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!

Claim the City Captain Job

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Any elf can be City Captain for the city, town or village where they live. You just need to claim the job. You can do this at the City Captain Job page.

A City Captain Elf is responsible for representing the geographical operations of the North Pole in the city in which they live.

As such, they may be contacted by the North Pole to assist in leading Operation Merry Christmas for Santa Claus and the North Pole in the months, weeks and days leading up to Christmas.

The City Captain assumes responsibility for local recruiting efforts of new elves and in communicating, training and executing elf operations locally.

Santa would like as many city captains as possible.

As City Captains claim the jobs I will post announcements about once a week between now and Christmas. We will also work with Elf Max to see that points and badges are set up in your profile.

If you have questions please post in the comments below or on the Elf Wall.

Thanks!

Understanding the Countdown

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Do you know what it means to be OCD?

OCD does not mean what some think it means. Some think it means OBSESSIVE CHRISTMAS DISORDER.

That’s cute. But that’s not it.

In the world of elves, OCD means OBSESSIVE CHRISTMAS DATES.

We manifest OCD as an elf through countdowns. And we have a lot of them.

For example, over at SantaUpdate.com you will see on every daily post right now the countdown to Operation Merry Christmas.

Operation Merry Christmas is what we call Santa’s mission. It “officially” begins the day after Thanksgiving.

The truth is that we work on Operation Merry Christmas all year. It actually begins on December 26th.

But why let a little thing like the truth stand in the way of an official countdown, eh?

That’s why we’re obsessed with the dates of Christmas more than anyone else in the world.

There’s one really big thing you need to understand about the only countdown that really matters. It is NOT what the world at large thinks when it comes to counting down to Christmas.

They countdown to Christmas with all kinds of stuff. Advent calendars have been a thing, even in Churches, for centuries. In our age of the Internet entire websites and all kinds of social media posts are made each day marking off just how many days, hours, minutes and seconds remain until Christmas.

But as an elf you gotta understand this: we’re not really interested in the countdown to Christmas of the world.

In fact, if you talk as an elf about the countdown to Christmas you’re kinda sorta making yourself look a little dumb.

We don’t count down to Christmas. We count down to Santa’s launch.

And that’s what we put on all our websites.

In fact, we sometimes get clever people who are not elves who look at our countdown clocks and say, “Hey – you guys are off by a couple of days!”

And they’re right – if we were counting down to Christmas.

But we’re not counting down to Christmas.

We’re counting down to Santa’s launch.

There’s a big difference between Santa’s launch and Christmas, guys.

Why do we do this?

Because we’re elves! Because we work on getting Santa around the world and the ONLY thing that is important is that come December 23rd we get Santa in the air and on his way.

Christmas, frankly, comes only after we have done our jobs as elves.

So please understand this. Watch our clocks. You’re an elf. You need to know this stuff.

Personal Tracker Reports

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Personal Tracker Reports are reports about you. The Elf Supervisors use your submitted information.

As I was in Norway this week dealing a little bit with the situation with Sector 3 Elf Rolf showed me a big wall of pictures of tracker elves. That’s what he does with the Elfie Selfies you send him. He puts it up on his wall and labels each picture with your elf name.

In talking with all the Elf Supervisors this week I learned they all use the information you submit differently. But they all use it.

They also all said we don’t ask often enough to have that information update. So that’s what I’m asking for today.

When you get an opportunity, please send in all three of these reports (they are linked below):

1. Elf Status Report – this tells us your availability. You should update this as your situation changes between now and Christmas.

2. Elfie Selfie – this is a picture of you, hopefully in front of your Christmas tree, your Santa tracking map or at your home tracking center. The Elf Supervisors LOVE these pictures. Make sure your parents/guardians/wife/mother/significant other are okay with this.

3. Home and Family Report – this is a report shared with Santa, out of concern for all you live with.

None of these are **required**. But it sure is nice to have them.

Ask any questions you have in the comments below.

Thanks!

Sector 3 HQ in Iceland Suspends Operations

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After consultation with Icelandic authorities and after meeting with a senior team of elves in North Pole Flight Command, Santa Claus today authorized the suspension of operations at the Regional Tracking Center located in Vik, Iceland.

