For the 66th year, The North American Aerospace Defense Command is set to track Santa and follow his journey across the globe as he drops off presents to all the good boys and girls on Christmas Eve.
On December 1, parents and their children can visit Santa’s North Pole Village on noradsanta.org, where they can count down to Santa’s big day, play games, enjoy holiday music, and much more.
And on Dec. 24, visitors can start tracking Santa as he voyages across the world. You can track Santa on the NORAD Santa tracker website, the NORAD Tracks Santa app on Apple store or Google Play, or call to receive updates toll-free at 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) where you can either speak with a live phone operator or hear a recorded update.
NORAD started tracking Santa in 1955, when a local newspaper accidently gave the wrong phone number to children to ‘call Santa directly’. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone rang at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center, the predecessor to NORAD. U.S. Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup was the crew commander on duty at the time, and when he realized there must have been a mistake, he assured the child calling that he was Santa. He then assigned a duty officer to continue answering calls, thus creating an annual holiday tradition.
Each year, NORAD volunteers take time to personally respond to phone calls and emails from children around the world.
