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Santa is officially in the United States! According to NORAD, Santa Claus is now visiting Puerto Rico! Of course, there are many other beautiful islands to visit before he gets to the contiguous 48 states, but we should be seeing Santa soon across the US, so be sure to tuck in and close your eyes. Remember, Santa won’t visit if you’re awake, or at least if you seem like you’re awake. After Puerto Rico, Santa is sure to hit the Bahamas. In the Bahamas they love to have some seafood for Christmas dinner, but the main course might be turkey, just like lots of other places Santa has visited tonight. Have fun, everyone!

Interestingly enough, though, when it comes to Christmas songs, the Guinness Book of World Records claims that Bing Crosby’s White Christmas is the best-selling Christmas song… and, in fact, the best-selling single of all time. We doubt its popularity has changed too much in the streaming era since it’s probably on every Christmas playlist. All I Want For Christmas is You by Mariah Carey seems to be the only song even close to challenging Bing for popularity. Wikipedia even claims that it’s the best-selling Christmas ringtone from back when people paid for ringtones. We’ll be honest; we’re taking Wikipedia’s word on that, and we didn’t dig too deep into it ourselves. In the future, though, the next Christmas might just be recorded on an iPhone – thanks to a new Voice Memos update, you can layer vocals on top of another recording. Michael Bublé thinks it will ” change the way we make music, forever,” and recorded his latest Christmas track using an iPhone.

Santa’s moving with great speed now and is already in France according to NORAD’s tracker, which you can follow here. “Bienvenue, Père Noël,” cries the children of France as he soars across the French airspace. France’s Christmas traditions vary a fair bit, which isn’t surprising given its size and multiculturalism. Some celebrate Christmas much earlier in December, with the North and North-East of France exchanging gifts on December 6th, which is St. Nicholas’ Day. According to the Saint Nick lore, three little children got lost and were captured by an evil butcher, Père Fouettard. Thankfully, they were rescued by St Nicholas, who rescues them – and that’s why he’s known as the patron saint of children. To thank him all these years later, French children leave a boot or shoe for him. Good children will receive gifts, and naughty little ones just get coal. Other families exchange gifts much later on January 6th in observation of ‘Thre Kings Day,’ if not on December 25th.

Santa’s nearly wrapped in Norway and next up is Germany on this wonderful gift-giving holiday, according to NORAD’s tracking technologies. Many iconic Christmas traditions stem from Germany, from Christmas tree and home decorating to advent calendars and even gift-giving. That’s right, Germany’s had a bad case of the Christmas spirit ever since the late 1700s, although many of the traditions were inherited from pagan celebrations of yore. Fun fact: German poet E.T.A Hoffman published one of the must well-known Christmas stories, “Nutcraker and Mouse King” in 1816, which serves as the first literary record of a decorated Christmas tree.

It’s been a while since we checked in with ChatGPT – let’s see what fun festive facts it has in store. I asked for its best Christmas trivia, and it decided to inform me of the origin of candy canes. “One fascinating Christmas fact is the origin of the candy cane. Legend has it that in the late 17th century, the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany wanted to keep the children quiet during the Living Creche ceremony. In an effort to remedy the situation, he asked a local candy maker to create sugar sticks to hand out to the children. To justify the practice of giving out candy during a religious ceremony, the candy maker supposedly made them in the shape of a “J” to represent the name of Jesus and turned them white to symbolize purity. Over time, the candy canes evolved into the red-and-white-striped treats we are familiar with today. While the historical accuracy of this legend is debated, it adds a delightful and sweet dimension to the story of the candy cane.” Germany truly is the home of Christmas, apparently. Stay tuned – we’ll be giving some more Germanic facts when Santa reaches Europe in the next hour.

