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Volunteers take phone calls and answer emails at the Santa Tracking Operations Center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, Dec. 24, 2010. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

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Santa-tracking program sees record use

NORAD program started tracking Santa in 1955

Updated: Wednesday, 12 Jan 2011, 8:07 AM CST
Published : Wednesday, 12 Jan 2011, 7:39 AM CST

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) - NORAD says its Santa-tracking program logged a record number of phone calls and e-mails on Christmas Eve.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command said Tuesday that volunteers answered more than 80,000 phone calls and more than 7,000 e-mails on Santa's whereabouts.

In 2009, the program answered 74,000 phone calls and 3,500 e-mails.

The website had nearly 15.5 million unique visitors, up from 13 million the previous year.

First lady Michelle Obama answered calls via a phone hookup from Hawaii, where her family was vacationing. It's believed to be the first time a first lady has participated in NORAD's Santa-tracking program.

The program started in 1955 when a newspaper ad printed the wrong number for a Santa hotline and children called NORAD's predecessor instead.