The move comes out of “an abundance of caution” due to recent volcanic and earthquake activity in Iceland.

For more information of the changing situation in Iceland surround this natural event, please see this link: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/iceland-evacuees-brace-volcanic-eruption-2023-11-13/

“We are not and have not been in any danger,” said Operations Director for the Vik facility, Elf Gretchen Green. “The government of Iceland still wants us here and hopefully the situation will stabilize before Christmas so that operations can return to Vik.”

The Regional Tracking Center in Vik, Iceland coordinates flight operations for Santa, collects tracker reports, weather information and other vital data used in Santa’s flights for all of Sector, which covers all of Europe and Africa.

Elf Roger Star, Director of North Pole Flight Command, outlined the plan that will take place over the next five days:

1. Elf Supervisor Rolf Jannsen and his senior operations team will move to a temporary location set up in Renn, Norway. Support teams from Flight Command are assisting Rolf to be operational by Saturday, November 19th.

2. Some elf specialists from the Vik team have been temporarily re-assigned to the Regional Tracking Centers for Sector 4, in San Nicolas, Aruba and for Sector 5, in Cold Lake Canada. They will continue their work, mostly related to multi-lingual operations, reporting and data analysis, until the Norway facility is fully open for business.

3. Elf Supervisors in Sector 4 and Sector 5 – namely, Elf Tubby Ryder and Elf Pinky Yates – will assume communication and operations authority while Elf Rolf gets the Norway Facility open.

4. The SS Donner, a support vessel of the North Pole Navy, will stay anchored between Iceland and Norway to assist with communications and logistics.

5. A small dedicated team will remain in Vik to secure the facility and to run minimal operations. If ordered to evacuate by local authorities they are equipped to do so quickly and safely.

All of these operations are being coordinated to keep Tracker Elves in Sector 3 working.

“We believe Tracker Elves can continue reporting, whether they are freelance or remote North Pole elves, without interruption,” said International Director of Santa Trackers, Elf Crash Murphy. “In fact, it is critical that they do not stop reporting. We need weather reports ongoing. With winter quickly settling in up North, chimney inspections are crucial. Test flights for Santa’s sleigh are headed for Europe soon and we need eyes on the skies. We appreciate all Santa, Elf Roger Star, North Pole Flight Command and the North Pole Navy are doing to keep us rolling.”

Tracker Elves, especially in Sector 3, are encouraged to keep a very close eye on Sector news pages and Elf Wall announcements from any of the Elf Supervisors for at the least the next five days.

This is a developing story, with updates soon coming to NorthPoleFlightCommand.com, SantaUpdate.com and SantaTrackers.net

If I Were a Brand New Elf

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Howdy to all our new tracker elves.

My name is Elf Crash Murphy, just in case you didn’t know. I have two main jobs as an elf. First, I’m a North Pole Radio News elf and my assignment every year is to follow behind Santa in a sleigh and report on the radio whatever I see happening as Santa flies and delivers. I’ve done this for many, many years.

Second, I’m the International Director of Santa Trackers and I’m new in the job. So I understand what it feels like to be the new elf.

I recently had a conversation with a brand new elf who was confused and had a lot of questions. It made me think back to when I was a brand new elf working for Santa.

So, I thought it would be best today to share with you my thoughts about what you need to do as a brand new elf. In fact, I may just make a podcast with my radio partner, Elf Frank Myrrh, to talk about this some more.

Anyway, here’s what you should do step-by-step if you are a brand new elf:

1. Relax. Elf life is fun and if you can’t have fun, you can’t be an elf. You’re not going to learn how to do this in one day or even one Christmas. So chill.

2. Forget about going to the North Pole and riding in Santa’s sleigh. Yes, it could maybe possibly in a billion years could sorta might happen perhaps. But you shouldn’t make that what you think about all the time. There is a lot to learn before you get to that level.

3. You only need to know 50 billion things, even as a tracker elf. So get used to the idea of coming to the website, reading like a mad scientist, talking to other elves, and figuring out how to be an elf in you real life. It all takes time.

