Every year since I was a child the morning papers on Christmas day have always carried a little notice from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs, the joint U.S. - Canadian military group charged with scanning the skies over North America for early warning about hostile bombers or missiles headed our way, that NORAD had detected a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer, flying out of the North Pole. Since the sleigh and reindeer posed no hostile threat, no planes were scrambled to intercept the the sleigh and it was allowed to continue through U.S. and Canadian airspace.

This tradition started in 1955 when an ad in a Colorado Springs newspaper mistakenly printed NORAD's phone number in an ad and a child dialed the number asking about the whereabouts of Santa on that Christmas Eve. Despite the fact that it was a wrong number, the people at NORAD dutifully played along and reassured the child that they had indeed detected Santa on their radar as he was en route to deliver toys.

The tradition has continued and, in 1998 NORAD launched the NORAD Tracks Santa website at NORADSanta.org. In addition to the website (which received 912 million hits last year), a NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center has been in operation each year with the help of over 500 volunteers. These volunteers answer emails and telephone calls from children all over the world during the Christmas season giving them updates on Santa's progress in preparing for Christmas.

The phone number for the Ops Center is 1-877-HI-NORAD or 1-719-474-2111. The email address is: tracking@noradsanta.org for NORAD and northpole@officialsantamail.com to contact Santa Claus directly. I haven't tried the number or email but the website is very good.

Check out the link below to see how Santa is doing this year. 

Google now has a Santa tracking service with its free Google Earth download. Between December 12th and 24th, you can track Santa's progress as well as search for hidden gifts with the satellite tracker.

Below is information from Google's Google Earth site about the special Christmas feature as well as a link to the Santa tracking page and button on that page to download Google Earth:

Follow Santa as he delivers presents around the world

On December 24th, Santa will load his sleigh, take the reins and soar into the skies, delivering presents to good children all over the world. And now you can follow his fabled flight. First, you must download the latest version of Google Earth. Then download the Santa Tracker/Toy Hunt file. You're done! Google Earth will automatically refresh each day. What are you waiting for?

Getting started with Santa

1. After you have downloaded and installed Google Earth, download and open the Santa file.
2. Sit back and watch as you are flown to Santa’s workshop at the North Pole.
3. Click on the present icon outside of Santa’s Workshop to get today’s clue.
4. Type your guess in the fly to box in the upper left hand corner of the screen and click the magnifying glass. You will be flown to that city. [see Figure 1]
5. Use the compass control panel in the upper right hand corner of the screen to explore each city. You can drag the top slider (1) to tilt. Use the joystick (2) or the arrow buttons (3) in compass to pan. Zoom in and out using the slider (5) or ‘+’ and ‘-‘ signs. To rotate, grab and spin the compass wheel (6). To reorient north, click the N button (4) on the compass wheel. [see Figure 2]
6. To visit another city, repeat step 4.
7. To revisit Santa's Workshop, look under places on the left hand side of the screen. Scroll down until you see today's date and the text "Double click this to fly to today's clue" [Figure 3] .
8. Open the file tomorrow for a new clue and a new toy! And be sure to open the file again on Christmas Eve to track Santa's flight across the world.

Click Here to go to Santa Tracking Site and Download Google Earth.