Fellow Elves,

It is my honor, duty and privilege to announce our Elf of the Year. This distinction comes to just one in the Tracker Elf Community for a reason – and that reason IS community.

Out of all the elves who contribute to the efforts of Operation Merry Christmas none need community more than Tracker Elves. That’s because you all work remotely and largely alone. You do not get to attend the meetings, the rallies, the events, the celebrations and all the things that go on at the North Pole.

Your role is a special one. And a hard one. That is why we want to recognize an elf who best exemplifies the community we’re trying to build here among our tracker elves. You all are different, special and unique but you are all connected by your mission and your duties. It is important that you participate here, make your voice heard, get your questions answered and have a place where your Christmas light can shine and your Christmas spirit can be shared.

This past year was a big year for tracking Santa for Santa. We made great strides. We showed incredible improvement. We accomplished a great deal.

But none of those strides, improvements or accomplishments are more important than what one elf brought to us all over the course of this past year. She was present. She was hopeful. She was bright. She was inquisitive. She was helpful. She was merry, kind and always trying her best.

Our Elf of the Year is one we can all agree upon: she is Elf Ulan, of Japan.

It gives me particular satisfaction to recognize an elf from Sector 1 and particularly from the country of Japan. There are not a lot of elves from Japan. Japan is a country still fairly young in their knowledge of Christmas and their support of me.

Elf Ulan is thus a pioneer. She brought Japan to our Christmas table this year and fed us continually with the generous giving spirit of that great country and culture.

And to that country she will continue to bring a knowledge of Christmas and what we do as elves from the North Pole.

I know this recognition of Elf Ulan as Elf of the Year is one you will all find agreeable. Everyone knows Ulan. Everyone here, at least from what I can see, has had interactions with her and likewise enjoy her friendship and love.

Elf Ulan has been present at most chats this year, both on SantaTrackers.net and SantaUpdate.com. She has asked great questions of nearly every elf who has visited. She has immersed herself in elf life, making her joys of discovery available to us all. She has been fun, gracious and so very kind.

I see for her a great future as an elf. I am grateful for her many contributions.

There were, as there usually are, a number of deserving elves on our lists of finalists. In fact, we have spent the better part of two weeks debating it all. Even Mrs. Claus and myself have talked long hours over your many contributions. Certainly others are worthy of this distinction. In fact, all of you are.

You may not recognize yourselves as ground-breakers, but you ARE. Every. One. Of. You.

You see, 2022 was really our FIRST year of the tracker elf program. Yes, we “tested” it for five years previous and in that time we’ve seen a lot of elves come and go. We even lost a few good elves in 2022.

But you are the ones who overcame. The ones who stayed. The ones that stayed true to the Oath, to the Elf Code, and to the Elf Community. The ones who are serious about giving to others by helping me do what I do.

Those that continue to stay, that continue to grow this community and contribute to it, will be those who become elves of different kinds in the years ahead.

I get asked all the time what it takes to become one of those important elves at the North Pole. It takes time. It takes persistence. And it takes good role models. Elf Ulan is a good one to model yourself after. That is part of the reason why Elf Ulan is Elf of the Year.

Thank you all for your efforts.

In the New Year there will, once again, come many changes. We always work hard to improve. All of us can improve, especially me.

I thank all elves who work on my behalf, who try so hard to help Operation Merry Christmas succeed. Next week, we begin that effort anew. There will be a new countdown, new goals, new targets and new challenges. But the big goal, the one we all aspire to, is to be all the elf we can be by focusing on the love of others.

Thank you, Elf Ulan, for showing us that way.

Santa has taken a good, long nap – as have many others – and now there will be a round of post-Christmas parties to attend.

One of the last of those parties this week will be a North Pole Flight Command.

Once Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived at the North Pole, and the last of the returning sleighs from Operation Airlift came back, North Pole Flight Command shut down the sleigh port. All sleighs have been grounded now and there is no one coming or going at the North Pole. For the first time since last Christmas, there are absolutely no sleighs in the skies.

