On December 24, Canadian and U.S. soldiers who typically guard North American skies take on an extra task: tracking Santa Claus's journey. It's a Christmas tradition dating back decades, and there's even a hotline to assure kids that St. Nick will find his way.

Colorado Springs

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is preparing to track Santa Claus's global journey on December 24, continuing a tradition that began 70 years ago after a misdialed phone call from a child. This year, 1,000 volunteers will answer calls from early morning until midnight, and updates will be available on NORAD's website in nine languages.

Last year, NORAD received nearly 400,000 calls from people worldwide, and expects even more this year. Using advanced defense technology, the team follows Santa's route, starting from the International Date Line in the Pacific, bringing joy to children and families across the globe.

North American soldiers track Santa's journey on Christmas Eve

Come December 24, these phones will be ringing off the hook. The men and women of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, are swapping camouflage for Christmas cheer, tracking Santa and his reindeer across the globe. We're just happy that we're able to track them every single year. The tradition began 70 years ago, when a department store misprinted a phone number and a young child accidentally called the command. And the colonel who answered the phone heard a child asking him, where's Santa Claus? And the colonel realized, well, we track everything over North America, and so we absolutely can see where Santa Claus is. We normally just track threats, but he looked up where Santa was and reported it to the child and then our tradition was born. On December 24, a team of 1,000 volunteers will be taking calls from four in the morning until midnight. Santa can also be tracked on NORAD's website in nine languages. So many, many people around the globe call us on December 24. Last year we took almost 400,000 phone calls. This year we think we will take more. The team uses all the defence technology at their disposal, following Rudolph with his nose so bright, like a tracking device. Hearing little kids laugh and giggle and ask silly questions, it's fun. And so if we can bring that joy to them in some way, shape or form, then I think we did our job. According to NORAD, Santa starts his journey from the International Date Line in the Pacific on December 24.

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