(CNN) 鈥� Santa Claus听has packed his sleigh with toys for all the good kids听and he has made sure the reindeer are secured for takeoff. Now, they are traveling around the world to visit millions of households.
While you are waiting to hear the jingle of bells in the air that means Santa is near, the North American Aerospace Defense Command has a tracking system to show the jolly man鈥檚 progress worldwide.
NORAD, which is responsible for protecting the skies over the United States and Canada, activates its Santa tracking system at 6 a.m. ET on Christmas Eve. People can follow Santa鈥檚 journey around the world on听听or they can call the command center at 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723).
鈥淟ast year alone, NORAD answered over 73,000 calls just on December 24th alone,鈥� Pentagon press secretary .
The tracking service can also be accessed through the NORAD Tracks Santa app, social media, Amazon Alexa, OnStar, SiriusXM and the Bing search engine, according to .
This is the 68th year that NORAD has tracked Santa鈥檚 yuletide journey around the world. It started by accident,听, in 1955 when a local newspaper advertisement informed children they could call Santa directly 鈥� only the contact number was misprinted.
鈥淚nstead of calling Santa, the child called the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.,鈥� says the website.
鈥淎ir Force Col. Harry Shoup, the commander on duty that night who answered the child鈥檚 phone call, was quick to realize a mistake had been made and assured the child he was Santa. After more incoming calls, Shoup assigned a duty officer to continue answering calls and a tradition was born, that continued when NORAD was formed in 1958.鈥�
Thus the tradition was started, according to NORAD, and they have carried it on for decades since. Millions of families and children around the world have used the tracking service to monitor Santa鈥檚 whereabouts, according to NORAD.
鈥淭hroughout the years, many different fighter aircraft have intercepted Santa,鈥� NORAD鈥檚 Lt. Gen. Blaise Frawley . 鈥淲e鈥檒l normally give him a 鈥榳ing wag鈥� as we peel off.鈥�
鈥� CNN鈥檚 Tricia Escobedo and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
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