What the Red Zone Means

Trackers in All Sectors,

In just about 12 hours it will be dawning of Christmas Eve day in Sector 1. Whenever a sector enters into Christmas Eve day we call it entering the Red Zone.

What is the Red Zone?

You’re going to see those words in headlines, hear them on the radio, and read about them on the Official North Pole websites.

It means the sector is fully active – that Santa’s deliveries could happen at any time and that Santa is likely in the air or soon to be in the air within that sector. It also means that OTHER sleighs besides Santa’s sleigh could also be active within the sector.

It is possible for more than one sector to be in the Red Zone.

As a tracker elf, you will want to be as attentive as possible when your sector is in the Red Zone. That is when you might be called upon to report on something that might help Santa.

Be ready to be in the Red Zone soon!

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Trackers in North and Central America Check In

At last! We can now check in in Sector 5!

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Weather Updates Needed

Greetings from Kochi, India!

North Pole Flight Command has informed me that we have a lot of sleighs in the skies associated with Operation Airlift either here now or coming soon over the next 48 hours.

From those elves who are able we need fresh, updated weather reports from all trackers who are able to supply them from their locations EVERY 8 HOURS.

We can do this!

If you have any questions please post them below.

Thanks!

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Public Observance Requested

Friends,

If you’re out and about this weekend please take some time to take a look around you. This request comes from Flight Command and they tell me it could lead to a Local Christmas Report, too.

This is the common name of the public place you are observing
This is different than the Local Christmas Report.
Don't hold back. Tell Santa how you feel.
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Trackers in Greenland and South America Check In

North Pole Flight Command just issued the request for trackers in Sector 4 to check in. Let’s show them we’re ready to go to work!

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Europe and Africa Trackers Check In

Whooooo! Sector 3, we can now check in, per Flight Command:

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Tracking Santa 2024 – New Podcast

Santa Trackers Podcast
Santa Tracker Podcast
Tracking Santa 2024 - New Podcast
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Elf Frank Myrrh and Elf Crash Murphy converse as elves begin checking in around the world for Tracking Santa 2024. They discuss current events at the North Pole including the crisis with Operation Airlift and what it means for tracker elves.

A lot of time is spent answering questions submitted by tracker elves and there were many submitted. Details of how Santa flies and how to spot a flying sleigh in the skies is discussed in depth.

This podcast episode was produced on Saturday, December 21st, just as elves began checking in. It contains very timely information as the final hours until Santa’s launch countdown. We encourage elves everywhere to give it a listen.

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Sector 2 Elves Please Check In

Sector 2, we have been summoned. North Pole Flight Command has authorized our sector for check. Please check in below:

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Elf Check-Ins Begin Soon

As Elf Crash Murphy informed us the other day, Elf Check-Ins will begin early this year. Those hours of elf check-in are soon to be upon us. Very soon.

Your elf supervisor will post up a link of where to check in and when. It is important that Elf Check-ins happen by Sector. That means when Elf Randi in Sector 1 calls for check-ins that only elves in Sector 1 actually check in. The rest of you need to wait until YOUR elf supervisor calls for your sector to check in.

Generally speaking while there is a set time to begin check-ins there is no set time that check-ins end. So even if you show up later than when your Elf Supervisor calls for check-ins, it’s okay.

The Elf Check-in process is crucial because it tells North Pole Flight Command that you are working at that you are available.

Given the weather issues at the North Pole and the uncertain nature of Operation Airlift, there is no predicting this year what your Elf Supervisor might need from you. So be careful when you check in to be accurate in sharing your availability.

Check-in also means you need to be checking back on your sector news page often for news and direction from your Elf Supervisor.

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Submit Questions for Elf Crash

Elf Crash Murphy, International Director of Santa Trackers, has informed me that a lot of effort will be made before Santa launches to answer your questions.

There will be the North Pole Chat on Sunday at 10AM EST as well as late news being posted on all official North Pole websites all weekend. Crash also says he and Frank will do a podcast that focuses on the current needs Santa has as well as the questions you might have.

Please respond to this post below with questions you want to submit. You can alternatively send them to me via Private Message (for North Pole Elves part of the Elf Community).

