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NORAD tracks Santa's sleigh ride around the world

Dan Joling The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, December 23, 2015 2:06PM EST Last Updated Thursday, December 24, 2015 11:04AM EST

Volunteer Katherine Beaupre takes phone calls from children asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their house, during the annual NORAD Tracks Santa Operation, at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Monday Dec. 24, 2012. (AP / Brennan Linsley)

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Santa Claus is coming to town, and for the 60th consecutive year, the North American Aerospace Defence Command will continue its tradition of telling youngsters the location of Kris Kringle on his annual storybook world tour.

The so-called Santa Tracker's hub is at Colorado's Peterson Air Force base, where hundreds of volunteers will be answering calls from an estimated 125,000 children around the globe looking for Santa's whereabouts.

In places like Alaska, however, remote NORAD identification technicians who monitor computer screens 24 hours a day for possible air incursions also spend Christmas Eve serving as official Santa "trackers."

The technicians in Canada and the U.S. report "sightings" of a sleigh full of toys pulled by flying reindeer, said Tech. Sgt. John Gordinier, an Alaska NORAD spokesman.

Dan Joling"It's one of the largest military community relations events we have," Gordinier said.