Now, “Jingle Bells” might be one of the most iconic Christmas songs in history, but more than that, it’s a treasure trove of trivia. First off, and I hope you’re sitting down for this one – it was originally a Thanksgiving song. I hear you, it’s a shock to me too. It was originally composed back in the mid-19th century by James Lord Pierpont for his church’s Thanksgiving concert before it was re-released later in 1857 with a more Christmassy title and overall vibe. Fast forward over 100 years and “Jingle Bells” takes the biscuit once again; in the lead-up to Christmas in 1965, astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford relayed an unusual sighting to Mission Control from aboard the Gemini 6 spacecraft. Apparently, an “unidentified flying object” was poised to enter Earth’s atmosphere, moving in a polar orbit from north to south. Injecting a touch of humor into the situation, they abruptly broke the tension by serenading Mission Control with a rendition of “Jingle Bells” accompanied by Schirra on a compact harmonica, and Stafford with a handful of small sleigh bells. We hope the astronauts on board the ISS are having a hearty sing-along now as Santa is making his rounds. Right now, Google shows Santa in Turkey, while NORAD shows the sleigh currently in Mozambique.

Google’s Santa Tracker shows that presents have already been delivered in Egypt, but that might be a bit early, even for Santa’s calendar. Why? Well, most Christmas observers here actually celebrate on the 7th of January on Coptic Christmas Day. Sweet biscuits called Kahk are exchanged, and a popular option for Christmas Dinner is Fatta, an indulgent meal consisting of bread, rice, garlic, and boiled lamb meat. And next on Santa’s countries to visit, according to Google, is Lithuania. In fact, the sleigh should be arriving there any minute now. Lithuania should be renamed to Lithu-hay-nia, because straw and hay form a big part of Christmas culture. Whether it’s decorating the dinner table before Kūčios or being woven into Christmassy shapes, straw plays a pretty prominent role.

As Santa is making his way through Turkey and Russia, according to NORAD and Google, you might be thinking about what you hope to unwrap after your presents are delivered. Well, rest assured, Santa, Rudolph and his friends, and the sleigh ensure proper delivery of big and small gifts, smart speakers included. So, if you’re expecting a new Alexa speaker this Christmas or have a New Year’s resolution to get organized, a great feature to read up on is Alexa Routines. These automations can help take off some of the mental load. Lucky for you, we’ve made a quick guide for how to set these up. How to set up Routines with Alexa: make the most Amazon Echo-based automations – YouTube Watch On

If you’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa, Rudolph, and the rest of the reindeer and tracking on either Google’s Santa Tracker or the official NORAD one, both are good sites to check out for some mini-games and the like. If you scroll down the Google Santa Tracker, you’ll find some animated shorts, a fun ‘Santa Selfie’ tool, and three games, including Gumball Tilt and Railroad Ride. Plus, if you’re up at the map, you can check out some photos of where Santa is currently delivering presents or places where Christmas is already taking over. NORAD has much more than just the 3D or 2D Santa Tracker; you can watch movies of him flying through the sky in all the locations where Santa’s already delivered presents. Currently, Google shows Santa heading toward Antarctica, while Norad shows the sleigh last seen in Djibouti.

Whether you’re tracking Santa on NORAD, Google, or another preferred track, it’s clear he’s making excellent progress in covering the globe. Santa is finishing off delivering gifts in the Middle East and Asia before heading to Africa and Europe and then, eventually, the rest of the world. Below, we shared a ChatGPT-generated Christmas-themed trivia, and now it’s time for the answers to be revealed. Let us know how many you got correct! 1: In what year was “Silent Night” first performed? Answer: 1818 2: Which country started the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree? Answer: Germany 3: In the classic Christmas song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” how many gifts in total are given by the end of the song? Answer: 364 4: What is the name of the holiday celebrated in Latin American countries, beginning on December 16th and ending on December 24th, that commemorates the journey of Mary and Joseph? Answer: Las Posadas 5: Which British monarch delivered the first Christmas Day message to the nation over the radio in 1932? Answer: King George V

Santa’s finally almost done with the Middle East and Asia, meaning it’s almost time for Europe and Africa! While we wait, let’s head to ChatGPT for a fun little quiz. I’ve asked the chatbot to give me some trivia questions:

1: In what year was “Silent Night” first performed? 2: Which country started the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree? 3: In the classic Christmas song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” how many gifts in total are given by the end of the song? 4: What is the name of the holiday celebrated in Latin American countries, beginning on December 16th and ending on December 24th, that commemorates the journey of Mary and Joseph? 5: Which British monarch delivered the first Christmas Day message to the nation over the radio in 1932? Stick around for the answers!

