Up, Up and Away with Santa's sleigh

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The North American Air Defence System has once again gone into Defcon Santa as reports of the a Jolly old Elf and nine of his favourite reindeer take to the skies of the hemispheres, delivery tidings of Joy.

Using a high tech system of observation including radar and satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets, NORAD command which features members from both the US and Canadian military keeps a careful watch on Santa as he makes his way towards the North American continent and a return to his North Pole home after another successful mission.

You can follow his progress through the NORAD Santa site, which features a variety of highly secretive military tracking mechanisms including the very helpful Google Earth tracking map .

To help your young one's pass the time til they have to put out the treats for Santa and his reindeer NORAD has an interactive games zone for kids and stories about Santa ,  including a Santa cookie counter that updates his calorie intake thus far, all designed to keep the young ones busy (a handy thing for parents anticipating tomorrows sugar high and such).

In addition to the fun and games, NORAD has added some international efforts as they highlight a number of student videos from the around the world describing where they call home.

But of course the main attraction of the day for NORAD is keeping Santa's travels safe, and to follow that progress they suggest that youngsters of all ages keep checking back here to see where Santa has been to, where he's at right now and where he's heading to next.