One of my prevalent Christmas memories of childhood is sitting by the window, for hours on end, wishing with all my might for a glimpse of Santa and his sleigh dashing across the sky.

Last year my wish finally came true. It was just as magical as I’d always expected it to be.

Warning. If you want your children to sleep on Christmas eve do not try this at home, however if it’s all about the Christmas magic and excitement, step this way…..

Last year I was made privy to some information from the big guy himself. You may not know but Santa with his ever growing workload has developed a time effective route through the skies. A route which just so happens to follow the path of the International Space Station. Using the technology of the clever folk at NASA you will be able to work out where and when you will be able to glimpse Santa.

Kids you will need to get your parents to do this…

Click for Santa’s top secret site. (what else did you expect from an outdoors nerd?)                          Using the drop downs select your country and nearest city. This will give you the precise location of Santa’s sleigh and the exact time to look. It will also tell you how long Santa is visible for before his next stop.

The timing and location are exact, but looking mostly in ‘sort of’ the right direction will be enough. (tried and tested! 😉 ) You may want to use a compass (most phones have one!) or as we did it last year just figure out where the sun rises….*whispers*…’that’s East’…’

Hopefully Christmas eve will be a clear, dark night. Wrap up warm, step away from the mince pies for a short while and head out for a breath of fresh air. Give yourself plenty of time to find a clear, dark area and to get your bearings. literally. 😉

Then it’s just watch and wait.  Hopefully you’ll see him streaking across the sky.

Happy Santa spotting!