The North American Aerospace Defense Command is celebrating the 60th Anniversary of tracking Santa’s yuletide journey.

NORAD’s website has been redesigned to offer kids lots of interactive features as they wait patiently for Kris Kringle to make his worldwide trek. Spokesman Preston Schlackner explained how NORAD first got involved in Santa’s journey.

"It was in 1955, when a local newspaper ad mistakenly put the phone number for our control center, telling people they could call Santa," Schlackner said. "That, of course, was December 24th, 1955 when it was published in a Sears and Roebuck newspaper ad. When it rang in our control center, our commander at the time, Colonel Showp, decided to use the radars to track Santa, and everyone who called in got an up-to-date location."

Schlackner said the technology now is much more advanced.

"Now we have a series of radar and satellites that can track Santa," he said. "And, of course, that's part of our everyday mission to track aircraft, space launches or anything else across the North American continent."

The NORAD Tracks Santa website features Santa’s North Pole Village, which includes a holiday countdown, games, activities, and more.  The website is available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese.

Official NORAD Tracks Santa apps are also available in the Windows, Apple and Google Play stores, so parents and children can countdown the days until Santa’s launch on their smart phones and tablets!  Tracking opportunities are also offered on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+.  Santa followers just need to type “@noradsanta” into each search engine to get started.

Also new this year, the website features the NORAD Headquarters in the North Pole Village, and highlights of the program over the past 60 years.

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