Keep an Eye on Your Presents: Track Santa Online

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (aka NORAD) is back on the hunt for Santa by way of its Father Christmas Tracker. Developed three years ago, the Father Christmas Tracker site has racked up more than 2 billion hits, as eager kiddies take to the Internet to keep an eye on the progress of their presents. NORAD will track Santa's movements with its radars and satellites and sophisticated Father Christmas Cams, reports the Telegraph.

Google is also getting in on the action by providing up-to-date information on Santa's progress via Google Earth. The tradition of tracking Santa started back in 1955 when a typo on a store advertisement that urged kids to call a Santa hotline led children to mistakenly call CONAD, NORAD's predecessor. The head of CONAD then gave instructions to his staff to search for Santa, and a tradition was born. According to NORAD, Santa started his journey from the North Pole at 9am GMT, with his first stops scheduled for the South Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia. Read the full article. (More NORAD stories.)