Tracking Santa: NORAD's 2017 sleigh tracker up and running

NORTH POLE -- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at NORAD headquarters!

North American Aerospace Defense Command -- better known as NORAD -- has officially relaunched its beloved Santa tracker for 2017 on NORADSanta.org.

Every Christmas Eve, the agency which is a joint effort of the governments of the United States and Canada, uses its cutting-edge tracking technology to track the movement of Santa's sleigh as he delivers presents the world over.

Until then, however, Santa and his elves are busy laboring away at the North Pole to prepare for their trans-global journey. On the website, you can explore Santa's workshop, listen to Christmas carols and play holiday-themed games.

For decades, NORAD Tracks Santa was a phone service, where interested parties could call in for real-time updates on Santa's location as he traversed the globe.

With the advent of the web, NORAD moved the service to a website with an interactive map in the late 1990s.