in-chief's operations hotline. In the spirit of the season, Colonel Harry Shoup, the director of operations at the time, had his staff check radar data for any indication of a sleigh making its way south from the North Pole. They found that indeed there were signs of Santa, and merrily gave the children who called an update on his location. Thus, a tradition was born, and NORAD has continued to help children track Santa on Christmas Eve ever since.

How does NORAD explain Santa?

The fact that Santa Claus is more than 15 centuries old and does not appear to age is our biggest clue that he does not work within time, as we know it. His Christmas Eve trip may seem to take around 24 hours, but to Santa it could be that it lasts days, weeks or months in standard time. Santa would not want to rush the important job of bringing Christmas happiness to a child, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions on a different time and space continuum.

Track Santa yourself at noradsanta.org and if you so desire, download the plug-in for Google Earth.

An Odd 10-Year Anniversary
Has blogging really been around 10 years? NPR explores the blog in an audioblog format. Cute ... and informative.

What's Elfdom at Macy's Like?
This morning, NPR replayed sections of David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries," Sedaris's hilarious perspective on working as an elf at Macy's. Sedaris's vocal stylings of "Away in a Manger" are worth your time alone. It strikes me that NPR never plays the whole thing, so I will direct you to This American Life for the complete diary.

A Very White Minnesota Christmas
Hal and I are in Minnesota this Christmas. As it turns out, due to a harsh winter storm, it would have been difficult to leave if we could. Unless you own your own sleigh, your chances of successfully flying out of or through the upper Midwest are minimal. So, if you're out in the snow, be careful, and have safe and happy holidays and a healthy 2008!