All the ways you can track Santa on his journey

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The start of NORAD Tracks Santa is actually a pretty funny story that dates back to 1955.

On Christmas Eve that year, a little girl who was trying to call the number in the local paper for Santa actually accidentally reached the unlisted number for the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

She spoke to to Col. Harry Shoup, who had assured her he would track Santa and make sure he was safe that night. 

The tradition of tracking Santa carried on through NORAD beginning in 1958 and continues to this day. 

NORAD tracks Santa Claus using satellite systems, high-powered radars and jet fighters, and more than 1,500 volunteers field thousands of calls from all over the world on Christmas Eve. 

Last year, volunteers received a record 140,000 calls to the Santa hotline. 

This year, children can track Santa through the website, noradsanta.org, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

There are games and activities on the website, and there are also Official NORAD Tracks Santa apps on Apple and Google Play stores. 

At 2:01 a.m. on December 24, NORAD will begin to track Santa's journey, streaming videos of Santa Cams. 

The hotline will be open at 6 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, where children can call 1-877-446-6723, or email at noradtrackssanta@outlook.com. Amazon Alexa users can also ask for Santa's location and OnStar subscribers can press the OnStar button in their vehicles to locate Santa.