The North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, is spending Christmas Eve watching the skies around the world to track Santa’s journey.
Those looking to see where the jolly man is can log on to the NORAD Santa Tracker website and see his current location. A hotline staffed by volunteers is also open for those who wish to call in and find out where Santa is. The number is 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723).
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As of 1 p.m., Santa roughly 2 billion presents have been delivered to grateful children throughout the world. A NORAD spokesperson said Saint Nick is expected to be in the Levittown area sometime after 9 p.m.
The NORAD Santa Tracker website features holiday games, music and video of Santa for kids to enjoy when they’re on the website.
An advocacy group, the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, is particularly critical of a promotional video NORAD produced that shows Santa being tracked by fighter jets and all sorts of other military gear. It’s “a back-door way” to market the military to children, the group’s spokesman says.
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The NORAD Santa tracker started in the 1950s when a department store placed an advertisement in a Colorado Springs newspaper telling children to call Santa. The phone number printed with the print advertisement was wrong and directed callers to the command center for the agency that preceded NORAD, which is operated by the United State and Canada. A commanding officer instructed military personnel to tell the kids calling for Santa where he was at the moment. From there, the tradition has continued and grown over time.
The program is funded through corporate sponsorship and not taxpayer money, according to several reports.
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The website had 22.3 million unique visitors on Christmas Eve 2012, the Associated Press reported.
