Time to Find Santa

The Office of Mrs. Claus issued a statement today that has taken nearly every North Pole Department by surprise. It read, in part: “Santa left on walkabout nearly two months ago. In that time, Santa has traveled to a distant part of the world and nobody knows where he is. It is time for all departments to engage plans designed to find Santa. Ready, set, – go!”

The statement went to lengths to explain that Santa is NOT lost and is NOT in any danger. Santa is just fine.

This is an exercise intended to keep elf skills sharp and to test department plans. For the next several months, the following departments will engage in activities designed to find Santa. They include:

• North Pole Security – this department at the North Pole is mysterious and frequently works in secret. They have “agent” elves all over the world who work to keep Santa and the North Pole safe. They will now be engaged in using their teams of elves and resources to find Santa.
• North Pole Flight Command – the largest department at the North Pole heads up the delivery effort of Operation Merry Christmas every year. There are thousands of elves, sleighs and reindeer that staff this department with resources and connections all over the world. This massive organization will be deployed now to also find Santa.
• Santa Tracker Department – Millions of remote-working tracker elves who “track Santa for Santa” every Christmas will be mobilized in their locations to help find Santa. This will be a first challenge for the new International Director of Santa Trackers recently named.
• Reindeer Operations – Santa has reindeer ranches in mountainous regions of every continent, staffed by elves and reindeer who are engaged in year-round training and development. The massive resources available via these ranches will be engaged by the above departments to help find Santa.
• North Pole Navy – The seven ships of the North Pole Navy will be deployed to the oceans of the world to aid in the effort to find Santa.

News and instruction will be disseminated via NorthPoleFlightCommand.com and SantaTrackers.net to make elves working in these various departments aware of organizing plans and reporting protocols.

Mrs. Claus has indicated that a “hefty reward” will be given to the elf or group of elves who are actually able to locate Santa.

Despite the efforts to find Santa, it must been understood that Santa will remain engaged in his mission while on walkabout. He will not be in hiding, but will be “hiding in plain sight”.

Santa goes on walkabout every few years in order to see the world and engage with its peoples at the ground level. He does travel in disguise because he doesn’t want people to know they are talking to Santa. His mission is to learn of people and their concerns.

But any real elf should be able to spot Santa despite his disguises.

These dual missions – to be cloaked as Santa in the service of others – and to be engaged in the search for Santa – do not compete. They are two different efforts entirely with purposes that aid Santa’s overall mission.

How long will Santa be gone from the North Pole? That is unknown, but we expect several more months.

What if Santa is found by one of the parties mentioned above? Santa will remain on walkabout until his work is done, but Santa’s location will be disclosed by the finding party.

Updates of these efforts will be covered by the North Pole News Department and a special page will be set up at SantaUpdate.com to chronicle the efforts to find Santa.