Like almost every other 2020 holiday, Christmas won\u2019t be quite the same. But there\u2019s one custom we can still count on: Santa and his sleigh will navigate from the North Pole to your rooftop to drop off your gifts (while he wears a face mask<\/a>).<\/p>\n We know this thanks to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Spring, Colorado, NORAD keeps constant watch over U.S. and Canadian aerospace via global satellite and radar systems. And the same good people have monitored Santa\u2019s journey every Christmas Eve since 1955.<\/p>\n On Dec. 24, NORAD will again offer its beloved Santa Tracker<\/a>, revealing up-to-the-second whereabouts of Saint Nick and his sky-high reindeer team as they circle the planet. Anyone can follow the route via a special NORAD website<\/a> that\u2019s maintained by Microsoft engineers and hosted on Microsoft Azure<\/a>.<\/p>\n The website also features games, holiday music, movies and more. It\u2019s available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese. In addition, NORAD will use its new, Santa-tracking app and its social media channels to post updates throughout the evening.<\/p>\n And for curious kids who need to know more than the ETA of Father Christmas, NORAD on Thursday launched a new chatbot to respond to timely questions, like: \u201cIs there a big drum of hand sanitizer on board the sleigh?\u201d Answer: \u201cSanta is taking all of the necessary precautions to keep everyone safe as he delivers presents.\u201d NORAD deployed the chatbot by using Azure Bot Service.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a tough year and everyone\u2019s looking for a bit of good news,\u201d says NORAD spokesman Preston Schlachter. \u201cWe realize that. We want to offer a fun experience for everybody and maybe take their minds off what 2020 has been like.\u201d<\/p>\n The soul of NORAD\u2019s Santa Tracker has long been its Christmas Eve call center, a festive hub usually staffed by some 1,500 headset-wearing volunteers \u2013 a mix of civilians in holiday sweaters and service members in full camo.<\/p>\n Every Dec. 24 for years, the group has packed into several conference rooms at Peterson Air Force Base, filling two-hour shifts across a 20-hour day. The work is fast. Each volunteer typically fields about one call per minute from a child somewhere in the world anxious for Santa\u2019s approach. Some volunteers know that excitement personally \u2013 as kids, they once called NORAD\u2019s tracker hotline.<\/p>\n To maintain safe distances this year, NORAD will host fewer call-center volunteers and wearing a mask will be mandatory, Schlachter says. Callers who can\u2019t reach a live operator via 877-HI-NORAD (877-446-6723) will hear a recorded update on Santa\u2019s location.<\/p>\n But for one long-time volunteer, Christmas won\u2019t be the same unless he\u2019s on the base, answering those urgent calls.<\/p>\n \u201cI absolutely can\u2019t miss it,\u201d says Jim Jenista, a NORAD employee and former Navy pilot and bombardier who has spent nearly 20 Christmas Eves in the call center.<\/p>\n In fact, it has become a Jenista family tradition \u2013 and an occasion to dress for the moment.<\/p>\n Since the early 2000s, Jenista, his wife, Karen, and their six children have volunteered for the NORAD phone bank. They arrive in Santa hats and handmade T-shirts, each emblazoned with a specific reindeer. The kids are now grown and live far away. This year, it will just be Jenista and Karen bedecked in their \u201cCupid\u201d and \u201cVixen\u201d shirts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is so rewarding. That night embodies the innocence, the expectation and the excitement of the holiday and the giving season,\u201d Jenista says. \u201cIt\u2019s also the fastest two hours of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n In many ways, Jenista represents NORAD\u2019s unique duality: sober security meets joyful wonder.<\/p>\n The organization was built during the Cold War to help defend North America against missile strikes. Today, however, many kids know NORAD for its softer side: following and safeguarding Santa\u2019s long ride.<\/p>\n Jenista once flew A-6 Intruders and F-14 Tomcats, was on duty at NORAD on 9\/11, and he currently helps coordinate U.S. military training exercises. In his free time, however, he hosts a YouTube channel as \u201cGrandpa Silly<\/a>,\u201d reading from children\u2019s books in his animated style.<\/p>\n \u201cOur motto at NORAD is, \u2018We have the watch,\u2019\u201d Jenista says. \u201cThat means while you go about your life, just know that we\u2019re here, ready to deter those who might want to do us harm.<\/p>\n \u201cNORAD Tracks Santa is a unique opportunity to share additional mission information with the people who depend on us,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe get to talk about radars and intercepts and infrared and satellites \u2013 all the equipment and procedures we have to protect the population.\u201d<\/p>\n In both worlds, Jenista says, NORAD seeks to help people sleep better at night.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s one more similarity between the two endeavors: Operating the Santa Tracker is also a year-round mission.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not something that just gets started and implemented in December,\u201d says Schlachter, who leads NORAD\u2019s preparation. \u201cAs soon as the program is over on Christmas, we are talking about lessons learned and how we can make changes for the following year.\u201d<\/p>\n To sustain and continually reinvent its Santa Tracker, NORAD relies on a large roster of volunteers, from tech companies like Microsoft to local businesses in Colorado Springs that provide call center operators with coffee, water, sandwiches and snacks.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of our partners have approached NORAD wanting to be a part of the program, and they all provide those services gratis,\u201d Schlachter says. \u201cWe could not have this program without their generosity.\u201d<\/p>\n At Microsoft, more than 25 employees worked on the Santa Tracker website and chatbot throughout the year. That includes Azure and Bing<\/a> engineers, plus engineers from the FastTrack for Azure<\/a> team, a technical enablement program that helps with rapid design and deployment of cloud solutions.<\/p>\n In 2019, the Santa Tracker website racked up about 15 million pageviews.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, many of those same employees were busy helping Microsoft customers and partners shift their companies to remote work. Against that pandemic backdrop, Microsoft engineers continued to collaborate with NORAD to update the website and build the chatbot, says Susan Sullivan, a Microsoft senior program manager in Azure engineering.<\/p>\n \u201cThe worry might have been: How does a program like this, not on people\u2019s minds in March, April and May, get the traction it needs when everybody is totally distracted?\u201d Sullivan says.<\/p>\n \u201cBut individuals saw the Santa Tracker program and enjoyed taking a deep breath of something fresh. 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