Mr. Claus sets off with his reindeer from his hometown on the Arctic Circle and makes his first stop in Finland. As of 9 A.M., Santa has delivered over 980 thousand gifts!
The Colorado-based agency allows people to follow Santa’s journey on noradsanta.org website, social media channels, and mobile app.
Like many origin stories, NORAD’s mission to track Santa began by accident. In 1955 a young child, trying to reach Santa, dialed the misprinted phone number from a department store ad in the local newspaper. Instead of calling Santa, the child called the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.