NORAD’s Santa Tracker celebrates 60 years

Santa Claus is coming to town!

And for the 60th year in a row, NORAD’s Santa Tracker will show you when the jolly old man will arrive.

By noon on Christmas Eve, the Santa Tracker showed that Santa had already delivered around two and a half billion presents to countries like Russia, Japan, Australia, and Madagascar.

Santa’s journey is tracked in Colorado Springs.

It takes 1,500 volunteers to man the hundreds of thousands of phone calls and emails from children wondering when their presents will arrive.

Joie Broin has made volunteering with her family a tradition for the last three years.

“It is so delightful hearing that child gasp with excitement and you can almost feel them shaking through the other end of the phone,” Broin said.

She’s talked to children from India, Japan, England and Kazakhstan.

While the call center is full of both military members and civilians, following Santa along his journey can only be done by the top military personnel and the very best equipment.

Captain Scott Miller with NORAD said this mission is the most important mission they have today.

“We call this a no-fail mission,” he said. “Rudolph’s nose gives off an infrared signal that is picked up by radar and then precisely tracked by satellites. We also have our fighter jets follow Santa so he stays safe.”

This 60-year tradition actually started as a mistake, when a Sears ad printed the wrong phone number for Santa in the Gazette.

“Captain Shoop picked up the phone in 1955 and played along, and we’ve been tracking Santa ever since,” Captain Miller explained.

It was a mistake this top U.S. military agency was happy to turn into a unique part of Christmas.

“We’ve got all the heart that it takes and we believe,” Captain Miller said.

You can track Santa at http://www.noradsanta.org/

You can also call his helpers with any Christmas-related question at 1 (877) HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723).