Coming Numbers to Follow

Hello Fellow Elves!

Santa, Elf Crash Murphy and Elf Roger Star met with the Accounting Department last week to discuss a report I sent them some time ago. Based on our discussions in that meeting, I have been charged with sharing with you via SantaTrackers.net some important numbers.

Numbers are a very important part of Operation Merry Christmas, or any other important enterprise. Numbers measure success. They point to action that has to be taken to improve. Nobody goes to watch a sport anywhere without numbers because numbers are how we know who wins. We have all kinds of numbers we follow at the North Pole and we watch them religiously.

Santa wants you to be aware of these statistics BEFORE his chat with you later this month.

Both he and Elf Crash Murphy believe that if you know this data, and understand it, you will be better prepared to do your job as a tracker elf this season.

I’m going to need a few days to put this all together. But what will follow from me will be information about elves, tracker elves, reindeer, sleighs, time, North Pole Flight Command and the North Pole (and by extension, Santa) that may be interesting to you.

I realize some of you, especially younger elves who are new to tracking Santa in this way, may struggle to know what to do with this information. That is why I’m giving you a heads up that this information is coming. We are a community. As you read things that are posted by elves like me it is okay to share that you don’t understand it or that you have questions. Other elves here can help and your Elf Supervisors will also be available to answer your questions and to share what they think the numbers mean.

All of this is designed to help your chat with Santa which is later on this month. (And what hasn’t that been officially posted yet?)

Anyway, my name is Elf Flip Beanz and I’m your number elf. It’s my job to gather and keep this data. I usually send my reports to Santa and other elves like Crash and Roger. But for whatever reason, for the next couple of weeks, they want me to focus on you.

So please know this stuff is coming and that’s it is okay to ask questions about it.

Thank you.

Santa Chat is Scheduled

Santa Claus is coming to Elf Chat on August 24th at 9am EST.

This long-touted chat is anticipated to bring a lot of elves. Santa has a message for elves everywhere and this is the time slated for him to present it to tracker elves.

Please note that this chat will precede another chat scheduled at 10am EST at SantaUpdate.com with Elf Ernest.

The planning of these chats back to back is on purpose. The North Pole wants elves to attend these chats and to get their questions answered before the season gets underway. It is expected to be a very active season this year as Santa has some special missions lined up.

According to Elf Max, the chat room at SantaTrackers.net has been remodeled and is fully functional. You may want to familiarize yourself with the new set up in advance of the chat.

We hope to see you there.

Who’s Retiring?

I was in Crashes chat on Saturday then I heard them talking about Santa’s whereabouts. They said he was at the North Pole Navy talking about things and one of those things was the Elf Retirement.

The one things i’m wondering about is who is retiring? Because I haven’t seen anything suspicious lately. This guy is keeping this real secret till I heard about it. but who could it be? Is it Elf Hugo, head of the North Pole Post Office? Is it someone from the Workshop of making toys? Is it Bernard? Although this might be true this is a really big thing.

But who is retiring? I know a lot of elves I would not even know which one to expect! I have 47 friends! That would take me For-Ev-er! So who’s the elf? I know an elf would never be happy that they were retiring because they love the North Pole! They love working for kids but why do they want to retire? Is it because they are getting older and they think its a great time to do so? That’s fine but why? And who is retiring?

Thank you for reading and get your grill going i’m wishing you all a very merry Christmas in July!

Have a great week and remember!…

STAY JOLLY!

 

Hello from Hamburg

Fellow elves of Sector 3 – I send you greetings from Hamburg, Germany where we have arrived just hours ago via express sleigh from the North Pole. We are fresh off the Elf Supervisors Meeting and we’re excited to be in what will be our home for the next three months.

When I left, I was told that North Pole Flight Command would make the announcement. They did! So now we can get down to business.

I have roughly 440 elves here with me – and we’re anxious to get to work. Santa has asked that we get up and running by August 1st, but I plan to get there earlier than that if we can. There is much to be done.