We want to take questions from ALL tracker elves tracking Santa for Santa, so please use the comment area below to ask.

I think Elf Frank and Elf Crash plan to release that podcast sometime on Saturday, so you’ve got plenty of time to ask your questions.

Thanks!

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Schedule Change Announcement

Due to circumstances related to Operation Airlift we have decided to move up the check-in process worldwide.

Check-ins will be announced via your Elf Supervisor beginning on Saturday, December 21st instead of our original plan of the 22nd.

Tracker Check-in is a process that tells your Elf Supervisor that you are or are not available to work tracking Santa for Santa.

We remind you that Santa is very concerned for your time with your family during this important season. As such, do not feel bad if you cannot be available all the time between the 21st and when Santa arrives at your home.

We appreciate what time you can dedicate to the cause of tracking Santa for Santa.

It is anticipated that this weekend will be filled with news and direction from the Elf Supervisors.

We invite you to participate, if your schedule allows, in the scheduled North Pole chat set for Sunday, December 22nd. I will be hosting that chat and will be able to share and answer questions about the latest in the status of Operation Merry Christmas.

Operation Airlift is off schedule. North Pole Flight Command has had to modify their original plans due to difficulties in getting sleighs launched from the North Pole.

As such, we anticipate this weekend will be filled with a lot of breaking news. We may be asking for reports or observations from local areas that go beyond the norm.

If time allows, Elf Frank and I will likely release a new SantaTrackers.net Podcast to discuss issues this weekend as well.

I encourage you all to read what Elf Ed Zachary posted earlier today. It may help you understand the challenges we are facing as a team in helping Santa get around the world.

As for Santa, he is well aware of the situation and is monitoring things. He plans to continue his visits with believers. At this time, he does not plan a return to the North Pole at a different time than scheduled. He continues to check in with Elf Roger Star on the status of Operation Airlift.

Santa has instructed me to check in with him every 12 hours. Those quick check-ins are by phone and I remain ready to not only forward our questions and concerns to Santa but also to receive his direction.

I will be posting as needed over the next several days so that you know what is going on and how you can help during this time.

Thank you.

SantaUpdate.com - Tracking Santa Online

Understanding Operation Airlift

The news coming from North Pole Flight Command this week has been a little rough. It has resulted in some questions coming from tracker elves – especially our freelance tracker elves.

Everyone wants to do something to help.

Helping begins by understanding the problem and that is what I want to explain today.

~ Operation Airlift is the Problem ~

The weather at the North Pole is a known issue. It seems to affect Santa every year because the most predictable thing about the week of Christmas at the North Pole is snow and a lot of it.

That’s not the problem.

The problem is much, much more complex. The problem is Operation Airlift.

When you go to a store to buy something every item has a bar code. You can’t read the bar code because it’s a computer thing. But when you take it to the cash register and it reads the code a price comes up.

That bar code has a lot more information associated with it beyond the price. It has information you can’t see and, frankly, information you don’t need to know. It is information about the product’s making, where it came from and how many of them are in stock.

The bar code on the item is a silent, easy way for the store people to manage getting stuff to you.

We have a similar system of things here at the North Pole, only it’s not a bar code.

Embedded in every Christmas present you receive is information you don’t need to know. It contains the name of every elf who has touched it (including Santa), when it was made, where it was made, etc. The whole journey of that gift is embedded in the package.

Why?

Because Santa has a very complex job that requires precision in planning.

Operation Airlift is a big part of that planning.

You see, on the day after Christmas, every year, Santa crawls out of bed after a really long nap and he makes his way to Santa’s workshop. There he does one thing and only one thing. He resets the countdown clock.

Then he goes back to bed.

That act of resetting the clock begins the process of planning and executing Operation Merry Christmas.

For us this year at the North Pole Operation Merry Christmas was cooking along just fine. Until this week.

And why?

Because the precision planning of Operation Airlift got tossed out the window – due to the weather.

How that happened isn’t important. What is important is that it happened. And we have to adjust.

All week long North Pole Flight Command has been scrambling to adjust.

Now it’s our turn to adjust as tracker elves.