4. Go to Elf University and study.

5. If you have questions, go to the Elf Wall and ask them. As elves we all help each other.

6. Listen to every podcast ever made both here at SantaTrackers.net and at SantaUpdate.com

7. Listen to Kringle Radio. Everyday.

8. Drink eggnog. Everyday.

9. Come to the websites: SantaTrackers.net, SantaUpdate.com and NorthPoleFlightCommand.com as often as you can. Especially when it is not Christmas. We are here year round and stuff happens year round that affect us when we track Santa.

10. Know your sector. Knowing where you are on the map is important because you have an Elf Supervisor in your sector who tells you what North Pole Flight Command needs from us. If you don’t know all this you can’t help Santa.

Does this help?

I dunno. I know many elves get here and they see how much it takes to learn and they give up.

Just don’t give up. It’s those elves who don’t give up that actually make it to the North Pole and get to ride in a sleigh (like me).

Local Christmas Report Needed

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Good afternoon, elves of Sector 3!

First of all, we have been fielding some questions about the earthquakes and volcanic activity near to us at the Regional Tracking Center here in Vik, Iceland.

I want to assure you that we are safe. Elf Roger Star of North Pole Flight Command dispatch a team of specialists and emergency personnel to monitor the situation since it became apparent earlier this week that a major event is happening in Iceland. So far, the Regional Tracking Center here remains operational. If a need to move comes the decision will be made under the direction of local government. We are ready for anything that might happen.

In the meantime, we remain hard at work in preparing for Santa’s flight in our Sector.

We have been asked by North Pole Flight Command – sector-wide, so all of Europe and Africa – to send in a current Local Christmas Report as soon as possible (within 10 days).

This is not an unusual request and it likely will not be the last time it will be requested of us.

Also, we have been informed that the test flights of Santa’s sleigh will be over our sector some time later this month. I don’t know dates yet but will let you know when I know.

Thank you!

Special Instructions for All Trackers

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Hello, Trackers – Crash here.

I wanted to give you an update on some things and to provide some instruction of things we can be doing between now and Thanksgiving.

1. Elf Chat with Santa – the chat with Santa and I will be held Saturday at 11am EST in Elf Chat at SantaTrackers.net. It is important that you remember what this chat is for: it’s for elf business. It’s for tracking Santa for Santa. It’s NOT for asking Santa for things for Christmas or about his favorite cookies or about why you didn’t get what you wanted for Christmas. We need to all be ready to talk about our jobs as elves, what Santa needs for his flight and exactly what is most important about Tracking Santa for Santa this year. That being said, I don’t want you to be shy in asking questions. But ask about stuff in your elf life, not your normal life.

2. Roof Reports – We’ve talked about this before but I just wanted to remind you. One of our most basic tracker reports is the roof report. Elf Roger at North Pole Flight Command tells us the time in getting short and we need to get these in as soon as possible. Report on roofs that you can see all around you. Only do it from the ground. Take pictures if you can. Be as thorough as possible. Be prepared if someone from North Pole Flight Command contacts you to ask questions.

3. Account Activity – Elf Moe and team are doing a great job making sure only North Pole Elves are on SantaTrackers.net community features such as the Elf Wall. They’ve got a mandate from Santa. If you’re new, get your profile and Elf name in line. There are lots of elves around to help you. Inactive accounts are getting deleted all the time. By this point in the year you should be logging in at least once a week, if not more. If you don’t your account could be deleted.

4. City Captains – I am pleased to announce a new process for those wanting to be a City Captain. To be a City Captain all you will need to do going forward is to claim it for the city or town you live in. Elf Sandy will soon be posting a new form that will allow you to do it. Elf Resources will check to make sure nobody else has already claimed it, but this move should more or less clear up the log jam for this elf job.

5. Other Elf Jobs – we want to fill the Country and State/Province Representative positions right away. Please apply if interested.

Between now and Thanksgiving there may not be a lot of instruction coming from me or the Supes. That’s by design. After Thanksgiving is a different story.

Please check in often, elves.

Thank you.