This is a big city. It’s lovely here. I’m told it’s a Christmas city, one of the biggest and the best in all of Germany. So we are very excited to learn about the area and get settled in.

It’s surprising. The cities being chosen this year are bigger than ever, and no where near as remote. I’ve never worked in a place so big.

It’ll be interesting. I’m a little concerned that the public might find us. North Pole Security is meeting with us first thing this week to talk about that. We are a large team here in Sector 3. It might prove difficult for them all to keep quiet about where we are. We’ll see.

In any event, I’m confident in our prospects going forward. It will be great to get setup, get connected and start with the business of Tracking Santa for Santa.

India Here We Come

Greetings from the sleigh! We’re in flight right now, headed to our new Regional Tracking Center home for Sector 2 this year – Kochi, India!

Kochi is so ideally suited for us in Sector 2. It is fairly central to the middle of our sector, which just happens to be the biggest in the world.

We have access to everything here: great food, high-speed fiber Internet, a local eggnog producer, full reindeer facilities, sleigh repair, and some of the biggest artificial Christmas trees in all the world. Yes, Kochi knows how to celebrate Christmas.

We have all the plans in place and we’ve been charged with getting it all set up by the end of July. But here’s a news flash for you kids: we’re going to get this baby up in under a week.

I have been here so much the past several months that I know everything that needs to get done. I’m guessing we’ll be the first sector with a fully functional Regional Tracking Center set up. That’s how confident that I am.

So hang tight. We’re going to be in business here real fast. And once we get up and running my plan is to put you trackers to work right away.

Honors for Sector 1

Elves of Sector 1, I have great news.

First, and you likely already know this, the location of our Regional Tracking Center this year will be in Otaru, Japan. Announced yesterday by North Pole Flight Command, I was informed of this decision during a fun little ceremony here at the Elf Supervisor meeting.

I’m very excited to be heading to Japan on Saturday by express sleigh. This is one of the locations I personally scouted several months ago and I’m very excited to go.

Also, Sector 1 was named the Sector of the Year by the executive team at North Pole Flight Command for the work we did last Christmas.

We were the sector that most improved overall performance and even Santa himself said, “The work in Sector 1 cannot be applauded enough. Without their efficiency and robust Christmas spirit there is no way a new sleigh speed record was set and no way the accomplishments of last year’s ride could have been made.”

This is great! I’m so proud of you all and thankful for another opportunity to do even better this year.

Be sure to hang out for the next several weeks, guys. We’ve got lots of great news coming as we track Santa again!

Getting Down to Business

Well, as you maybe have read, the stuff of getting settled on the Regional Tracking Centers is done.

Some of you might be happy.

They really took your suggestions seriously. I think a few of you might be pleasantly surprised.

As for me, well, I couldn’t care less.

I’m in the news business. Where things like this happen does not matter to me. It’s WHEN things happen that matters to me.

The Regional Tracking Centers will all be in business now very soon. Once they are, my news teams have a place to work in each sector. And that is all that is important.

We can finally get down to business.

The news department here at the North Pole, like every department, takes our duties seriously. We want you to be informed.

That’s why we’re grateful for elves like Elf Westover, who decided on his own to launch his own video news channel. That’s awesome. It gets the word of Santa and the North Pole out there.

We want to encourage elves of all kinds to do it.

Just do it like he does. He asks for news. He wants to do it right so he checks in with Elf Crash a lot. And sometimes with me too. Because he wants it to meet Santa’s expectations.

We really appreciate that. It makes the work the rest of us do a lot easier.

The Regional Tracking Center announcements, to me, are one of the biggest markers of the year. When those are done it’s like everything steps on the gas when it comes to Operation Merry Christmas.

The first half of the year while goofy committees like this one piddle around trying to make a decision the time seems to just crawl. But once they get it done it’s a like a bomb going off.

We suddenly get super busy.

And that is where we’re at right now.

What does that mean for you, a tracker elf?

It means the fun is just starting.

