You Can Ask Alexa to Track Santa’s Sleigh

Macy's Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade
Getty Images | Eduardo Munoz Alvarez

It’s pretty amazing what Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa can do. Order toilet paper? Check! Tell you a joke? Yup, that too! Now on Christmas Eve, you’ll be able to ask Alexa to do something kids have been doing since the 1950s — track Santa’s sleigh!

Instead of calling a phone number or logging on to the computer, you or your kids can now simply ask Alexa for Santa’s location and she will tell you in real time.

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The Alexa system uses KAYAK’s Flight Tracker, which will be able to provide you with Santa’s exact location and an estimated time of when he’ll be in your town. First, you’ll need to enable the KAYAK skill in your Alexa app by saying, “Alexa, enable KAYAK.”

Then you have three choices for how you’d like to ask her to track Santa:

  • “Alexa, ask KAYAK to track Santa.”
  • “Alexa, ask KAYAK, when will Santa be in Boston?” (Or your city, of course)
  • “Alexa, ask KAYAK when Santa will be here?”

Amazon

As NPR explains, Santa tracking began in 1955 with a typo in a newspaper. Instead of a phone number to reach Santa, a misprint actually lead to children calling the Continental Air Defense Command, now known as NORAD. Luckily, there were some pretty good sports working that night and they played along.

The rest is history, with Santa Tracking now delighting kids for the last 62 years and NORAD now offering tracking online and on mobile apps.

Other Ways To Reach Santa

Before Santa ventures out on Christmas Eve, you can also get in touch with him some other ways. Kids can call him directly at 951-262-3062 to tell him their wish list —although it does go straight to voicemail because, hey, he’s busy!

Adobe

You could also write Santa a letter. If you send it via the U.S. Postal Service to the North Pole, your child will get a letter back, with a North Pole postmark — but hurry, the letter must reach Anchorage, Alaska by Dec. 15 if you want a reply! Here’s full instructions on how to write to Santa.

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Your kids could also give their list to Santa Claus as your local mall or department store. Even Walmart has Santa appearances during the holiday season, as well as a few other stores not at malls.

Santa Listens To Tots Christmas Lists
Getty Images | Tim Boyle

When it comes to Christmas morning, the Santa magic doesn’t have to stop there. You can get a photo of Jolly Old St. Nick in your living room to “prove” to your kids that he’s real! All you need to do is take a picture of your living room as it will look on Christmas Eve, then upload it to a website called Capture the Magic.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_tAAWcjww3/

However you track Santa or get in touch with the Big Man in Red, enjoy the magic of the season!

Entertainment, Family & Parenting, Good News, Holiday & Seasonal, Life, News
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About the Author
Kaitlin Gates
Kaitlin is a freelance multimedia journalist with a degree in journalism and psychology. Along with Simplemost, she also writes for Don't Waste Your Money, where she loves finding great deals to help people save money.

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