Santa Claus delivered his presents this year the old fashioned way but in the future he may want to upgrade his techonology. GE designed a futuristic sleigh for Santa in case he decides he needs a more high-tech sleigh. You can explore the sleigh below with the interactive app from GE. Take a look:
Water skier Bill Kinnison has a specially designed Santa wet suit. You can see him in action as a water skiing Santa Claus in the video clip below. The body of water in the video is located in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. Take a look:
NORAD says Santa completed his worldwide mission of delivering present this year in Hawaii. He also rerouted back to any homes where children had been awake when he tried to visit the first time. Take a look:
NORAD Tracks Santa Claus With Google Maps, Google Earth
NORAD is tracking Santa again this year with the help of Google Maps and Google Earth. NORAD says they have four ways to track Santa, including the Santa Cam network, which is only used once a year on Christmas Eve.
The third tracking system is the Santa Cam network. We began using it in 1998, which is the year we put our Santa Tracking program on the internet. Santa Cams are ultra-cool, high-tech, high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many locations around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year on Christmas Eve. The cameras capture images and videos of Santa and his reindeer as they make their journey around the world.
Video: Santa Claus Prepares for Big Journey Tonight
At Santa Claus' official residence in Finland, preparations for tonight's big journey are in way. The official residence features the
Earth Rotation Control Device, which slows down time so that Santa can deliver millions of presents all over the world. The local post office handles 700,000 letters in the weeks before Christmas. This Santa has one impressive beard. And we're really loving his robe. It's quite stylish. Take a look:
Video: Santa Says All Kids Want for Christmas is Electronics
So what are kids asking for from Santa this year? Santa Claus reveals the innermost wishes of children this Christmas to tv station WIVBTV in Western New York state. It's all about the electronics this year. Even the four year olds want cell phones. Take a look:
CNN Interviews Five Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas Members
The Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas (FORBS) has more than 300 members. CNN's Ted Rowlands talked to five of the esteemed Santas. The Santas each have stories of their work as Mall Santas. The funny thing is after one of them tells a joke all five laugh with deep Santa-like laughs. The Santas say they have to their very best to overcome the "drunk Santa" image portrayed in some movies like Bad Santa. Take a look:
Berlin's Santa Convention Kicks Off Christmas Season
In Berlin, Germany, being a Santa is a very serious business. Hundreds of Santas gathered for their annual convention in Berlin on Saturday to prepare for their duties over the forthcoming festive season. It appears that the convention went off without a hitch. Although the Santas are speaking -- and singing -- in German, they appears to be quite happy with whatever was discussed. Germany appears to have the most organized Santas in the world. Take a look:
This Reuters clip shows a Santa Claus in scuba gear givng an early Christmas treat to a Beluga whale at the Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Tokyo, Japan.
Santa Claus hit the slopes at the Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado yesterday. Was Santa trying to motivate himself for last night's huge present delivery run? Truth be told it's Todd Robinson of Gunnison, Colorado dressed as Santa Claus while skiing at Crested Butte with the beautiful Rocky Mountains in the background. There's a larger photo of the skiing Santa right now on the Crested Butte Resort's homepage.
Massive Santa Ice Scultpure Created at Harbin, China Ice Festival
A 525 ft long ice sculpture of Santa Claus has been built at an ice festival in Harbin, China. You can see the enormous Santa in the video below. The BBC says the Harbin ice festival runs from mid-December to February and draws 800,000 tourists each year. Harbin is located in Northeastern China and experiences extremely cold winters.
Many families put out cookies and milk out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. WebMD offers some healthier ideas for Santa Claus. Some families are now also putting out Magic Reindeer Food which is a mixture of oatmeal, sugar and red or green sugar crystals. The food is sprinkled on the front lawn to guide a path for Santa's reindeer. You can see recipes here, here and here. Magic Reindeer Food can also be purchased - Miles Kimball sells it here.
Leaving milk out is likely to attract some curious pets as explained by the funny LOLcats graphic below.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is ready to track Santa Claus again this year. NORAD's Santa website has a countdown running until Santa begins his present run on Christmas Eve. They also have a special kids countdown. We now know that Santa uses advanced technology in order to be able to deliver presents to millions of kids all over the world in a single night. On Christmas Eve you can also track santa with a mobile device using Google Maps for mobile. Update: You can also follow NORAD's Santa tracking on Twitter with @noradsanta.
Here's a look at some of NORAD's Santa tracking highlights from 2007.
Technological Marvels May Help Santa Deliver His Presents
Reuters reports that Dr. Larry Silverberg, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University, believes technology is behind Santa's unmatched present delivering capabilities. Silverberg says Santa Claus exploits the space-time continuum so that he has as long as six months to deliver his present instead of a single night.
"He exploits the space-time continuum," says Larry Silverberg, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University.
Santa's magic may go far beyond merely traveling across 200 million square miles (322 million sq km) to visit hundreds of millions of homes of believing children in just one night, Silverberg said.
"He understands that space stretches, he understands that you can stretch time, compress space and therefore he can, in a sense, actually have six Santa months to deliver the presents," Silverberg told Reuters.
"In our reference frame it appears as though he does it in the wink of an eye and in fact there have been sightings of Santa, quick sightings, and that's in our reference frame, but in Santa's reference frame he really has six months".
This longer time period to deliver the presents also explains how Santa is able to eat so many cookies. Silverberg also says Santa Claus doesn't actually carry presents for every child in his sleigh. Instead he relies on nanotechnology to "grow" the presents at each house.
"We believe that he uses nanotechnology to grow the presents under the tree and really, what he's done, is he's figured out how to turn what we call irreversible thermo-dynamic properties into reversible ones and so he really starts with soot, candy, other types of natural materials, he puts them under the tree and he actually grows them in a reverse process to create the presents, wrapping and all."
There's also giant antennas buried under the North Pole so he can hear who's been naughty or nice and the reindeer have been genetically bred to fly and see in the dark. It sounds like Santa Claus may be from the future because we don't have any of these technologies yet today. You can find more information about the Science of Santa here on Dr. Silverberg's website.
President and Mrs. Bush attended the 2008 Lighting of the National Christmas Tree for the last time in President Bush's eight year presidency. In his speech, President Bush asked Santa if he had an extra sleigh since he is going to soon be missing Air Force One.
Thank you. Mr. Secretary, thank you for the introduction and thank you for the warm welcome. Laura and I are pleased to welcome all of you here for one of Washington's great traditions, the lighting of the National Christmas Tree.
Santa, thank you for finally showing up. I know you've come a long way. After all, you do live in the North Pole. You may have heard that Laura and I are going to have plenty of time next year. So we look forward to returning the favor. The problem is we're going to be short on an airplane. Have you got an extra sleigh?
You can read the full speech here. In the photo below President Bush appears to be doing a fist bump with Santa.
White House photos by Chris Greenberg (top) and Eric Draper (bottom)
Reuters 
