Keep an Eye on Santa with the NORAD Santa Tracker

The sleigh is loaded, the reindeer are charged up, and Santa is streaking across the sky at impossible speeds to deliver toys to all the world's good girls and boys.

It's Christmas Eve, and that means the big guy is making his annual trek around the globe. If you want to keep track of his progress and get a look at just how fast he moves, NORAD has all the tools you'll need.

Since 1955, NORAD's Santa Tracker has kept an eye on the big guy to make sure he stays safe on his rounds and to give us all an idea of just how quickly he gets around.

These days, you can watch his progress in real time at noradsanta.org. The interactive globe will show you exactly where Santa is on either a 3D or 2D map, where he's headed next, and how many gifts he's delivered so far. (At the time I was writing this, he'd already delivered over 1 billion toys.) You can even see photos and video status reports from the places he's visited.

You can also keep track of Santa's progress with the NORAD Santa Tracker app for iOS and Android.

Keeping that Christmas magic going and flying around the world at such incredible speed burns tons of calories, so Santa's counting on you to leave some milk and cookies out tonight. You can even leave a carrot out for his reindeer if you'd like to help them out too.

Just make sure you're asleep when Santa makes it to your house. It's just one of those rules that helps keep the magic and mystery alive for future generations.

Godspeed, Santa!

We wish all our listeners a very merry Christmas and a joyous new year.