As Christmas Eve gets underway, children and families across the world are once again following Santa Claus on his annual gift-giving journey using online trackers that show his path in real time. The tradition began in 1955, when a misprinted phone number in a Sears advertisement prompted children to accidentally call the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), which then started fielding their Santa queries. Since then, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has carried on the custom, and in 2025 it marks 70 years of “tracking” Santa from its operations centre at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs.
Every year on Christmas Eve from midnight on 24 December, NORAD posts Santa’s location online and via its dedicated Santa tracker website. Volunteers answer calls on the toll-free hotline 1-877-HI-NORAD (877-446-6723) in multiple languages, while families can watch his journey visualised as he is “tracked” by radar, satellites and other systems playfully linked to Rudolph’s bright red nose, from the North Pole to cities around the globe.
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Alongside NORAD’s service, Google’s Santa Tracker provides a colourful, interactive way to follow Santa’s progress using Google Maps and festive animations. It also features games and educational activities both in the lead-up to Christmas and throughout Christmas Eve.
To follow Santa’s journey now or later tonight, families can visit noradsanta.org for NORAD’s live updates on Santa’s location. They can also open Google’s Santa Tracker at santatracker.google.com for a map-based view and interactive features, and use phones or computers to see where Santa is as he makes his magical trip across the Christmas sky.
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