A few other choices

If you’re not a fan of Norad or Google, then you’ve got the choice of a few others. They’re not as fully-featured or comprehensive with the mini-games, but they are still charming in their own right.

Santa Update – this is a close third place option to Google and NORAD, taking data from North Pole Flight Command. There are a few little games to play and activities make it a fun event. I’m a big fan of the Naughty List confessional, to get you off the list.

North Pole Flight Command – an alternative map of Santa activities, you can also get texts from where he is around the globe if you subscribe.

Santa Tracker App – a fairly rudimentary app that mimics Google in a lot of ways – is free to start with interstitial ads. Doesn’t seem perfect in terms of tracking around the world at the moment, and rather glitchy in places – but has a few fun features.

Email Santa – a site that’s been running since 1999, it’s got a very ‘homemade’ feel around it – as in, it’s a site that takes cues from the early part of the century in terms of web design. It’s got some charming features – the headline being the chance to enter some information into fields and get your own personalized letter from Santa in minutes – as well as a new AI chat feature, although that’s still a little bug-filled.

According to NORAD, Santa’s now heading for India. While Christmas isn’t quite as unilaterally celebrated in India, the festivities are still observed with fervor nonetheless – and different regions have different traditions. For example, Kerala sees a big focus on the nativity, with the community banding together to create the best possible scene and add flair to the crib. Branches from mango trees serve as Christmas trees, adorned with baubles and homemade decorations. On the other hand, in Goa, celebrations start far earlier in the month with various markets, carnivals, and parades, and Burma sees the season commence with decorating in the second week of December and Carollers distributing money collected during their chorus to the poor and needy.

Santa has been hopping around various countries in the last half an hour, covering Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia on both Google and NORAD’s trackers, meaning they’re finally pretty much in sync again… for now. We almost forgot to share our fun facts about Hong Kong, which Santa visited a little earlier and is another place that loves to go big for Christmas. You can’t expect a white Christmas there, but the fluffy white silvergrass fields you can find in the countryside certainly feels close! The city itself will include elaborate decorations and huge festive markets, so you’ll definitely feel the Christmassy vibe all over. In West Kowloon, there’s a whole Christmas Town you can visit, which is up from November to January, and includes a gigantic tree, vibrant decorations, and the chance to visit Santa (even before he made this stop).

Santa’s got a lot of China and Russia to cover before he continues the world tour, so why not stick on the TV? If festive cheer isn’t quite your vibe, then why not opt for your very own Nightmare Before Christmas? No, not the Tim Burton movie – try the best new Horror movies on Prime Video, Shudder, Hulu and more .

After a brief trip back to Russia (it is rather large, after all), now Gogle says Santa is making his way to Mongolia. Christmas isn’t widely celebrated here, but there are small communities that do. Interestingly, though, Mongolia does widely have the tradition of a “New Year’s Tree” which is a triangular, pine-style tree decorated with lights and baubles. Yes, it’s basically what people who observe Christmas would recognize as a Christmas tree, but made to honor and enjoy a different holiday. So while things are different in Mongolia, they’re quite familiar, too.

Santa’s now dishing out gifts in China, according to NORAD, where he’s better known as Dun Che Lao Ren (dwyn-chuh-lau-oh-run). He’s not stopping here just yet according to Google, but eagle-eyed little ones might spot him from their window as they soar past. As Christianity spread in China, so too did Christmas celebrations, which carry over a lot of classic traditions but with a more culturally relevant twist. Those who celebrate the festive season will light their homes with paper lanterns, adorning their Christmas trees with paper decorations.

Want something to watch this Christmas but tired of the same old Hallmark Holiday movies? Check out the latest, festive episode of the TechRadar Podcast where we debate which of the biggest tech stories this year were Naughty or Nice, trade tech Christmas wishlists, and indulge in a rousing game of “What’s in the Box?” Defending the TikTok and DJI ban, best tech gifts for Christmas 2024 and the future of home robots – YouTube Watch On

According to Google, Santa’s now wrapping up (har har) his jaunt in Australia, while NORAD has him just arriving. Now, this is potentially easily explained; naturally, Santa’s gear is pretty high-spec. My theory is he’s also loaded up his sleigh with a flux capacitor to maximize efficiency, and that both trackers are actually different time-traveling Santas. According to the NORAD website, Santa can move faster than starlight using just basic 9 Reindeer Power. With just 31 hours to deliver presents to approximately 1.93bn children around the world, that would mean he has to visit roughly 8,500 houses per second (considering the average number of children per household is roughly two!). Of course, that’s made a whole lot easier by the magic of Christmas and all the great tech upgrades Santa has made over the years. I wonder if he’ll grab an Apple Vision Pro and do the whole shebang remotely one year?