Now, I don’t want to take anything away from Elf Crash. He’s your leader and I don’t know anything other than the news business. So what I’m about to tell you is just advice.

Going forward your Elf Supervisor is going to be asking you to do a few things. It’s not much.

But it’s really important.

In order to do what they are asking – and in order for you to really help Santa – you need to know what’s going on.

That’s where I come in. It is our job in the news department to inform you. We do that through our Official North Pole websites.

There is SantaUpdate.com, the largest and longest running North Pole news website in the world. Everyone goes there and not just elves. You need to visit it DAILY from this point forward.

There is this site – SantaTrackers.net – which is just for tracker elves. That’s right, you guys have this one site for exclusive news that is just for elves. Occasionally you get news here that is not available to the public.

Then there is NorthPoleFlightCommand.com. That’s got news on it, yes, but it does a lot more than what you see. That site, you see, is what connects all the Regional Tracking Centers to the North Pole. It’s the mother ship. Did you know that on Christmas Eve it becomes the largest mobile network in the world? It connects not only all the regional tracking centers to the North Pole but also all the ships of the North Pole Navy and all the sleighs of the North Pole Air Force. All the news elves working remote locations on Christmas Eve use this same portal.

And nobody outside of this huge network is even aware of it. NorthPoleFlightCommand.com is the glue that holds all the moving pieces of Operation Merry Christmas together. As an elf, you should know that.

Now, we have other Official North Pole websites but those are the ones you, a tracker elf, really needs to know and to visit with regularity.

Because they are all going to get buzzing. Very soon.

Santa Tracker Map is Back Online

The tracker map at SantaTrackers.net has been re-activated.

Starting Monday, July 1st, tracking of test flights of Santa’s sleigh “go global” according to Elf Buck Sanchez, Director of Flight Operations at North Pole Flight Command.

Flight Command has been pretty tight lipped about the exact schedule in the days or weeks ahead. However, I’m told the first week will be dedicated to “speed trials”.

Speed trials are a test of the high end speed of the sleigh. The sleighs doing these flights will be empty. The test is to push the sleigh as fast as it can go and to see how it handles.

They want to do these tests in fairly stable weather. So they will be running west to east, just north of the equator. Those flights start Monday July 1st.

Of course, weather forecasts are being watched and those plans could change.

The sleigh will be taking a more conventional course of test flights beginning next week. We are awaiting word of which sector they plan to fly in.

We will keep you posted.

Christmas in July Chat for Trackers

Happy Leon Day from the North Pole! On the direction from Elf Crash Murphy I have been asked to announce the first tracker elf chat of Christmas in July. It will be happening this Saturday, June 29 at 11am EST in Elf Chat here on SantaTrackers.net.

Elf Crash Murphy will host the chat and is announcing he will be having a secret special guest to kick off this Christmas in July celebration.

The general theme of the chat will be “How to get started Tracking Santa for Santa 2024”. Crash will be happy as well to answer any and all questions you might have.

Also, announcements will be forthcoming from SantaUpdate.com relative to Christmas in July celebrations both at the North Pole and around the world.

We hope you can join us for these events.

North Pole Navy Deploys

The good ships of the North Pole Navy have been dispatched to the oceans of the world.

According to Elf Buck Sanchez, Flight Director at the North Pole, North Pole Flight Command is prepping to start tracking sleigh flights soon. He said that began with the North Pole Navy receiving orders to deploy.

Last Christmas Eve, six ships of the North Pole Navy were used to support Santa’s Christmas Eve flight. Elf Buck Sanchez said he could not disclose which ships were deployed or where they are being sent. This is normal for the test flight phase of Operation Merry Christmas. The ships left ports near the North Pole this week.

What this really means is that test flights are beginning soon. We have known about for several months that the first week of June was the original target to begin the test flights.

We have had hundreds of reindeer in training at the North Pole, nearly all of them part of the test flights teams assigned to power the test flights of Santa’s new sleigh.

