US First Lady Michelle Obama spent Christmas Eve taking telephone calls from children trying to locate Santa Claus on his delivery rounds, dpa reported.
The first family is spending the holiday in Hawaii, where US President Barack Obama spent much of his youth.
Obama himself was on the beach Friday with the couple's two school-age daughters.
Michelle Obama, instead, spent the afternoon taking forwarded telephone calls from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which operates radar arrays across the continent.
Every Christmas Eve, NORAD takes telephone calls from children inquiring about Santa's progress. Identifying herself as the first lady, Obama spent about 40 minutes using the NORAD Santa Route Schedule to locate the Jolly Old Elf with his sleigh and reindeer for callers, the White House said.
The calls are part of an Air Force programme, NORAD Tracks Santa, a tradition that started in 1955, when a department store's telephone hotline for Santa updates was misprinted in a newspaper ad. The number printed, instead, was for the air defence command, and an officer on duty played along when he started receiving calls from children, describing Santa's progress on Air Force radar.
Today, more than 1,200 volunteers staff a telephone and email hotline every Christmas Eve. In 1998, NORAD added a website, www.noradsanta.org, which receives millions of hits every year.
US military, Michelle Obama help eager kids track Santa
US First Lady Michelle Obama spent Christmas Eve taking telephone calls from children trying to locate Santa Claus on his delivery rounds, dpa reported.
