COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa. Instead of reaching Saint Nick, the phone number put kids through to the Continental Air Defense's Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline". Since then, the fine folks at NORAD have answered the calls.

"This is a really fun time for us," says Capt. Jeff Navis, US Navy. "Once a year we come together and we get a bunch of volunteers and track Santa as he moves around the world."

The logistics that go into this operation, now at Peterson Air Force Base, are nothing short of mind-numbing.

"We're expecting to exceed our numbers," said Marisa Novobioski, project manager. "Last year we had 102,000 phone calls, and I was speaking to our telephone tech and this is the busiest we've ever been at this point in the day. We have a 123 manned stations right now and we'll go up to 145 trackers. That's phone and email. We also have a full social media team that are updating Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus to post about where Santa is and where's he's heading next."

A total of 1,200 volunteers will take phone calls from around the globe answering questions about Santa. The last shift for volunteers ends at 3 a.m.

If you'd like to visit their website and track Santa on his busy night, visit www.noradsanta.org/en/track.html.