Norad Santa tracker live: Follow Santa Claus and his reindeer around the world

Father Christmas braved the sticky heat of the Amazon rainforest over the weekend and took two boats to bring gifts to the children in a small village near the Brazilian city of Manaus.

The visit was organized by Amigos do Papai Noel, a Brazilian charity that has been receiving gifts for children in the Amazon rainforest for the past 26 years.

“For the children of the rivers, the people of the countryside, nothing new is happening,” said Raimunda Ferrera Vieira, a community leader in the village of Catalao, which received Santa on Saturday. “This here for us was a gift from God.”

More than 600 children from different villages gathered in Catalao to receive gifts from Santa Claus, who dressed in his traditional night hat, white gloves and red suit as he endured the sweltering jungle heat.

The tradition began in 1955 when a child mistakenly called a military commando in Colorado and asked to speak to Santa – after a local newspaper carried a department store ad with a misspelled phone number.

Air Force Chief Harry Shoup, who was manning the phones that Christmas Eve, quickly realized the mistake and assured the child that he was, in fact, Santa Claus.

As more calls came in that night, Commander Shoup assigned an officer on duty to continue answering the phone, spawning a tradition that carried over to Norad when it was formed in 1958.

Every year since, the agency — which defends and monitors the skies over North America — has fielded children’s questions about the red-and-white-clad chimney sweep and his unrivaled delivery schedule.

According to Norad, the “only logical conclusion” as to how Santa is able to cross the globe in one night is that he is “somehow operating within his own time-space continuum.”

“NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time as we do. His trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but for Santa it can be days, weeks or even months,” the agency said.

Santa Claus usually starts at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and travels west.

So historically Santa first visits the South Pacific, then New Zealand and Australia. Then he shoots up to Japan, over to Asia, over to Africa, then towards Western Europe, Canada, the USA, Mexico and Central and South America.

“Keep in mind that Santa’s route can be affected by the weather, so it’s really unpredictable,” Norad says on its website.

“NORAD tracks Santa, but only Santa knows his route,” the military organization’s website states, “which means we can’t predict where and when he’ll arrive at your house. However, we know from history that it seems that he arrives only when children are asleep! In most countries, Santa appears to arrive between 9:00 PM and midnight on December 24. If children are still awake when Santa arrives, he goes on to other houses. He returns later, but only when the children are asleep!”

The military’s tradition of tracking Santa Claus on his gravity-defying sweep across the globe will continue this Christmas Eve even as the U.S. government shuts down, officials said Friday.

“We fully expect Santa to fly on December 24 and NORAD will track him,” the US-Canadian agency said in a statement.

Every other night, NORAD scans the skies for potential threats, such as last year’s Chinese spy balloon. But on Christmas Eve, volunteers in Colorado Springs, Colo., ask questions like, “When is Santa coming to my house?” and, “Am I on the naughty or nice list?”

The effort is supported by local and corporate sponsors, who also help protect the tradition from Washington dysfunction.

NORAD has an online tracker so kids can watch Santa travel the world in real time. of the year website launched on December 1st, it currently features a village at the North Pole and a countdown to Christmas Eve.

The website will show Santa’s location from 4 ET Christmas Eve to 2 Christmas Day.

Families can also download NORAD’s Santa Tracker app from both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Those interested in calling NORAD can use the telephone number 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) on December 24 from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Christmas Day ET.

Google will also have its own version of one Santa’s spurs that goes live on December 24. Similar to NORAD’s tracker, Google has a Christmas Eve countdown clock and various games available before the Santa card goes live.

Hello and Merry Christmas! Santa is finally coming to town, and we’re ready to watch his journey live as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) once again tracks him around the globe.

It’s T-minus 10 hours until he leaves, so get ready, put on some Christmas tunes and prepare for his departure with us.