Bulgaria Wants to Interview Santa

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Bulgaria wants to interview Santa. On December 24th. On national television. At 7pm local time.

Can you see now why Santa needs elves all over the world?

No matter how much work the Public Relations Department at the North Pole puts into, well, publicizing, how Santa works they still don’t get it.

The media – and this is everywhere, not just Bulgaria – should know better than anyone that Santa is juuuuuuuuuuuuusssssst a little busy on Christmas Eve.

I am sure the News Department hates to turn down a media request in prime time.

But they didn’t even need to think about this one.

Bulgaria is in the center of the delivery schedule for Santa. That means he’s somewhere else just an hour – or 12 hours – before he gets to Bulgaria.

He’s up to his eyeballs in chimneys and reindeer then. There’s no WAY Santa has time to talk to anyone on Christmas Eve.

Elves, we need your help.

Wherever you are, whatever you do, TALK to people over the next week or so. TEACH them about how all this works.

Get them to understand that Santa is delivering to the WHOLE world between the hours of 10pm and 4am local time.

It takes him more of less 30 straight hours to do this – which is a miracle, if you think about it.

30 hours in and out of a sleigh starting in Sector 1 and going until the last porch light goes out in Sector 5.

That means Santa doesn’t have time for phone calls, visits or nationally televised interviews.

Look, you guys – tracker elves, pretty important people in the world of Santa Claus – have to meet with Santa this Saturday (the 16th) because Santa doesn’t have a hole in his schedule closer to Christmas.

If that’s true, and it is because I keep Santa’s calendar, what chance does Channel 4 in Bulgaria have?

Good grief.

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Secrets of Santa

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The real magic of Christmas is happening right now.

Everywhere people have decorated, they are singing songs and anticipation is building for the biggest day of the year – Christmas!

Santa is a very big part of it all.

He is a bringer of gifts, yes. But more importantly, he is a bringer of joy. People just feel good when they think about Santa.

How does that happen?

Lots of people think they know.

They think, “he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake”.

If that’s true (surprise! It’s not), then Santa must know a lot about you, right?

The magic of Santa is not because he sees you, knows all your dark secrets such as being good or bad, or because for whatever reason there are people who think he can see you when you’re sleeping

(What a dumb idea that is! Who would ever want to watch anyone sleeping?).

If Santa knows you it is because you write him letters. If he knows you it is because when you see him, sit on his lap and talk to him you tell him things.

If Santa knows you it is because he asks about you from people you know – your parents, your family, your teachers and others you interact with.

Does Santa actually do that? Maybe, I don’t know, it could happen. Who cares? Is that really the point?

What is the point? Why is Santa so nice TO ME? Who am I to Santa?

These deep probing questions are at the heart of the real secrets of Santa.

There are secrets, you know.

How does Santa make reindeer fly? How is it possible for his sleigh to go so fast?

How can Santa get down a chimney – billions of times – and deliver Christmas to everyone before Christmas morning?

How is it possible to learn and know and speak so many languages?

Does he really make a list and check it twice? Can a reindeer really have a light at the end of his nose?

Santa must have a lot of secrets to pull this stuff off, right?

You’re a tracker. You already believe in Santa. That’s likely because you’ve seen the magic of Santa before.

And good for you. You’re a smart one to be where you are with all this Santa stuff.

Even still, wouldn’t it be nice to know…Santa’s secrets?

Being an elf means you’re on the path to getting those answers. In time, more and more will be revealed to you.

This is why as Elves we take oaths and have codes.

We have to prepare to be guardians of Santa’s secrets.

Why do we have to do this?

Well, it’s simple. It’s because we want Santa to forever continue being Santa.

So, here’s the poop: Santa’s secrets make it possible for him to be Santa.

The question now is, can you handle knowing the secrets of Santa?

Can you, just as a regular person, keep confidential the secrets Santa has?

This will be your big test as an elf. Knowledge is power and power needs to be used responsibly.

I’ve been an elf for nearly 90 years – yeah, I’m an old dude – and I believe after all this time I know maybe only 1% of the secrets of Santa.

If I told you that 1% it would really crack your candy cane. The stuff I know would blow you away.

So I’m telling you, right here, right now, one elf to another: brace yourself.

Knowing the secrets of Santa means having GREAT power. You have to be ready for that.

Why?

Because if you run around blabbing the secrets of Santa to everyone you’re going to ruin Christmas for people all over the place.

You don’t want to be a destroyer of Christmas, right? That would be very un-Santa like, right?

