The Frame
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December 24, 2010
Santa Claus sightings 2010
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) -- Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory will be tracking Santa Claus as he makes his rounds on Christmas Eve. Santa will also get help from Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico. As part of "Operation Assist Santa," aircraft from the base will provide a special escort for his journey through New Mexico. Base officials say an F-22 Raptor will serve as Santa's wingman, while the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper will provide "special intelligence" for Santa through naughty and nice sensors and sleep detectors installed on the two aircraft. The Los Alamos trackers will be using state-of-the-art technology to mark the course taken by Santa and his reindeer. They will be helping other trackers at the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado. Santa can be tracked at santa.lanl.gov
The following images are a collection of Santa sightings from around the globe during the approach to Christmas. (33 images)

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A diver dressed as Santa Claus, high-fives a visiting girl at an aquarium during a show at Aquaria KLCC underwater park in Kuala Lumpur on December 20, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images


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South Korean volunteers in Santa Claus or Father Christmas outfits wave before going out to hand out Christmas gifts to prematurely born babies in Seoul on Dec. 10, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / Jung Yeon-Je



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Toy Store Kiddy Land's Santa Claus Academy students march through Tokyo's shopping district Harajuku in Tokyo, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010. AP / Itsuo Inouye



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People dressed up as Santa Claus stretch before the start of the annual "Santa Fun Run" for charity in Sydney, Australia on November 28, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / Drina Thurston



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Runners dress as Santa Claus take part in the 2010 Santa Dash in Liverpool, north-west England, on December 5, 2010. The annual race sees thousands of competitors run the 5km course through the streets of the city centre. AFP/ Getty Images / Paul Ellis



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Men dressed as Santa Clauses pose for a photograph after the annual Santa Claus convention on November 27, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. More than one hundred Santa's gathered for an annual convention in Berlin to prepare for their duties over the forthcoming festive season. Getty Images / Andreas Rentz



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Skiers and snowboarders dressed as Santa head down the slope Sunday, Dec. 5. 2010 as part of the 11th annual Santa Sunday at Sunday River in Newry, Maine. Participants get a free lift ticket if they dress as Santa and donate $10 or more to the Bethel Rotary Club's annual toy drive. AP / Joel Page



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Hawks fans dressed as Santa Claus cheer during the round 11 NBL match between the Wollongong Hawks and the Gold Coast Blaze at Wollongong Entertainment Centre on December 23, 2010 in Wollongong, Australia. Getty Images / Mark Nolan



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Emma Schlichtmann, 3, of Potosi, Wis., tells Santa, left, all the things she wants for Christmas while visiting him at a shopping mall in Dubuque, Iowa on Thursday, Dec. 23. Telegraph Herald / Jeremy Portje



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A boy yawns in front of a Santa Claus sitting on a chair at a nursery in Tokyo Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010. About 50 children and their mothers welcomed a Santa Claus, authorized by Finland Santa Claus Foundation, who has flown in Japan not by the sleigh but by Finair as part of Santa's official airline's charity for Japanese children. AP / Shizuo Kambayashi



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Paolo Ferro as 'Santa Paul' listens to two young girls at the Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento, Calif. on Wednesday, December 22, 2010. "Santa Paul" holds court at Arden Fair as a long line of children and their parents wait to tell him their Christmas wishes. The Sacramento Bee / Randall Benton



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Sentrina Klostermann, 5, of Dubuque, Iowa, snuggles up to Santa and places her Christmas order while visiting him at a mall, Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010, in Dubuque, Iowa. Telegraph Herald / Jeremy Portje



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In this Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010 picture, Josiah Waikiki, 2, cries as he sits with a man dressed as Santa Claus in Las Cruces, N.M. Las Cruces Sun-News / Norm Dettlaff



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Children wearing Santa hats light candles at the Sacred Heart Cathedral on Christmas Eve in New Delhi, India, Friday, Dec. 24, 2010. Christians in India make up just over 2 percent of its one billion population. AP / Saurabh Das



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Santa Claus waves at the crowd during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010. AP / Craig Ruttle



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Thai hotel workers dressed in Santa Claus costumes hand out gifts while riding on a decorated vehicle touring around Bangkok on December 22, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / Pornchai Kittiwongsakul



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Santa Claus waves from his horse drawn carriage during Saturday's annual Santa Parade in downtown Sacramento, Calif. on December 11, 2010. The Sacramento Bee / Manny Crisostomo



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Santa Claus gives some pointers to Cameron Troy, 2, and his grandmother, Nene Feruze, on a Daisy laser target range at Bass Pro Shops in Bolingbrook, Ill. Chicago Tribune / David Pierini



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A homeless man dressed up as Santa Claus looks at his dog in the Champs-Elysees in Paris on December 22, 2010 in Paris. AFP/ Getty Images / Joel Saget



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An elephant with a man dressed in a Santa Claus costume performs by standing on its hind legs to mark the Christmas season at a school in Ayutthaya province on December 24, 2010. The event was held as part of a campaign to promote Christmas in Thailand. AFP/ Getty Images / Pornchai Kittiwongsakul



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In this Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010 picture, a member of the Firefly Brigade, an organization of cyclists, wears a Santa Claus costume as he talks to a women with her baby in Quezon City, Philippines, north of Manila. The group promoted the use of bicycles for sustainable transportation and to combat climate change. They distributed goodies to homeless people and those living on carts to bring cheer during this Christmas season. AP / Pat Roque



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Palestinian protesters wearing Santa Claus costumes run away from a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops during a protest against Israel's separation barrier outside the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah, Friday, Dec 24, 2010. AP / Majdi Mohammed



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A surfer dressed in a Santa costume surfs at Kuta beach on the Indoensian resort island of Bali on December 24, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / Sonny Tumbelaka



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An elderly Chinese man wearing a Santa hat swims in the icy water of a frozen river in Shenyang, northeastern China's Liaoning province on December 20, 2010. Winter swimming is especially popular among the elderly and retired as it's believed to improve circulation and benefit health. AFP/ Getty Images



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Two man dressed as Santa Claus step out of a commuter train on November 27, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. More than one hundred Santa's gathered for an annual convention in Berlin to prepare for their duties over the forthcoming festive season. Getty Images / Andreas Rentz



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John Wenner, dressed as Santa Claus, sits in his car in Philadelphia, Penna. on Dec. 17. AP / Mel Evans



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Voluntary workers, dressed in Santa Claus outfits, take their pictures in an event to visit and give Christmas gifts to prematurely born babies in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010. AP / Ahn Young-joon



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Workers in Santa Claus and reindeer costumes clean windows outside of a 31-metre-high building at the Odaiba shopping mall on Tokyo's waterfront on December 23, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / Kazuhiro Nogi



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A climber dressed as Santa Claus waves as he hangs on top of the Kollhoff-Tower at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, on December 6, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / Hannibal Hanschke



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Lebanese children dressed as Santa Claus celebrate during their last day of school before the holidays in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010. AP / Mohammed Zaatari



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South Korean children wearing Santa Claus outfits stand in a line before a ceremony to launch a year-end fund-raising campaign at Seoul plaza in Seoul on December 1, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / Jung Yeon-Je



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A person dressed as Santa Claus walks on a street in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010. AP / Alik Keplicz



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German cycling fan Didi Senft, also known as El Diablo, dressed as Santa Claus, presents his latest invention, a ridable and illuminated seven-meter-long and five-meter-high carpenter"s saw, on November 25, 2010 near Storkow, eastern Germany. Every year before Christmas, Didi Senft presents one his unique inventions. AFP/ Getty Images / Patrick Pleul



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