Santa Claus set out on his reindeer sleigh early on Christmas Eve to deliver presents around the world.

That’s according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint U.S. and Canadian military command at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, which has produced a whimsical report on Santa Claus for 69 years.

The persecution would have continued even if the federal government had shut down, a crisis that the U.S. Congress averted at the last moment last weekend.

“Santa Claus runs in the Christmas spirit, so any potential government action would not impact his mission,” Royal Canadian Air Force Maj. Jennie Derenzis, a NORAD spokeswoman, said Tuesday.

Derenzis added that military personnel at the base, who monitor air defense and issue aerospace and maritime warnings, would have liked to track Santa Claus anyway, and that the people who traditionally answer children’s phone lines are largely civilian volunteers.

At the time the story was published, Santa Claus was on his way to Cayenne, French Guiana.

Image credit: https://www.noradsanta.org/en/map

The tradition began in 1955 when an ad in a Colorado Springs newspaper asked children to come by to talk to Santa Claus. However, the telephone number of the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD’s predecessor, was accidentally provided.

An officer on duty answered calls from children and reassured them that Santa Claus, also known as Kris Kringle or St. Nick, was making his gift-giving rounds as planned.

The program has been improved along with tracking technology for all ship types.

Followers of the jolly old elf can receive real-time updates. The website features Santa’s North Pole Village, which includes a holiday countdown, games, a movie theater, Christmas music and a web shop and is available in multiple languages.

NORAD Tracks Santa is also available on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X, as well as the Amazon Alexa, SiriusXM and OnStar platforms.