CNN
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As public fears rise in the Northeast over possible drone sightings, one sighting will soon put the entire country in the Christmas spirit: Santa Claus.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command is once again ready to track Santa Claus and his reindeer around the world.

NORAD, which is responsible for protecting the skies over the United States and Canada, will activate its Santa Claus tracking system at 6 a.m. ET on Christmas Eve. Santa watchers can follow his journey on NORAD’s website or call the command center at 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to take part in the annual holiday tradition.

According to NORAD, the tracking service can also be accessed through the NORAD Tracks Santa app, social media, Amazon Alexa, OnStar and SiriusXM.

This is the 69th year that NORAD has followed Santa’s Christmas journey around the world. It began by chance, according to NORAD’s website, in 1955, when a local newspaper ad informed children that they could call Santa Claus directly – only the contact number was misprinted. Instead of calling Old Saint Nick, a child called the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, who answered the child’s call, quickly realized the mistake and assured the child it was Santa Claus, the website says. After further calls, Shoup assigned an officer to answer the calls, “and a tradition was born.” This tradition continued with the founding of NORAD in 1958.

According to NORAD, the Santa Tracker site receives millions of visitors from around the world each year, and volunteers typically answer more than 130,000 calls.