NORAD Santa tracker: When Santa takes off, how to follow the journey

It's Christmas Eve, which means Santa Claus has started his annual journey around the world — and you can track his progress.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)'s Santa tracker is now live. It tracks the Jolly One's whereabouts as he crosses the globe delivering presents. NORAD Tracks Santa has been an annual Christmas tradition since 1955, when it first launched as a hotline for children to call and get updates on its status.

The hotline still exists, but you can also visit noradsanta.org and see Santa's progress in real-time.

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The website shows Santa and his reindeer flying over a 3D satellite map of the globe, complete with gifts delivered (over 1.7 billion and counting as of publication), Santa's ETA for the next major destination, and his most recent visit. You can also click into icons on the map and learn about various locations by switching to a 2D map along his route.

Santa started his journey in the North Pole and has made his way down to the South Pacific region, and next looks to be sweeping across Southeast Asia.

He still has a lot of ground to cover, so like every other year, Santa is in for a long night of travel. Make sure to have some sustenance ready in the form of milk and cookies and carrots for his reindeer when he gets close to your part of the world.