SANTA SAYS >>>>

Ho-ho-holy crap it's cold up here.

Well, friends, my reindeer team, Papa Elf and I are on the clock. Papa Elf is dialed in with the North American Aerospace Defense Command with the weird, kid-friendly website that tracks my toy-delivering flight. You may follow me here.

The Santa NORAD tracking tradition dates back to 1955, when some waif in Colorado Springs dialed a wrong number - misprinted in a local newspaper ad - and ended up talking to an officer at NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center. The kid demanded to know where Santa was. The officer improvised. When NORAD opened in 1958, some PR genius figured it was worth carrying on the Santa surveillance.

NORAD uses some high-tech systems to track my sleigh - radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets - and has teamed up again this year with Google, which began tracking me at 2 a.m. Google Maps will have all the necessary flight information, or you can tune in to a 3-D feed via Google Earth. Parents with eager kids can plot out the exact right time to chill the milk and cool the cookies by using the Google Maps mobile site as well, by searching for "(santa)" on their smartphones.

You can also call NORAD for the latest news of my flight. The NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center will be open to 5 a.m. on Christmas. