A Christmas Eve mission
Operation: Santa Tracker
Three sealed envelopes turn Christmas Eve into a top-secret, all-day mission to track Santa — personalized with your grandchild’s name.
Coming soon. Mission kit available on Etsy by November 15.
Classified: for grown-up eyes only until Christmas Eve- Ages5–11 (big kids love being the commander)
- Your prepAbout 10 minutes the night before
- Mission lengthAll day, about 7 AM to 8:30 PM lights-out
- Format20-page PDF, US Letter, print at home
Mission briefing
On Christmas Eve morning, your grandchild finds an envelope with their name on it. Inside: the day’s instructions — and a second, sealed envelope. That one holds their official orders, drafting them into the North Pole Air Defense Auxiliary. And inside that is a third envelope, stamped TOP SECRET, with the orders for tracking Santa’s sleigh all evening.
It started about fifteen years ago, when I drafted my eleven-year-old daughter into service on Christmas Eve. She still talks about it. This kit gives you everything to run the same mission at your house — the letters, labels, a Sleigh Tracking Log, a timeline from breakfast to lights-out, and a Christmas-morning certificate promoting your tracker to Senior Sleigh Tracker.
The three envelopes
Envelope 1 — The morning
Waiting at breakfast. The day’s instructions, and a sealed envelope they may not open until the appointed hour.
Envelope 2 — The orders
Official orders drafting your grandchild into service, with an outline of the operation ahead.
Envelope 3 — Top secret
Opened at dusk: how to follow Santa’s route around the world on the official tracking website and hotline, and log every sighting.
What’s in the mission kit
- Fillable setup page: type each child’s name once and it fills in on every letter, label and certificate
- Blank handwriting versions of every page, for any PDF viewer
- The three mission letters and envelope labels
- A Christmas Eve timeline, morning briefing to lights-out
- Sleigh Tracking Log for the evening watch
- Grandparent playbook: by age, several kids at once, and grandparents running it from far away
- Christmas-morning Certificate of Commendation
$9.99 · instant download. Digital download, print at home. Supplies not included.
Command safety notes
- Everything is printed at home — no small parts, nothing to assemble.
- Any online tracking is done together with a grown-up.
Mission Supply Depot
Everything you need besides the printed kit. Most families already have the paper and pencils; the envelopes and the stamp are what make it feel official.
Visit the Mission Supply Depot →Questions from headquarters
Is this a physical product?
No. It’s a digital PDF you print at home. You supply three envelopes and, if you like, a TOP SECRET stamp — the supply list below has exact sizes.
Can I personalize it for more than one child?
Yes. The playbook covers running the mission for siblings and cousins together, and the blank pages let you hand-write extra copies.
We live far from the grandkids. Will it work?
Yes — there’s a section for long-distance grandparents: mail the envelopes ahead and run the evening check-ins by phone or video.
Do I need special software?
The free Adobe Acrobat Reader is best for the fillable names. If your viewer doesn’t support form fields, print the blank pages and write the names in.
Report for duty
A free printable to start, then a short note when a new project or adventure is ready. For grown-ups — unsubscribe anytime.
This list is for adults (parents and grandparents). We never ask for information about children. Privacy