All of this is a very good sign. It means that Operation Merry Christmas is on track and going well.

This is, of course, good information for Santa trackers. Test flight operations mean that the Santa tracking season has begun. Elf Buck did not say when the tracking map might be open but we’re expecting an announcement any day now.

As more news becomes available we will, of course, update you.

Regional Tracking Center Update

Why was I even worried?

I was scared witless over being assigned to the Regional Tracking Committee because it totally put me out of my elf comfort zone. I vowed to show up with a paper bag over my head.

I could have shown up with lit sparklers in my ears for all it mattered. Nobody knew I was even there.

That’s partly because this committee is huge. Dozens and dozens of elves like me were assigned to this group and most of the elves there were just like me: entirely clueless.

I could not believe the first order of business. The Committee was charged with “whittling the list down to” just 2500 prospective locations.

Yes, they wanted it down to “just” 500 candidate per sector.

Somehow, they came up with more than 4000 altogether.

It’s amazing. I went to one meeting, sat in a big room with lots of other elves, I did absolutely nothing, and they already had 4000 candidate locations.

Within about two weeks of looking over these 4000 ideas, the executive level committee – I’m guessing that’s Santa, Elf Ernest, Elf Roger Star and other hot shot elves – called another meeting and told us that they had eliminated 3000 of those suggestions and asked for more.

That’s when they decided to get your ideas.

And our tracker elves responded, bless their hearts.

We had elves like little Timmy Halstrom, of Knickerbocker, Texas, home of the Sweetwater Ranch. Timmy is 11 and a four-year veteran of tracking Santa for Santa.

Timmy’s idea was to put the Sector 5 Regional Tracking Center at the Sweetwater Ranch. “We have an 85-inch big screen TV and I’m pretty sure my Dad would let you guys use it on Christmas Eve.”

Honestly, 85-inches is kind of small for a Regional Tracking Center but someone at Flight Command liked Timmy’s idea and actually contacted his father, Jared, to see if the offer was serious. Jared knew nothing about it and protested. “You can’t have my big screen on Christmas Eve! That’s when we watch Elf!”

Well, now.

Timmy’s suggestion isn’t quite off the table yet. He’s still on the list of potential sites. But there are details yet to work out.

But I’ve learned a lot from those of you who are giving this some thought.

Some of you have suggested the same location. For example, many of you think Rudolph, Wisconsin should host a regional tracking center.

I’m guessing that’s because of the name, Rudolph. It’s still on the list too.

But here’s the deal: Santa, in helping to cull the names down to just 1000, said that we need at least another 1500 new recommendations.

So keep those ideas coming in. They are ALL getting looked at.

As for me, well, I’m no longer nervous about all this. They haven’t asked me a thing and I don’t think they are going to.

A lot is supposed to happen over the next month or so. They’ve got to get this list down to the top ten in each sector (so, 50 names altogether) by Leon Day. That’s June 24th.

That means a lot more names need to be recommended, a lot more scouts need to be sent out, a lot more photos and videos need to be taken, etc etc etc.

By Leon Day we should have ten recommendations in each sector and a good idea of what’s going to happen before announcements are made for Christmas in July.

Maybe by then someone will ask me what I think.

And maybe by then I’ll actually have an opinion.

I still have no idea what I’m doing or even why this is important.

But it’s a big deal. So many elves are working on this.

Santa Tracker Update 2024

Santa Trackers Podcast
Santa Tracker Podcast
Santa Tracker Update 2024
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A Santa tracker update comes to you in the form of a new podcast episode from Elves Frank Myrrh and Crash Murphy.

This discussion focuses on the details of Santa’s record-breaking flight last Christmas and what it means for future flights for Santa. Crash discusses why Santa is so quiet right now and why he is hesitant to say many things publicly.

Also addressed are concerns for Elf Frank Myrrh, who took some time off to deal with an illness, and an update of this year’s North Pole Radio News schedule.

Elf Crash talks a bit about the road forward for tracker elves and how this year will move forward.