Now, I know when you saw the headline to this article about the Secrets of Santa you thought I was going to tell you something you didn’t already know about Santa.

You thought I’d tell you the power by which he makes a sleigh fly, or how he fills stockings, or what makes him get around the world so fast.

Well now…if you’re an elf and you’ve been here long you should already know the secrets to all that stuff.

But that’s not really the secret you’re looking for, is it?

No, you saw that headline about the Secrets of Santa and your heart skipped a beat because you thought I’d tell you the big one.

What is the big one? The big one is this: Is Santa real?

You know this question. It nags you. It came from countless kids at school who scoffed at you for believing in Santa. It came, maybe, from an older sibling who would say all that Santa talk was just silly stuff.

It came because of the Internet, which seems to be a fountain of continues lies, rumors and mean stuff.

The thing is, as we said at the top of this article, you cannot deny the magic. You’ve see it. You’ve felt it.

You know Santa is real.

And that’s the big one. That’s the secret of all secrets of Santa.

Enjoy the magic of these coming days, Elves.

Santa is going to do it again.

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Test Flights Cancelled in Sector 2

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Trackers of Sector 2, I was just notified by North Pole Flight Command that test flights will not be heading west from their present location in Sector 2. They will instead be headed in the opposite direction – EAST.

This is due in part to the lack of adverse weather conditions in our sector. That, as well as issues involving civil unrest and military priorities in some areas of our sector, Flight Command has determined a better and safer course of action will be to go in another direction.

I’ve also been told that the scope of the test flight plan has changed and this was also a factor in this decision. Please keep an eye on the North Pole Flight Command website for further information and announcements.

While we will not now have test flights over our sector any time soon we remain focused on Santa’s mission and gathering information for that flight some 20 days from now. Keep the reports coming, gang!

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

The Dumb of Fake Trackers

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A couple of weeks ago Elf Moe alerted me to the resignation of a new elf who had signed up just weeks before Halloween. This elf was leaving because “other Santa trackers are more fun”. She said she simply did not believe our merry little website and was leaving to a place where she could play games.

Honestly, I’m glad to be rid of her.

She dotted her i’s with little hearts, asked 9000 questions that have already been answered if she’d just go to Elf University, and she wanted special favors from Santa just because she was an elf who had not ever done anything.

We try real hard to find honest elves.

We teach them about the Elf Code and have them take the Elf Oath. We have elves who do chats and podcasts. And we supply news, direct from the North Pole, and get direction from Santa himself when it comes to our tracking duties.

But none of that was enough for this elf.

She left for the greener pastures of Norad or Google Santa Tracker.

Well, let me tell ya something: those green pastures are fake grass. Fake news. And at the end of it all our former elf friend will find a plastic taste in her mouth put there by people who don’t have a clue when it comes to tracking Santa.

I mean no disrespect to the good people at Norad or Google, or any other place that claims to track Santa.

But honestly, how dumb do you gotta be to go there?

Those guys follow Santa using the same technology that is used for the weather. You think tracking Santa is as simple as tracking a cloud? Have you ever seen how slowly a cloud moves?

But that’s all they have at Norad and Google.

Yeah, they try to make up for it by having fancy maps and flashy games and cartoonish graphics.

But at the end of it all, there’s a hollow empty feeling to everything with those guys.

It’s not really their fault.

Oh, they have money. Santa tracking with them is brought to you by big corporate sponsors who slap logos on everything. They call it all a “public service”.

But the heart and soul there is black, cold and, well, heartless and soulless.

What we do here is purpose-driven. We’re not just tracking Santa. We’re helping Santa to be Santa.

That means a lot more than just seeing all the whiz-bang by multi-national corporations or military units with nothing to do.

But to get to the heart of it all you gotta be an elf.

An elf!

Someone who works for Santa. Someone who knows what is going on at the North Pole. Someone educated in the art of Operation Merry Christmas. Someone who wants to help Santa help the world.

Why would you give that up to play games?

Not everyone is cut out to be an elf. And that’s okay. We don’t wish anything bad on old Elf Goofy Butt. May she get her jollies tracking Santa on fake trackers. At the end of the day, it changes nothing for us.

And it changes nothing for the world.

It does nothing to help Santa help others.

She’ll get her reward.

I personally hope she has a tiny stocking.

Let’s keep all expectations in line here.

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Stocking Mail is NOT for Tracking

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At some point in the upcoming weeks there will be a conversation over at SantaUpdate.com about Stocking Mail. It usually generates confusion.

Unfortunately that confusion starts here in the tracker elf community.

