Santa Tracker 2016: How did the NORAD tradition evolve?

Where is Santa Claus is a question that has been asked a million times by children who just cannot wait for Father Christmas to come armed with gifts. And every year, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) gives you the answer, well, at least tries to.

Members of NORAD have been entertaining millions of children for the past 61 years by giving them the "precise" location of Santa and other Santa-related information on their website during Christmas.

Every year more than 1,000 volunteers gather to track Santa's yuletide journey and answer more than 110,000 calls and 12,000 emails on Christmas Eve. NORAD online Santa tracker also gives live updates of Santa's current location.

How did NORAD Santa Tracker start?

The tradition of "tracking" Santa Claus live started on a momentous day in 1995 when a newspaper mistakenly printed Continental Air Defense Command's (NORAD's predecessor) number in a local department store's advertisement. The department store ad read, "Hey, Kiddies! Call me direct and be sure and dial the correct number," but since the wrong phone number was printed, all the calls went to Continental Air Defense Command.

Colonel Harry Shoup, who was on duty that Christmas eve, received hundreds of calls from children, but instead of hanging up the calls, he started talking to them. Colonel Shoup, who was later known as Santa Colonel, received the first call from a girl who was crying because she could not talk to Santa Claus. Soon after that, the tradition of talking to children as Santa evolved. They also provided additional information on Santa's location.

The official website of NORAD Santa Tracker is live, but the live tracking will begin in two days. Apart from the live streaming of Santa Claus, the website also provides games, music and more for children.