NORAD prepares to track Santa’s fabled sleigh ride with hundreds of volunteers

It’s December 24th and somewhere Santa Claus is already loading up his sleigh with the latest gadgets, toys, treats and a few lumps of coal (for the unlucky few on the naughty list). Tracking opportunities are also offered on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+.

When the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was created years later, it continued the tradition. “Of course, we can’t show every single one of Santa’s stops but we do show a lot of those around the world and every single country”.

That’s right, NORAD’s Santa Tracker is back.

It’s nearly here: the most exciting night of the year for children of all ages as we await the arrival of Santa Claus and his reindeer! Starting on Christmas Eve, anxious kiddos around the world will be able to locate Santa online, on a mobile phone, tablet, in OnStar-equipped cars, and even the old-fashioned way – by making a phone call.

In addition to manning the NORAD center, volunteers from the United States and Canada will field calls from an estimated 125,000 children around the world. But keep in mind, Santa’s route can be affected by weather, so it’s really unpredictable.

NORAD’s Santa operations center opens at 4 a.m. MST on December 24.

Miles of wire, dozens of computers and 157 telephone lines will greet hundreds of volunteers Thursday.

NORAD has been tracking Santa for roughly 60 years.

On the Santa tracking website, while kids wait for Santa, there are a number of fun activities from holiday music played by the U.S. Air Force Academy Band, to Santa and holiday themed games, videos about tracking Santa and more.

NORAD, which also runs the North American air and space defense monitoring systems, began its website countdown Wednesday from Santa’s North Pole Village. Thousands of phone calls received from children worldwide have been answered.

For 60 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s flight.