250 Days Until Santa’s Launch

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As the world celebrates Easter the crew at North Pole Flight Command remind us that 250 days remain until Santa launches.

Santa is at the North Pole to celebrate Easter but is leaving very soon with a group of elves heading to Costa Rica for the Elf Supervisor meeting.

But North Pole Flight Command is noting an unusual warning from the Department of Redundancy Department about Santa’s sleigh. Reportedly some elves in Flight Command are upset about the warning.

Meetings will be held in Flight Command this week to discuss the matter, despite the event going on in Costa Rica.

In the meantime, we have heard that elves in the North Pole Post Office are grappling with a flood of mail in the past day or two about the Easter Bunny. The overwhelming question is whether or not the Easter Bunny is connected in someway with Santa and the North Pole.

The question was debated in the North Pole News Department. Some believe in the Easter Bunny and others do not. In the end, the News Department at SantaUpdate.com declined to publicly answer the question or post any information about the Easter Bunny.

I talked to Elf Ed Zachary, famed Defender of Santa Claus, who was very candid with me about why we never talk about the Easter Bunny.

He sent me this in an email:

“Harold – the Easter Bunny is a rabbit. An animal. He does not talk. He delivers chocolate eggs on fake grass. He evidently does this by hopping all over the place very quickly. He does not accept letters. He doesn’t visit with children — well, not as a normal rabbit. From pictures I have viewed he is not anywhere near the size of an normal rabbit you have ever seen. He does not take requests. He does not have elves. He does not have reindeer. Nobody really knows where he lives or where he came from. For us to talk about the Easter Bunny in the same breath as Santa Claus just is not right. Does Santa believe in the Easter Bunny? I don’t know, honestly. I do know this, however. He never talks about the Easter Bunny. I think it is wise we avoid the topic. Happy Easter- EZ”

Well. There you go.

Christmas in July Events Added to the Elf Calendar

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Christmas in July is coming – and it’s going to be huge. So huge, in fact, that a new page dedicated to the events of Christmas in July has been added. You can see it here.

SantaTrackers.net is partnering with SantaUpdate.com and MyMerryChristmas.com in coordinating Christmas in July events.

Christmas in July this year begins actually in June – funny as that sounds. It kicks off right here on SantaTrackers.net on June 25th, also known as Leon Day.

Leon Day is basically the Christmas hump day – the official halfway mark to Christmas. Everyday after June 25th is on the downhill side to Christmas. Leon is Noel spelled backwards. Folks all over the Internet and around the world do a variety of fun (even silly) activities to mark Leon Day.

For elves here on SantaTrackers.net we will have a variety of events planned just for elves. But we know you don’t have to be an elf to enjoy Christmas in July. That’s why we work with our sister sites in SantaUpdate.com and MyMerryChristmas.com to share event calendars.

While we focus on tracker elves here over at SantaUpdate.com the focus is more on the North Pole and official events sponsored for fans of Christmas everywhere. Christmas in July has been a tradition there for more than 30 years. Over in North Pole Chat special guests range from Elves Frank and Crash to Santa and Mrs. Claus during Christmas in July.

MyMerryChristmas.com is the largest Christmas community online and the events there too are traditional. Christmas in July is when the famous “Christmas exchanges” kick off, including the Annual Christmas Card Exchange and the Annual Ornament Exchange. The site frequently hosts guest experts on all kinds of Christmas topics – everything from book authors to Christmas lighting experts.

By integrating the features of Christmas in July between all three websites we can share a plethora of Christmas ahead of Christmas – and get you in the Christmas spirit.

Keep an eye on our Christmas in July page as the next several weeks will feature many announcements.

 

Sector 4 Regional HQ Announced

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Sector 4 is the first to announce the official location of our Regional HQ. Our tracking center in Sector 4 will be located in Milagro, Ecuador, as just announced by North Pole Flight Command.

The word “Milagro” means miracle. It is a miracle, at least to me that this has happened. We have a huge opportunity now that this decision has been made and the location is known.

Milagro, Ecuador

Elves from the legal department and from engineering are in Ecuador this week finalizing details. It is my understanding that the facility we’re to use will require very little in the way of remodeling for our use. In fact, sleighs are being loaded today with desks, computers and other equipment to be shipped to Ecuador this week.

If all goes well, I’m told I could be there right after the Elf Supervisor meetings in Costa Rica. We could be fully operational there by Christmas in July.

That could, in essence, move up the schedule on a lot of different projects. For example, test flights could be moved up earlier if we’re operational by July. If that does happen, you could see an earlier return of reindeer to the North Pole.

What does that mean for our trackers in Sector 4? Perhaps some live training exercises.

I will most definitely discuss all the possibilities with Elf Roger and with Santa when I see them next week.

Exciting!

Points for Giving to Santa’s Sleigh

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We are pleased to announced a new association with Santa’s Sleigh, a charitable effort anchored in several Christmas communities online including the Merry Forums of MyMerryChristmas.com. You can add Elf points to your account for your participation.

This is an entirely optional activity and not required of any elf. Elves who are underage must have parental guidance in order to participate. 

In addition to the Elf points gained from your donation, you will also be generously rewarded with extra Santa points and awarded with this new badge:

Santa Sleigh Badge

Santa’s Sleigh is funded by hundreds of small donations – usually from $5 to $20. Someone benefitting from Santa’s Sleigh is sponsored by a licensed charity, a church, a school or community service group.