The crews at Flight Command were then free to return home to their families and were given several days off. It is well deserved.

Between now and the day after New Year’s things are going to be shut down at the North Pole. Santa has called this our week of Celebrating Christmas.

But before the books are closed on Operation Merry Christmas 2022 and before we start to focus on next Christmas there will be some last minute things handled. For those of us here it will be the naming of Elf of the Year.

That will likely be announced on December 31st. It is a job that Santa wants to handle personally.

We look forward to next Christmas. But I do think it is important to celebrate what was accomplished this year. Moving forward is always important. But with Christmas we always honor the past in all that we do.

This was a formative year for SantaTrackers.net and the entire Tracker Elf project. Lessons were learned. Of course we can look forward to some changes.

But before we do all that we need to celebrate where we have come from. We need to value and savor, just a little bit, what was accomplished.

We’re doing that this week and we hope you are too.

So Merry Christmas!

And here’s to the future.

The news of Santa’s alternative sleigh choice for flight this year does not affect tracking Santa at all.

Tracker elves are encouraged to stay focused and to listen closely to direction from their Elf Supervisors. Reporting needs MAY change, based on many factors. Weather, public events and other unscheduled and unanticipated elements can chance when and how trackers report.

But sleighs never do.

Over the past half hour, since the news of Santa’s choice of new sleigh was announced, the North Pole and Flight Command have been flooded with messages of concern for Santa’s flight and choice of vehicle. Some of these messages have come from elves and some have come from fans and believers all over the world.

For tracker elves we admonish you to keep doing what you are doing. We do NOT anticipate further needs at this time. As far as we are concerned, this is a normal flight. We will treat it as such and leave the sleigh decisions to Santa and his experts.

If you have questions, please use the form below:

Your Elf Name *

Your question? *

Send it to Flight Command

Trackers – just a reminder for you: we are just hours away of OFFICIAL proceedings.

You need to remember to check your SECTOR NEWS PAGE. From this point forward, all news will be individual to your sector. If you are in Sector 3, please don’t follow any other sector. Pay attention to what YOUR elf supervisor tells you. Here are the links to your news page:

Sector 1
Sector 2
Sector 3
Sector 4
Sector 5

Bookmark it, stamp it on your forehead, write it on your hand – whatever you need to do. Just zero in on that page to receive instruction from your supervisor.

Naturally, Sectors will go in order with some of these proceedings.

Step #1, is your official Christmas Eve tracker check in.

That’s the first thing your supervisor is going to ask for.

Then the directions will be individual.

Pay attention.

It is about to begin.

Elf of the Year is an annual award we present to the most influential tracker elf in the community. This individual is recognized for their Christmas spirit, charitable nature, service to others and their ability to live by the Elf Code.

The Executive Council at the North Pole, which includes Santa, Mrs. Claus, Elf Ernest and myself, have directed a year-long evaluation process. We enlisted the help of Elf Moe in tabulating statistics, polling Elf Supervisors and soliciting response from the Elf Community.

After careful year-long review, the Executive Council nominates the following tracker elves for the Elf of the Year award:

Elf Crusader
Elf Max
Elf Sugar Cookie
Elf Ulan
Elf Buddy Christmas
Elf Weather Tracker
Elf Cookie Dough
Elf Buttercup ^..^
Elf Eggnog

Our next step in the process of selecting one elf from the list above is to make a public review. This is your chance to influence the selection.

We invite you, via the comments below, to voice your choice. All of the individuals listed above (and quite a few others), are worthy of this distinction. But we are not going to make this decision without placing the matter before the Elf Community.

The final selection of Elf of the Year will be made after Christmas – after we have tracked Santa, after the Elf Supervisors have completed their elf rankings and reviews, and after we close the books on Operation Merry Christmas 2022.

So if you have never spoken up on an issue before this would be the one to start commenting on. How have these elves helped you? How have they served the community? How do you see them contributing in the future? What makes you want to be like them?

I’m excited for each elf mentioned above. They are all deserving.

Thank you for your help.