Bonza, Santa’s arrived in Australia according to Google! In the December warmth of the southern hemisphere, the only white Christmas you’ll find is the froth of waves over the beach. Naturally, Christmas traditions follow from this: Santa often stops for a surf in some board shorts, and Christmas dinner is often a cold meal, or a seafood barbecue including – yes, you guessed it – shrimp and prawns. Cricket is also a big tradition, especially on Boxing Day (the holiday on the day after Christmas day, which the country shares with the UK, unsurprisingly given their history). We hope Santa is delivering something wonderful for our colleagues in TechRadar Australia – Happy Christmas, Sharm, Jasmine, Petra, and Max!

Speaking of Santa, Google shows he’s just landed in Papa New Guinea and has delivered nearly 50 million presents, while NORAD says Ol’ Saint Nick is in Russia and has delivered 635 million. Which tracker is more accurate? Who knows, I hope it’s NORAD’s more liberal approach to gift-giving.

If you’re stuck for dessert tomorrow, we’ve got you covered. We’ve tried this last-minute air fryer Christmas cake recipe and were mega impressed by the results. It uses many of the festive ingredients you’d find in the pantry around Christmas time, and as long as you’ve got one of the best air fryers, it should be a breeze to make.

We don’t know too much about the place, but we do know Google uses its Santa Tracker to learn more about its systems and tools. The tech giant gets its staff in the festive mood by letting developers experiment with computer and mobile interactions through the Santa Tracker – but apparently, it doesn’t always go to plan.

In a blog post, Dave Holmes who works in developer relations at Google said: “One engineer who focused on AI and human movement came up with this idea for a game where you could enable tracking on your computer and teach the elves to dance, and they would mimic your movement.”

But just before launch, they found a glitch. “If the tracker lost you for a second… the elves’ heads and arms would go flying off!”

Of course, thanks to the wonders of the internet, last-minute Christmas gifts aren’t a problem anymore. You can email a loved one a gift voucher or a subscription to a streaming service at a moment’s notice, although these aren’t really the kind of presents you can wrap up and put under the tree.

This is perhaps something you shouldn’t mention to the kids if you’re in the US, UK, or Australia – but in a lot of countries, presents are actually opened on Christmas Eve. It’s the tradition in many parts of Europe and South America, and it’s something the British Royal Family does too.

Now that both the NORAD and Google trackers are up and running, we can see that they’re not quite in full agreement about where Santa is right now: he’s either heading for Esso in Russia or Queenstown in New Zealand. If anyone can be in two places at once, it has to be Santa Claus.

John-Anthony here, taking over for the next couple of hours. We’re still waiting for NORAD’s tracking to kick off, but while we do it’s worth noting that Santa has already delivered over 25 million presents according to Google. I wish the two trackers would agree, but hey ho!

Santa has arrived in New Zealand! He’s likely had to take his jacket off while putting out presents, as it’s 17°C / 62°F right now in Auckland – which is a lot warmer than it is in the UK, particularly at nearly midnight. Christmas trivia: Kiwis have their own special Christmas tree called the Pōhutukawa, which has bright red flowers that are popular decorations and also feature on Christmas cards. It’s been associated with Christmas since the mid 1800s, though many people do also erect the globally recognized pine-style tree in their homes. Present count update: Santa has given out more than 17 million presents so far, and he’s just getting started.

NORAD has now changed its message to say that “Are you ready? Santa will takeoff within the hour!” I’m really not sure why the two trackers can’t agree on when he gets going – it makes me think that magic and some element of time travel is definitely involved in his journey. Anyway, I’ll update this blog once he’s underway there, but will continue to use Google for most posts (he’s currently headed towards Kiribati).

Santa is about to reach Anadyr, in Russia. According to Wikipedia (no, I did not know this myself beforehand), Anadyr is the easternmost town in Russia. And very pretty it looks too.