So we wanted to put something out about it now so that mistakes can be avoided in the weeks ahead.

The North Pole Post Office is charged with getting Santa his mail, no matter where he is and no matter what date, time or place it may be.

Most of the time that is best handled online. Yes, many still write hand-written letters. But as time and technology has advanced messaging for Santa comes in many forms: texts, emails, messages, faxes, etc.

Several years ago the North Pole Research and Development Department invented a ground-breaking new messaging system we call Stocking Mail. When implemented the system uses a Christmas stocking as kind of a portal. If a note is put in the stocking at the right time when the system is engaged that message gets transmitted to the North Pole Post Office and thus to Santa.

Pretty cool, right?

Well, here’s what you need to understand about it.

  1. It’s not perfect. It can only handle paper. If things are written on plastic or cloth or something else it doesn’t work. Some have tried to send Santa other things via stocking mail, like cookies or food for the reindeer. That stuff doesn’t work either. In fact it all gums up the system.
  2. It only works when the system is turned on. Turning it on is a complex process that requires special facilities, lots of technical equipment and thousands of elves. For the reason, it only gets turned on for a brief period of time each year. Usually, when Elf Hugo contacts Santa to say that time or other resources are running low to keep other messaging options flowing, that is when Stocking Mail is activated. It does not get activated until and unless Santa approves it.
  3. Stocking Mail is NOT for transmitting any kind of information except messages for Santa. It could be a wish list or some sort of note for Santa – but that’s it. It is NOT for sending tracking information for Flight Command. Don’t do it. They will never see it. You must communicate with North Pole Flight Command as directed at SantaTrackers.net.

We want all tracker elves to know and understand the proper use of Stocking Mail. You should be prepared to explain it to “normies” out there when it is activated come December 23rd and December 24th.

Of course, the News Department at the North Pole will do their part in trying to communicate how it all works. But you know that people don’t read everything we put out. Sometimes you just have to tell them.

Stocking Mail is most useful for the little ones. They will frequently change their minds about what they want for Christmas. Or, they will remember something at the last minute that they just want Santa to know. This is why Stocking Mail was invented.

If properly used and implemented, Stocking Mail will transmit information to Santa from any stocking anywhere in the world directly to him, even while he is on the sleigh. Frequently, Stocking Mail isn’t even utilized until Santa has taken off from the North Pole.

Have questions? As them here, in the comments below or on the Elf Wall. We want everyone to understand this.

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Local Christmas Report Needed

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Good evening, Sector 1 Elves!

North Pole Flight Command has passed along the news that Santa would like a fresh Local Christmas Report from Sector 1, especially for areas of Australia and New Zealand.  There are concerns that maybe the Christmas spirit is weak in those countries.

I think this is the first time they have asked us for this information so far this year. I also hear there might be some concerns brewing in Japan, Guam and also Samoa. I’ll keep you posted on that.

In looking at our general reports overall, we’re up by about 3% – which isn’t bad for this time of the season. We are seeing an upsurge in new elf sign-ups in our sectors and it usually takes a few days for them to get reports flowing.

But so far, so good this year.

Also be aware that Flight Command has told us the test flights are coming to our sector in the next few days. I’m not sure where. But eyes up! If we can get in a few sleigh sighting reports, that would be AWESOME.

Thanks!

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

New Sector Lead

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We are so very pleased and excited to announce that we now have a new lead elf in Sector 3 – Elf Frosty McSnowflake!

Elf Frosty in just three years as a tracker has been elevated to this position thanks to an ever present effort, a cheerful disposition and helpful abilities with elves of all types.

A Sector Lead elf functions as a leader in the sector. As lead Elf Frosty will share news, train new elves, and advise the Elf Supervisor in times of need. Occasionally it may be necessary for the Sector Lead to help recruit new elves, to advise Flight Command and to communicate critical and urgent issues to other elves.

Elf Frosty will also automatically be joined to the group of Senior Elves who work to keep the Elf Community on Santa Trackers.net on track.

We are grateful for Elf Frosty McSnowflake’s example and willingness to serve!

 

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Air Traffic Report Requested

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Hi gang!

First of all, thank you for all the kind notes and well wishes. I’m feeling much better. Had just a touch of a weird flu, but doing okay now.

And Happy Operation Merry Christmas! We’re eating a fabulous red cake with white frosting, made by Elf Marky here in the RTC in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada. Marky loves Operation Merry Christmas and always decorates the office here for this day. It’s fun.

