Good morning, Chicago.
The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth, delivering presents and defying time.
Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow online in nine languages, from English to Japanese.
On any other night, NORAD is scanning the heavens for potential threats, such as last year’s Chinese spy balloon. But on Christmas Eve, volunteers in Colorado Springs are fielding questions like, “When is Santa coming to my house?” and, “Am I on the naughty or nice list?”
“There are screams and giggles and laughter,” said Bob Sommers, 63, a civilian contractor and NORAD volunteer.
Sommers often says on the call that everyone must be asleep before Santa arrives, prompting parents to say, “Do you hear what he said? We got to go to bed early.”
NORAD’s annual tracking of Santa has endured since the Cold War, predating ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey classics. The tradition continues regardless of government shutdowns, such as the one in 2018, and this year.
Here’s how it began and why the phones keep ringing.
And here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
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Bethlehem marks a second subdued Christmas Eve during the war in Gaza
Bethlehem marked another somber Christmas Eve in the traditional birthplace of Jesus under the shadow of war in Gaza.
The excitement and cheer that typically descends on the West Bank during Christmas week were nowhere to be found. The festive lights and giant tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing, as were the throngs of foreign tourists that usually fill the square.
Pope Francis kicks off a yearlong Jubilee that will test his stamina and Rome’s patience
Pope Francis kicked off the 2025 Holy Year yesterday, inaugurating a celebration of the Catholic Church that is expected to draw some 32 million pilgrims to Rome in a test of the pope’s stamina and the ability of the Eternal City to welcome them.
For Chicago’s interfaith families, Christmas and Hanukkah are a chance to explore new traditions
Peter Kujawinski is pleased with the twist he’s given his family’s “super-cheesy Christmas family pajama” tradition this year.
“I haven’t told anybody this yet,” he said. “But I ordered Hanukkah pajamas because you have to take advantage of (Hanukkah) being on the same day.”
For Peter, 50, who was raised Roman Catholic, and his wife, Nancy Kujawinski, who was raised in a Reform Jewish family, Hanukkah beginning on Christmas Day brings their two sets of already-intertwined traditions into even closer proximity.
‘A powerful connection’: Northwestern, Lurie create choir of children born with heart condition
Each child had already undergone at least three open-heart surgeries.
They’d endured countless hours in doctors’ offices and hospitals after being born with a serious heart condition.
But this fall the kids tried a new, very different tactic to boost their wellness: They joined a choir. Fourteen children from ages 8 to 16 with a condition called single ventricle circulation, or “Fontan” circulation, met once a week for two months to learn singing and breathing techniques and practice songs for a winter concert at Northwestern University. Researchers at Lurie Children’s Hospital and Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music created the group to assess the health benefits of singing in a choir for children living with the heart condition.
FDA says decongestant in many cold medicines doesn’t work. So what does?
Changes are coming to the cold and cough aisle of your local pharmacy: U.S. officials are moving to phase out the leading decongestant found in hundreds of over-the-counter medicines, concluding that it doesn’t actually relieve nasal congestion.
Phenylephrine is used in popular versions of Sudafed, Dayquil and other medications, but experts have long questioned its effectiveness. Last month the Food and Drug Administration formally proposed revoking its use in pills and liquid solutions, kicking off a process that’s likely to force drugmakers to remove or reformulate products.
PADS Lake County buys former Waukegan motel to convert into shelter
PADS Lake County purchased a former 74-room motel in Waukegan to renovate the building into Lake County’s first fixed-site homeless shelter.
Now housed in places like rotating church basements at night, and left on their own during the day to go to work or send their children to school, PADS Lake County Executive Director Allen Swilley said the fixed-site shelter will significantly increase the chance of success for families.
Netflix is airing 2 NFL games on Christmas Day. Here’s what to know.
Netflix will have one of its biggest days today since the site launched in 1998 when it airs two NFL games for the first time.
“NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix” begins with a two-hour pregame show at 10 a.m. CST – including a taped performance of Mariah Carey singing “All I Want for Christmas is You” – before the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs. The Baltimore Ravens face the Houston Texans in the second game. Beyoncé will perform during the Ravens-Texans halftime.
Netflix’s 282.3 million subscribers in more than 190 countries will be able to stream the games, marking the first time one outlet has distributed an NFL game globally. Netflix will have the games available in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.
Column: It’s another bleak Christmas for the Chicago Bears. This isn’t what was promised.
Who would have ever imagined the Chicago Bears would be here on Christmas morning, with nary a football present and a dark lump of something beneath a scraggly tree that looks like it belongs on Mount Crumpit.
This, certainly, wasn’t what was promised. This wasn’t what anyone was imagining back in the summer when the “Hard Knocks” hype was peaking, when all the growing optimism felt justified, when general manager Ryan Poles was touting the leadership style of his head coach and the depth of the offensive line he built.
Related:
‘Swedish Christmas’: Chicago Blackhawks coaches Anders Sorensen and Derek King share a holiday tradition – another way they’re a package deal
The Chicago Blackhawks have their traditions, like a lot of teams, but interim head coach Anders Sorensen and assistant coach Derek King share one of their own.
Scary ghost stories … for Christmas? There’s a long tradition and it goes way beyond Krampus
Despite what Mariah Carey insists, maybe all we want for Christmas is boo?
Martha May pages through her father, Robert May’s, original book of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at her home on Dec. 17, 2021 in Lake Forest. The paper book was handed out by Montgomery Ward in 1939.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: How Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer became a Christmas icon
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was conceived for a purely Scrooge-like reason — to make money.
Its creator, however, saw the Montgomery Ward marketing campaign as an opportunity to be as bold in his writing as the fantastical flying stag with a blindingly bright beak he invented was when called upon to pull Santa Claus’ sleigh through fog.
Robert Lewis May wrote the original story — about 100 rhyming phrases spread over 32 pages — in 1939. It predated his fellow Dartmouth College grad Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” book by almost two decades.
More than 80 years after its inception, here’s how Rudolph — a completely Chicago concoction — became a Christmas icon.
