First Lady Michelle Obama personally answered phone calls to discuss Santa's journey as part of the annual NORAD Tracks Santa program run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
A news release issued by NORAD noted that, for the fifth consecutive year, the first lady “took time from her holiday schedule to deliver cheer to children across America” by participating in the phone calls.
While in Hawaii, Mrs. Obama fielded calls from children calling in to the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center. Mrs. Obama answered children's questions about Santa's exact location using NORAD's global Santa Tracker and let the children know when to expect Santa to visit their homes. She assured them all that NORAD was tracking Santa's progress closely, and his journey was going well.
The NORAD Tracks Santa program began in 1955 after a phone call was made to the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The call was from a local youngster who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a local newspaper advertisement. The commander on duty who answered the phone that night gave the child the information requested - the whereabouts of Santa. This began the tradition of tracking Santa, a tradition that was carried on by NORAD when it was formed in 1958.
The NORAD Tracks Santa program has grown immensely since first presented on the Internet in 1997. The website, www.noradsanta.org receives millions of unique visitors from hundreds of countries and territories around the world. In addition, a live Operations Center is occupied for 23 hours with more than 1,200 volunteers each year who receive hundreds of thousands of phone calls and emails from families around the world.
(From a NORAD news release.)