I just found out that NORAD has been tracking Santa Claus on Christmas Eve for over 70 years, and honestly, it's pretty awesome. It's not just a kids' game; it's a tradition that started in 1955 by mistake when an ad misprinted the phone number for CONAD (which later became NORAD), and well... kids started calling asking to speak with Santa Claus.

A colonel named Harry Shoup was on duty that day, and instead of hanging up, he decided to play along and promised to monitor Santa during his journey. Since then, it has grown, and today they track Santa's route using satellites, radars, and cameras. The route is interesting: it starts in the Pacific, passes through New Zealand and Australia first, then Asia, Africa, Europe, and ends in the Americas. The crazy part is that they've even documented Santa visiting the International Space Station.

To follow Santa's route live, you can visit the NORAD website or download their app on December 24. The tracking begins at 4 a.m. (Eastern Time), and there's a toll-free number where kids can call (1-877-HI-NORAD) starting at 6 a.m. Santa's route updates in real-time as he visits homes, so if kids are still awake, he waits and comes back later. It's one of those traditions that sounds weird but is followed by millions of people in over 200 countries every year. Pretty cool for a Department of Defense initiative, honestly.