WEBVTT

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- Oh, good morning, Merry
Christmas, everyone.

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(interviewer speaking faintly)

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Well, there's a whole
lot of science and math

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involved in it.

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As you probably well know, here at NORAD,

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we track anything that
flies over North America.

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And today, we have the privilege and honor

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of tracking Santa Claus, Old Saint Nick.

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And we do that through
our North Warning Systems.

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(people speaking faintly)

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Well, it started back in 1955.

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Ironically, over a phone
call from a young child

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who thought they were
calling a department store

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to talk to Santa, and when
they happened to be calling

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our operations center, and
it's taken off from there.

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(woman speaking faintly)

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Oh, gosh, there's been so many calls.

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But, you know, the most wonderful thing,

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just like our astronauts
just talked about,

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most wonderful thing of all is
hearing those young children

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and the purity in the
hearts, wantin' to know

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if Santa's gonna come to their house.

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And we remind 'em that Santa
comes to everyone's house

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as long as they're on the good list.

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(woman speaking faintly)

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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oh, absolutely, we're partners with Santa.

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And you know, Santa's the
best pilot in the world.

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And we have about 1,500
volunteers that help us

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with this mission throughout the day.

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(woman speaking faintly)

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Oh, the easiest part is
just bein' in front of you

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and sharin' our story.

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And I don't think there's
a hard part about it.

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We've had volunteers here since
two o'clock in the morning.

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And they do it, to give up their own time,

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to be able to show the world
that, hey, you know what?

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This is a special day, not only for NORAD,

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but the entire world.

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(woman speaking faintly)

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Well, one last year
that I had the privilege

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of taking from a young
child, coincidentally,

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there in the great state of Florida,

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and they didn't ask for
anything for themselves.

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All they wanted was something
for their little brother.

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And that, to me, just, again,

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captures the spirit of
Christmas and giving.

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(woman speaking faintly)

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(telephone ringing)

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I'm sorry, I couldn't
hear you, one more time.

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(woman speaking faintly)

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Well, we estimate Santa to
be in the Western hemisphere

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sometime around nine o'clock this evening

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East Coast Standard Time, so
you can expect to see Santa

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on the Eastern seaboard
there in Georgia and Florida

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around nine p.m. to about midnight.

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(woman speaking faintly)
(telephone ringing)

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You got it, Merry Christmas
and God bless you all.

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(woman speaking faintly)