Santa Claus has left the North Pole and taken to the skies and can be tracked from your laptop or phone.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Santa Tracker is one of the best ways to see Santa as he races across the world delivering presents.
Christmas Eve is a busy time for Santa, as he needs to visit 390,000 homes per minute - or 6,424 per second.
Using radars, satellites and jet fighters, NORAD can roughly guess where he is, although when he and the reindeer are going so fast, it’s hard to be perfectly accurate.
Tracking Santa
NORAD was introduced in 1955 when a local media advertisement asked children to call the North Pole, but the number was misprinted.
Instead of reaching Santa, the phone rang through to the crew commander on duty at the Continental Air Defence Command Operations Centre.
Now as NORAD, over 1,000 volunteers in the US spend Christmas Eve tracking Santa’s location so kids around the world know when he’s nearby and it’s time for bed.
Milk and cookies for Santa Claus. Image: D. Hurst / Alamy Stock PhotoNew Zealand and Australia are among the first countries he's expected to visit, as the time difference across countries lets him get all the presents delivered in time.
Santa is expected to arrive in Ireland tonight, and children are advised to go to bed as early as possible to give him plenty of time to deliver presents.
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue approved the entry of Santa’s reindeer into Ireland this morning.
He said the Department of Agriculture has been working closely with the vet team in the North Pole, who have ensured the reindeer are “fit, healthy and ready to deliver presents to Irish children across the country”.
"With the arrival now imminent, I am encouraging children to be tucked up in their beds as early as possible on Christmas Eve to ensure Santa and his reindeer can get through their important work successfully,” he said.
The big guy will also consume a total of 71,764,000,000 calories today from generous children - whether it's milk, cookies, chocolates or mince pies.
You can follow Santa's journey here, or download the app for Apple or Android.
