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Santa Claus begins journey to Prince Rupert

Travelling at the speed of starlight with gifts
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Santa concentrates hard when making ‘just the right’ toy for a child. He leaves his works shop just as it gets dark in the North Pole to deliver on Christmas Eve. (Photo: K-J Millar/The Northern View)

Get ready to put out cookies and milk because Santa Claus is coming to town.

Confirmed to The Northern View, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has approved the jolly man in red visit to Prince Rupert.

On the night of Dec. 24, between 9 p.m. and midnight, gifts will begin to nestle up under Christmas trees all around town. However, there’s a formula to make sure each and every child receives their gifts.

“The trick … and our insider pro tip to families is that children have to be in bed — and not just in bed, but asleep — by nine o’clock so that he can deposit those presents,” Capt. Alexandra Hejduk, of NORAD, said.

Verified by NORAD’s high-tech radar and satellite systems, Saint Nick and his reindeer team travel at the speed of starlight around the world, delivering gifts to children.

The aerospace defence agency can track Santa and his team primarily because of Rudolph the Red Nose reindeer’s glowing nose due to it bearing a similar heat signature to that of a missile flying through the air, the NORAD spokesperson said.

During this epic journey, NORAD tracks Santa across space and time. That’s right, space and time. 

“For us it appears as one 24 hour period that he starts his journey and deposits all those presents, but for him, it might end up being three of four months-long that he’s making this journey — but it’s such an important mission to him,” Hejduk said.

“He’s an incredible professional, really, and we have a lot of respect for that,” Hejduk said.

The jolly man in red has been doing this journey for 16 centuries (that’s more than 1,600 trips around the world) and has seen his fair share of pandemics, the agency stated.

“We have it on good authority that he has a really good immunity to COVID and all its variants,” Hejduk said.

Also, cleared for take-off and landing by the Canadian Ministry of Transport, Santa had his proof of vaccination ready and made sure that his COVID-19 test was negative before his sleigh launched into the sky.

It’s understood his shop at the North Pole has been following health measures, and the whole Santa’s helpers team is safe and COVID-free. In fact, it was confirmed last year Santa was wearing a mask and will be doing so again this year — and as we all know, he almost always wears his signature pair of white gloves.

So, do not fret about leaving Santa Claus an ice-cold glass of milk and warm cookies — and don’t forget about some fruit and veggies for the reindeer too. After all, he really does rely on the delightful snacks to give him the incredible amount of energy he needs to fuel him through his journey around the world.

READ MORE: Santa Claus is coming to town!


 Norman Galimski | Journalist 
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