With Santa already hard at work we’re still waiting for the NORAD Santa Tracker to get a lock on his location – but we expect the big man has his most excitable elf currently working on the issue, and for now, you can stick with using the Google Santa Tracker. Managing these trackers isn’t easy, considering how fast Santa is flying around the world in order to deliver every present on time. We’re hoping the reindeer get Christmas Day off. Gifts delivered count: 11,000 and rising fast.

Santa’s next stop, according to Google, will be Provideniya in Russia. The pictures it has of the region show a very pretty if slightly isolated little town. NORAD still has Santa preparing, although it does have a new message that “NORAD radars and satellites are ready to track Santa!”

Folks we’re about t-minus 5 minutes from the big take-off – over on the Google Santa Tracker the map view is showing the man of the moment preparing to leave the North Pole. Meanwhile the NORAD Santa Tracker is still showing a picture of Father Christmas packing up presents. He’s cutting it mighty fine here, but we assume after all these years he knows what he’s doing.

There’s about 20 minutes to go until Santa takes off, according to Google. NORAD’s countdown has already reached zero, but it still says he’s preparing, so I think both sites agree that he’ll be leaving at about 10am GMT / 5am ET / 2am PT / 9pm AEDT. Here’s hoping he doesn’t have a last-minute flat tire on that sleigh…

Want to chat with Santa the easy way? Who needs to dial a number when you can use Google Assistant to ring up the man in red himself? Just grab your Android phone, Google-enabled smart speaker or Google app on iPhone to ask ‘What’s new at the North Pole’ and hear the latest news updates from Santa’s world. I’ve just tried it on my Nest smart display and can confirm that it’s great fun.

The NORAD website seems to be struggling a little bit right now, which is exactly the same problem we had last year, and the year before. Maybe Santa needs to buy them some new computers for Christmas?

And we have good news! The NORAD tracking site has confirmed: “Current conditions at the North Pole indicate good weather for flying.” That’s what we like to hear.

5…4…3…2…1… Santa Claus is GO!

Saint Nick has left the building, hauling a sleigh that probably weighs about as much as the Empire State Building… twice over. And no, friend – those aren’t all for you. He’ll be heading to New Zealand, Papa New Guinea and Australia first, so if you’re down under, it’s time to get to bed!

This just in: Santa is preparing for lift-off! Before he begins his epic gift-giving voyage around the world, Santa needs to do his final checks. Reindeer? Check. Reins? Check. Presents?

…

He forgot the presents. That’s what last minute checks are for!

Good morning everyone! Marc here again for a couple more hours as we approach lift-off time. I still need to do all of my wrapping sometime in the next 12 hours or so – let’s hope Santa is better organized, given that he gets going in only 90 minutes, according to NORAD. Google, meanwhile, says he still has 2.5hrs until takeoff – so it’s giving him a little lie-in, maybe.

I’ll dig into some of those games tomorrow, but it’s well past midnight here in the UK, which means it’s officially Christmas Eve – and also that I need to go to bed. I’ll back in a few hours, ready for lift off. See you then.

So, what else is available on NORAD? Well, quite a lot actually. There’s the HQ, where you can learn about NORAD and its mission and history. There’s the Library, where you can learn all about Santa, his sleigh and his reindeer. There’s the Music Stage – where you can listen to his favorite songs – The Theater, where you can watch films about him, and a Gift Shop where you can buy Santa merch. And of course there’s The Arcade… where you can play Santa-themed games. Guess which one I’m trying first?

So, let’s take a little look at what the NORAD and Google Santa Tracker sites are saying about Santa’s departure time. On NORAD, St Nick is due to take off in 8hrs and 45mins, which would put it at 9am GMT / 4am ET / 1am PT / 8pm AEDT. Google, meanwhile, has Santa taking flight an hour after that, at 10am GMT / 5am ET / 2am PT / 9pm AEDT. Why the difference? Who knows – but the important thing is that he visits everyone at some point over the course of the night, right?

I should really introduce myself at this stage – very rude of me to not do so. So I’m Marc, and I’ll be your guide for the next hour or so. Hi! 👋

Original Author: josephine.watson@futurenet.com (Josephine Watson) | Source: TechRadar