![Millions of children are awaiting the arrival of Santa](http://media.assettype.com/outlooktraveller%2Fimport%2Foutlooktraveller%2Fpublic%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Ftravelnews%2Fshutterstock_519973075.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
We can all hear the jingle bells in the winter chill as Christmas approaches. Waiting for Mr Santa Claus to bust down the chimney to fill up stockings every Christmas Eve is something most of us are guilty of.
While the pandemic may have forced people to change around and mix up the usual Christmas traditions, millions of children are still excitedly awaiting the arrival of Santa.
Enter NORAD and Google who plan to track Santa. If you are interested, or have kids who'd like this, here's how you can watch Santa travel to faraway lands and come to your place.
NORAD stands for North American Aerospace Defense Command which conducts aerospace warnings, aerospace control and maritime warning in the defense of North America when it is not busy tracking the man in the red suit.
Mr Claus is set to take off on his sleigh from Lapland with his reindeers, travelling an estimated 510,000,000 km, approximately 1,800 miles per second. Needless to say, it is his busiest night of the year as he has to travel 390,000 homes per minute
Every year around Christmas, NORAD monitors the skies for Santa's sleigh. In fact, &lsquoNORAD tracks Santa&rsquo has been the organisation's annual holiday role under its outreach programme, since 1955.
The story goes that ever since a child accidentally called the unlisted phone number of the Continental Air Defense (CONAD) Operations Center upon seeing a newspaper advertisement, which mentioned kids should call Santa, NORAD took it upon itself to spread Christmas joy by creating a holiday themed programme which stimulates the tracking of Santa Claus across the globe on December 24. More than 1,500 volunteers come together to make this possible.
They have received nine million unique visitors from more than 200 countries across the globe, keen to know the whereabouts of Santa.
Earlier this month, NORAD launched its website in a holiday avatar, with games, videos, music and stories available in eight languages. NORAD will also use its new Santa-tracking app and its social media channels to post updates throughout the evening.
NORAD isn't alone in doing this. Following its popularity, Google launched its Keyhole Santa Radar in 2004, known better as the Santa Tracker Website.
Each year, at the start of December, Santa&rsquos Village launches various games and educational resources for kids to learn and have fun. Children this year can also learn coding with elves and can use Google Assistant to tune into the North Pole Newscast and even call Santa.