December 24: NORAD (formerly CONAD) has tracked Santa since 1955

The emblem of NORAD Tracks Santa

In 1955, a Sears department store advertised that children can call and talk to Santa Claus but the phone number was incorrect and it happened to be a number of Colorado Springs' Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center. Colonel Shoup of CONAD told his staff to give all children that called in a current location of Santa Claus. This tradition has continued and CONAD was succeeded by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). NORAD has offered an annual Christmas-themed entertainment program tracking Santa on every Christmas eve since 1958. Santa tracking can be also viewable via web at www.noradsanta.org and the tracking starts from 0am on December 24. You can also see the Santa's whereabouts with the Google Earth plugin from the NORAD website.