Santa’s sleigh works with these entities to meet critical needs such as food, medicine and funds to pay utility and medical bills. Santa’s sleigh also provides Christmas trees, Christmas meals and modest gifts. In additional, Santa’s Sleigh organizes service projects – everything from shoveling snow to sending Christmas cards to the shut in.

We are grateful for this new association and will provide news updates of our collective efforts to support Santa’s Sleigh.

You can learn more about Santa’s Sleigh at their website by clicking on the banner below:

Santa's Sleigh

Focus Groups and Costa Rican Tacos

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Santa Trackers Podcast
Santa Tracker Podcast
Focus Groups and Costa Rican Tacos
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Focus groups and Costa Rican Tacos are talked about in this wide ranging new episode of the Santa Trackers Podcast. Elf Frank and Elf Crash try to get down to Santa’s strategy for this year. But Crash is especially feeling in the dark.

Santa and Elf Roger have led an effort to completely redesign the SantaTrackers.net website and to purge the Elf Community of “deadbeat” elves. But Elf Crash suspects the big changes are still ahead and it begins with this first-ever Elf Supervisor gathering in Costa Rica coming up soon.

Elf Crash was just assigned to help train that group but he has no idea what to say to them. In this episode elves Frank & Crash explore what they do know and what it can all mean for the months ahead.

Crash also shares some insights into Elf Max, who he met in person just a few months ago. He tells a great fishing story as well as the story of Elf Max’s elf journey.

 

Introducing Bonus Codes

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Bonus codes are a new feature that will allow you to earn extra points. This new feature is now active.

We encourage you to visit the Bonus Codes page in Elf University and to there receive a special code that will both train you on how to do it and that will reward you for trying it out.

You will get a tiny little point reward and a nifty new Bonus Freak badge at the same time.

You will always want to be on the lookout for new bonus codes.

You might read about them in a news article, receive them via private message after completing something (like an elf job application, or see them attached to special activities or even tracker reports.

There is a new group at SantaTrackers.net dedicated to this purpose. It is called The Points Group. If you go there, you will see a bonus point extra posted by me. Hint: you get points for joining groups.

An elf who keeps a sharp eye out for bonus codes can really increase their points totals and their badge collection.

Elf Trixie

New Points System Now Active

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A new points system has been engaged, triggering a new era in tracking Santa for Santa.

The new system, as announced weeks ago, features three total points types. You can access them via the new Points Summary gateway.

Elf Points are points as you have always known them. Points are awarded for your activity as an elf on SantaTrackers.net, especially in terms of your elf profile and how you present yourself as an elf online. This overall points pool gives you a ranking as an elf that features a star-theme. The higher your points the higher rank you achieve.

Tracker Points are a new points category that focuses on your core job as a tracker elf – tracking Santa for Santa. Tracker reports are at the center of your tracker rank, as are activities and duties most closely associated with tracking Santa. Your Elf Supervisor contributes to your ranking through a review process that evaluates your reports to flight command for their quality and usefulness.

Santa points are a less sharply defined category. These points are mostly acquired through Santa himself, who monitors your online behavior and rewards you for your kindness, creativity, initiative and charitable actions.

In all, all three point types are listed via their own links above. While this system overhaul has taken extensive hours of work we recognize that it is possible that errors have occurred.

If you feel that is the case you can request a Point & Badge Audit. It might take a few days to sort out but we are confident any errors can be rectified.

Over the course of the next several hours and days a lot of news will come out to help explain new processes, features and actions that can be taken to improve your point standings and ranks.

Record Points on April 1

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The new points system will be engaged on Saturday, April 2nd. That means you will want to record your points on Friday, April 1st.

The new system will begin accumulating points on Saturday morning. There will be a few “bonuses” that Saturday and Sunday just for logging in. There are a couple of reasons for this.

We’re setting up two new point types, as we explained in our Elf Chat this weekend.

In order to populate the point schedules we need as many elves to log in as possible next Saturday and Sunday. To spur that into happening we will be offering some one-time point opportunities that will never happen again.

While logging in will get you some extra points it will also introduce you to a number of new features related to points. Everything changes.

Given how early in the year it is we will have plenty of time to learn it all.

I will attempt to have ready for you an explanation of all changes on Saturday. There will be all new graphics for our badges. Some badges will be going away. There will be some new ones. These changes are being made to accommodate the new point types and the opportunities they represent.

It will be fun!

Elf Reviews and Ratings Added

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Elf Reviews and Ratings have been added as a new feature that will lead to points, badges and ranks for every elf.

You can read about them in Elf University at this link. They look like this in your profile:

Elf Reviews and Ratings

As an example, I have left a rating and review for Elf Sandy Claus. If you go to her profile you will see a new “reviews” tab added to the navigation bar. It leads to a page that shows what I have written in her review.

This feature will be used a great deal by your Elf Supervisor.

Your Elf Supervisor will review your tracking reports every quarter. Some quarters of the year, particularly the first and second quarters, are low activity times and they may not have anything to review you on. But most definitely they will review and award points, ranks and badges based upon their experience with you in following direction and getting information in to North Pole Flight Command.

You can also leave ratings and reviews for your fellow elves.

In fact, we encourage you to do so. If you see an elf doing a good job, helping new elves along, adding to the community through their jobs as podcasters, news writers or other functions the ratings and reviews feature is a great way to do that.

Also, giving ratings and reviews is a good way for you to generate points for both yourself and the elf you are reviewing.

But beware: leaving inappropriate reviews, incomplete reviews, spurious reviews, false reviews, and overly negative reviews could result in point deductions, badge retraction and rank lowering. Your Elf Supervisor factors your reviews of other elves in their review of you each quarter.

So think before you rate and review.