~ Why Operation Airlift is Important ~

I cannot tell you everything. Some things need to remain a secret for Santa to do his job.

But I don’t think I’m violating any security policies when I explain that Operation Airlift is a logistical procedure that’s necessary for Santa to be Santa.

We answer questions all year long about how Santa gets around the world in just one night. We tell the truth of those things.

But we steer away from the business end of those questions and answers because they are boring. Operation Airlift is boring to most people, even to tracker elves.

You see, Santa is just one man and he flies just one sleigh. Reason would suggest that because of those facts not every thing for every believer in the entire world can fit on Santa’s sleigh.

Most people don’t care about that. But as elves we have to care about that.

There are legions of elves who take care of this part of the Santa business. They coordinate Operation Airlift, which is a massive operation involving literally thousands of people and thousands of other sleighs that are not Santa’s sleigh.

First them move stuff (gifts) from the North Pole to staging locations in various parts of the world. On Christmas Eve, sleighs move the stuff (presents) from those areas, and load them on the back of Santa’s sleigh. Once Santa starts delivering his sleigh is constantly replenished by elves in sleighs moving stuff (GIFTS!) so that Santa can deliver.

Operation Airlift also moves things that aren’t going to be delivered. Mostly it’s elves who transfer to and fro to all these places around the world where Santa needs them. Many of them are warehouse elves. But there are also scouts, scientists, weather people, supervisors, and other personnel who, for whatever reason, need to be shuttled places.

All of these sleighs are coordinated through North Pole Flight Command. It is planned almost down to the minute, way back last winter. North Pole Flight Command plans Operation Airlift to deliver certain stuff to certain places at certain times. It’s that precise. Of course, things *always* get off track a little bit. They build that into the plan.

Operation Airlift actually began the day after Thanksgiving. But the real work of Operation Airlift takes place in the last five days before Christmas.

That’s right now, gang.

The precision plan that began when Santa reset the countdown clock last December 26th fell apart this week. And I mean it got thrown out the window. The ability for Flight Command to launch sleighs on the schedule they set up earlier this year just cannot be met.

We have shared some news via the North Pole websites this week about how Flight Command is adjusting to all this.

Everyone keeps asking “Are things alright?” or “Is this going to affect Santa?” or, the worst, “Is Christmas ruined?”

Well, first of all, relax.

Having a precision plan means building in wiggle room for things to go wrong. As I said, and as we have been told by elves in charge, they are adjusting.

But the plan is shot. Are we on time or are we late? Will Santa be able to deliver on time or not? Will everyone get what they want for Christmas?

Frankly, we don’t know.

I don’t say that to scare anyone or to paint a glum picture.

I’m just saying the plan has fallen apart and we’re doing the best we can to do what we set out to do last December 26th – to help Santa get around the world.

~ Here’s What Every Tracker Elf Needs to Do ~

So what do you do as an elf trying to help Santa this year?

Here’s the plan going forward for the next few days:

1. Check in here often. Some elves are complaining that their elf supervisor isn’t giving them enough to do. Be patient. They are scrambling to KNOW what to do. For right now, just come by often to see if they say anything.

2. Be ready to answer the call – if it comes. But don’t be surprised if nothing comes. If you have been with us all year and have done your job your part in things have not really changed. Your roof has been reported, your chimney inspected, and all your other reports have been sent on time. The need for information for Santa – so far – has been met. We have some elves suggesting things based on the news that is coming out. One well-meaning elf in Pennsylvania in Sector 5 offered to have Santa drop off all the presents for people in his neighborhood at HIS house and HE would go down their chimneys himself to deliver. That was a generous idea but that’s not his job and that really isn’t the problem right now. You stay in your lane. You’re a tracker elf and that’s how the powers that be at the North Pole know you. If you’re needed, it’s going to be for tracker elf stuff. Be ready for that.

3. Ask your questions on the Elf Wall. If you are a freelance elf, ask your questions in the comments below any article here on SantaTrackers.net. You can do that.

What’s going to happen the next few days?

I don’t know. Every year is a new story and this year the story went from ordinary to something else.

Is Operation Merry Christmas in trouble?

Hardly.

We’re going to make it happen. We’re elves. That’s just what we do.

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