Every Christmas, dozens of volunteers stationed with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) man the phones in one of the cafeterias that has been converted into a Santa tracking unit. The volunteers take calls from kids all over the world who want to know where Santa is and when he'll get to their town.

There is also a clever, interactive website that shows the progress of Santa's sleigh on Christmas eve.

All of this is just too much for some, who seek to use controversy as a fund raising gimmick.

The U.S. and Canadian military will entertain millions of kids again this Christmas Eve with second-by-second updates on Santa's global whereabouts. But there's something new this year: public criticism.

A children's advocacy group says an animated video on the NORAD Tracks Santa website injects militarism into Christmas by showing fighter jets escorting Santa's sleigh. It's a rare swipe at the popular program, which last year attracted a record 22.3 million unique visitors from around the world to its website.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command defends the video as nonthreatening and safe for kids.

The kerfuffle erupted two weeks ago over a 39-second video on noradsanta.org called "NORAD Tracks Santa Trailer Video 2013."

A 5-second segment of the video -- which is also available on youtube.com - - shows two fighter jets flanking Santa.

The Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood said the video brings violence and militarism to a beloved tradition. Others had similar criticism. Blogs and Twitter lit up with volleys from both sides.

Josh Golin, the coalition's associate director, reiterated his criticism in an interview with The Associated Press -- but he called the brouhaha "a media-manufactured controversy." The coalition hadn't known about the fighter jet video until reporters called, he said.

"Nobody in my organization was out there protesting," he said.

U.S. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a NORAD spokesman, said he understands the critics' point of view but disagrees.

"We really do feel strongly that it's something that is safe and non- threatening, and not something that would negatively impact children," he said. "In fact, we think that it's a lot of fun."

Davis said the fighter escort is nothing new. NORAD began depicting jets accompanying Santa and his reindeer in the 1960s, he said.

And he insisted the fighters in the video are unarmed: They're Canadian Air Force CF-18s, with a large external fuel tank under the belly that might look like a bomb. The wing racks that would carry bombs or missiles are empty, he explained.

Protecting Santa from an al-Qaeda attack - or an attack by idiot liberals with nothing better to do with their time - is an appropriate mission for NORAD. The key is that the jets are there to act as an escort of honor - a concept one would think children should be exposed to. And, of course, the idea of national defense, which these liberals equate with "militarism."

Surely they can do better than that.

It appears that nothing, no matter how trivial or joyful, or traditional, can escape the soul-deadening, mood killing, party pooping finger wagging we get from liberals this time of year.