Keep the Weather Reports Coming

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Elves of Sector 5,

I’ve been informed by North Pole Flight Command that the most and the best weather reports are coming in right now from our sector. As such, they plan to begin the next round of test flights for Santa’s sleigh over North America.

We need to keep the reports coming. They are looking for BAD WEATHER to fly the sleigh in.

I’m not sure how long they will stay in our sector but I understand this is where they want to start!

Alert for All Elves in All Sectors

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Attention all Trackers: In a conversation this morning with Elf Roger Star, Director of North Pole Flight Command, he referenced this posted news at North Pole Flight Command.

Flight Command is working to meet Santa’s requests for changes to the sleigh. It will require some assistance from us over the next couple of days. If you can report from your local area to meet this need it would be very helpful.

The sleigh will be made lighter, which will require re-testing it in certain weather conditions. While it is anticipated that the changes Santa wants will not result in performance problems with the sleigh Elf Roger wants to erase any doubts by putting the sleigh through some rigorous testing in adverse weather conditions. To do that, they need to know where severe weather may be in the forecast over the next few weeks.

They are asking all trackers to research weather forecasts for any severe weather events – it can be rain, snow, wind, hail, tornados, blizzards – anything extreme.

Their plan is to put the modified sleighs – some loaded, some not – directly in the path of as much severe weather as they can find.

I have already alerted the Elf Supervisors to this request. They may be posting specifics to their sector over the next 10-days or so. The goal is to get enough flights tests done in these areas over the next three weeks to discover performance issues and make adjustments.

You can help by:

1. Checking your local weather DAILY.

2. IF there is any sign of extreme weather forecast for your area, copy and paste a weather link in the weather report form and send it in.

All staff at the Regional Tracking Centers are working on this too and will be looking for your reports.

Keep It Close to Home, Elves

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Unsettling world events have caused many elves in Sector 3 to express concerns for the upcoming tracking season.

Yes, this could affect our efforts. The safety and well-being of our elves, of Santa, the sleigh and the reindeer are of utmost importance.

That is why, at this time of heightened concern, we ask that ALL reporting within Sector 3 stay confined to the immediate area around your home and in the direct supervision of your parents or guardians.

That being said: the most important reports needed from Sector 3, especially in areas to the North are:

1. Roof inspections
2. Chimney inspections
3. Weather reports

We would like but DO NOT require local Christmas reports at this time. If you are out and about in the safe company of your family, by all means, please share what you see locally. But do not venture out to do these reports at this time.

We are monitoring the situation closely and will be providing further direction as events unfold.

Stay safe, elves!

Getting Your Elf Profile Right

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Fellow Elves in the Service of Santa,

We’re getting busier. With new elves comes a bit of chaos. There are questions and concerns. I appreciate the help of elves who have been here in years past to help bring the new elves up to speed.

As we work with new elves I’m asking ALL elves to please do the following:

1. Update your profile. To do that, go to “Elf Profile” under the login button at the top.

2. On the submenu bar click on the down arrow on the right and select “Profile Settings”:

Profile Settings

3. On that page select the green icon for “Profile Avatar”. This is the little picture that represents YOU. Every elf needs an avatar. If you can’t find one or don’t have one, please let me or Max or really anyone know, we’ll help you get one.

4. Once that is set up go to the pink icon on the Profile Settings page. This is the “cover” for your profile – the long horizontal picture that serves as the background on your profile header. That image needs to be larger than 1350 px wide and at least 350 px tall. Again, if you don’t have one, let me know and we’ll help you get one.

5. Then go into the Elf Info area and add the word “Elf” in front of your name. For example, my name is Moe so my elf info says “Elf Moe” in the name field. Every elf MUST have the word “Elf” in front of their name.

If your profile is not updated to these specs before Sunday October 22nd your account will default to “retired”, which limits your site access. You don’t want that if you want to be active tracking Santa for Santa in the months ahead.

Retired accounts CAN be restored within 90 days. But to restore it you need to be prepared to get your elf profile in line with the above.

Retired accounts are deleted after 90 days.

This is just elf business. It’s nothing personal. Santa likes a tidy house and this just helps keep things in order.

If you have any questions, please ask. We’re here to help.