COLORADO SPRINGS, Dec. 23 (UPI) — NORAD is continuing its decades long tradition of allowing those eager for their Christmas gifts to track Santa’s gift-giving journey across the globe.
The NORAD Santa tracker provides all the tools necessary to follow Santa as he delivers gifts to homes throughout the world including a map of journey and live view of the North Pole.
Santa trackers can stay updated on his location via NORAD’s online tracker as well as mobile apps for Apple, Android and Windows phones or by following @NoradSanta on Twitter.
In addition to tracking St. Nick throughout his mission, NORAD’s site provides multiple ways to pass the time waiting for Santa such as a live countdown, a playlist of Christmas music and a collection of Santa-themed games, stories and movies.
The tracker was first implemented in 1955 when a misprint in a Colorado Springs phone number of Santa Claus accidentally led people to the Continental Air Defense Command Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.”
Director of Operations Colonel Harry Shoup used his radar to update children of Santa’s location and the tradition continued in 1958 when Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD.
