For most people, a Christmas Eve phone call with the First Lady of the U.S. is an unexpected surprise. But Austin was holding out for someone else.
“I want to hear Santa talk,” said Austin, one of a handful of children who called the NORAD Tracks Santa program yesterday and found Michelle Obama on the other end of the line.
Santa couldn’t get to the phone, the U.S. First Lady patiently explained, “because he’s delivering all the gifts”.
Children from around the world call the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) to ask where Santa is, and they get cheery replies from volunteers, sitting in Colorada, about the mythical route. Ms. Obama answered calls via a remote line.
There was a bitter-sweet note this year as the First Lady carried out her annual Christmas ritual for the final time, taking calls from kids who wanted to know exactly how much progress Santa had made on his journey.
It’ll be up to the next First Lady, Melania Trump, to decide next year whether to continue the tradition.
But Austin had another concern in mind: Would Santa know how to reach him? “I’m going to move to another house,” said Austin, joined by three other kids in North Carolina.
No matter, Ms. Obama replied. “He’s going to be able to find you no matter where you go,” she said, according to a transcript released by the White House. “That’s the special thing about Santa.”
The First Lady spent roughly a 30 minutes taking calls before joining her husband, daughters Sasha and Malia and family friends for lunch at Honolulu’s Side Street Inn, whose greasy food and low-key atmosphere is popular among Hawaii locals and tourists alike. The U.S. President and his family are spending their Christmas vacation in Hawaii.
Then the family drove to Breakout Waikiki, a “live action” experience where visitors are “trapped” in a room and must work together to break out.
But before the family fun, there was a geography lesson as the First Lady updated children about Santa’s most recent locales on his gift-giving voyage: Sardinia, Malta and Hungary, to name a few.
If there was a lesson for the Ms. Obama, it was a crash course in the latest gifts.
A girl named Kirsten told Ms. Obama she wanted a drone from Santa. Joshua wanted a Hot Wheels garage, while Aiden wanted a hoverboard. But it was Adilyn whose gift seemed to catch Ms. Obama off-guard. “I’m getting a hedgehog tomorrow,” Adilyn said.
