Featured Image Credit: NORAD
Topics: Christmas
Joe Yates
Santa has officially lifted off for Christmas as he's been spotted burning through the sky with his team of nine reindeer.
With Christmas Eve upon us, Father Christmas has began delivering presents to all the good boys and girls around the world - starting of course in countries with time zones already deep into the night.
St Nick is expected to begin delivering presents in the US between 9pm and midnight, so there's still time for American children to make it onto the nice list.
Incredibly, Generation Logistics crunched some numbers to calculate that Santa delivers 2,536 per second to the 310 million households with children around the world that celebrate Christmas.
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His elves have certainly been busy this year, but in order to do so the big man will be burning calories at an alarming rate.
If you think about how tired you get running around the playground on lunch at school, spare a thought for Santa. Fortunately, with each household leaving out cookies and milk he's able to fuel up before darting through the next chimney.
At the time of writing, with the help of his reindeer, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and red-nosed Rudolph.
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So how do we know where he's up to?
Well, that's thanks to NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) which channels its energy each year in tracking Santa Claus as he leaves the North Pole and travels around the world on his mission to deliver presents to children on Christmas Eve.
Gone are the days of staying up late, staring out of the window and listening carefully for hooves on the roof - thanks to modern technology, you can now track the big man's journey in real time on the NORAD Santa Tracker.
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The website uncovers where Father Christmas is in the world - and you can see which cities he has already visited, and learn more about the places he’s stopped at along the way.
NORAD first started to track Santa back in 1955, making this the 70th time they've followed his progress through the skies.
Each year, experts from the US and Canada team up to track Santa using a series of satellites, with more than 1,250 volunteers helping to keep the tracker updated throughout Christmas Eve.
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Merry Christmas everyone - and remember, Santa and his elves are always watching so be good!