Anyway, I got in today to find a strange request from North Pole Flight Command for our sector. They want us to do an Air Traffic Report sometime this weekend.

Frankly, I thought this was a mistake. My thought was that someone up there was thinking it is December 24th, not November 24th. So I called them and sure enough they put this request in today, November 24th. They really DO want us to do an air traffic report.

I’ve never seen them ask for one of these so early. This report is normally to help warn Santa of weird stuff flying around when he’s out and about on Christmas Eve. But that’s not what this specific request is about.

North Pole Flight Command is testing some new experimental radar system that’s run off of cell towers. Weird stuff. It isn’t a system that is going to be ready soon – a couple of years away is what they told me. But they are testing it this weekend in several areas and they want these reports to see if they can trust the results they are getting in their test.

Basically, if you elves send in observation of what you are seeing in the air space where you are they can compare it to what this new system is reporting.

So, let’s help them out, shall we?

If you have never done an air traffic report before, this will be good practice for you. We usually send out a request for one of these on Christmas Eve when Santa is about ready to enter our sector. So doing it now will get you ready for the real deal next month.

I’m just getting back to the office after being out for a few days. But my plan is to review where we are at and to send out an update to you, likely on Monday. I think we’re in good shape but we have SO MANY new elves and I think we might need to re-organize some things come next week.

Thanks all for your help on this one. The air traffic report can be accessed at this link.

 

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

How to Get Verified

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As a follow-up to my post about Getting Your Elf Profile Right I wanted to share some information about WHY this is important. There are a few good reasons to get this done right away:

  1. This place is crawling with elves. — Elves from North Pole Flight Command come here all the time to match your reports to your profile. They want to “see” your avatar, maybe read your posts, and understand your personality. If your profile is not complete, that can’t happen.
  2. It keeps things tidy. — Santa runs a tight ship. He doesn’t require much, but a complete profile is one of those things.
  3. It gets you verified, which gets you points. — That little check mark next to your name is pretty cool.

Elf Profile

If you can get this done, everything’s cool. You’ll look good and you will move along in your elf career.

If you don’t get it done you risk having your account “retired”. We go quite a while before we take this step. But honestly, elves who cannot get this done after we’ve asked over and over, well, they really don’t seem to be too interested in being elves, right? So if you drag your feet and just plain don’t do it, we will assume you’re not interested in really being an elf and your account will be “retired”.

What does “retired” mean? It means your account goes into lockdown until your profile is right. After a fairly short amount of time on the retired list, your account gets deleted – never to return. Your elf career will be over. You’ll be done. Forever.

Don’t let your account get retired or deleted. That’s no fun for anyone.

To get verified, we look at your profile to see that all the small requirements above are met. If you miss any of them you don’t get verified. If you don’t get verified, you get retired. We try to verify accounts at least once a week. If you feel you meet the requirements and you’ve waited too long to be verified, just PM me or Max. We’ll jump on it as soon as we can.

Any questions? Please ask. We know that some elves are going to need help and we have plenty of other elves here to get you through it. Any elf trying to do this – and struggling – is not going to be retired. We’ll help you get there.

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Holiday Weekend Chats

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The Thanksgiving Holiday weekend will feature many events both at the North Pole and online. Lined up are several North Pole elves to chat with tracker elves, believers and fans on North Pole Chat at SantaUpdate.com.

Here is the lineup:

Roger Star Chat

Hugo Chat

Frank and Crash chat

Elf victor Chat

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Sector 1 Has a New Lead

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We are excited to announce Elf Lachie as our new Sector Lead for Sector 1.

Elf Lachie has been a dedicated tracker in Sector 1 for several years now. His year round presence, great questioning skills and persistent reporting has been a tremendous asset to us. He is a trusted voice to all trackers, not just in Sector 1.

As Sector 1 Elf Lachie will assist in sharing news within the Sector, helping new elves get up to speed and providing direction in the critical moments of tracking Santa.

We are excited to have his leadership and look forward to working together with Elf Lachie.

Max – can you get Elf Lachie’s profile reflecting this change?

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Need More Roof Reports

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Elves of Sector 4 – hola!

In comparing where we are this year to last year, I am happy to report that we have more reporting elves than we did a year ago. However, I also notice that we have fewer roof reports than last year at this time.

We need to fix that.

The roof report is one of the most important that we do for Santa. From your roof reports he learns what he need to know before he gets there.

For those elves in Greenland and South America – please do a roof report soon!

In other news, I’m still looking for a good elf to be our Sector Lead in Sector 4. Please apply!

Gracias!

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online