NORAD’s annual tracking of Santa has endured since the Cold War, predating ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey classics. The tradition continues regardless of government shutdowns, such as the one in 2018, and this year.

It started with a child’s accidental phone call in 1955.

A child's misdialled phone call to a military base in Colorado Springs sparked what would become one of Christmas's most beloved traditions. In early December 1955, Colonel Harry Shoup answered the phone at the Continental Air Defense Command (Conad) during the height of the Cold War.