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NORAD will track Santa Claus delivering presents again this year

Santa Claus delivering presents
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For the 67th year, The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be here to help children and families track Santa as Father Christmas travels the world to deliver Christmas presents.

NORAD's "Santa tracker" has been a tradition since 1955 when a local newspaper advertisement told kids they could call Santa directly, but that number was misprinted.

Instead of reaching Kriss Kringle, children called the crew commander on duty, who was at that time, U.S. Air ForceColonel Harry Shoup.

Shoup was at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center, which came before NORAD.

According to NORAD, Shoup quickly realized the mistake and assigned a duty officer to keep taking the calls and assuring kids that they had, in fact, reached Santa.

It was then that the holiday tradition was born.

NORAD has carried on the tradition each year since that night, "tracking" Santa Claus' location on Christmas Eve and now sharing that out to millions of excited families worldwide.

NORADSanta.org doesn't just feature Santa's tracker — which goes live at 4 a.m. EST on Christmas Eve — It also has a holiday countdown, along with games, holiday music and other features.

The website is available in multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese.

There is a "NORAD Tracks Santa" app for your phone as well!

Santa enthusiasts can also call in to see where Santa is flying with his sled by dialing the toll-free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723), where they will either speak with a live phone operator, or hear a recorded update.

Scripps National News and WFTS contributed to this report.