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You Can! With If you phone in to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on Christmas Eve the service will tell you right where Old St. Nick is on that starry, magical night.

It’s a cute tradition that all began in 1955 when a little girl dialed the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) in Colorado Springs believing she was calling Santa after seeing an advertisement in a local paper.

Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup, who was working Christmas Eve, realized the girl had made a mistake but then decided to tell her CONAD would make sure Santa was safe in the sky.

CONAD then continued to help children track Santa every Christmas Eve. The tradition was transferred when CONAD changed its name to NORAD in 1958. Since then NORAD has dutifully reported the whereabouts of Santa on Dec. 24 to children all around the globe.

Today it is recognized as one of NORAD’s largest community outreach programs. The service receives over 130,000 calls from children across the earth and NORAD’s online Santa-tracker sees over 15 million views from over 200 countries each year.

You can also track Santa through social media sites YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Beginning on Dec. 1, you can follow Santa’s route here: https://www.noradsanta.org/

And for an old-fashioned phone call dial 1-877-Hi-NORAD

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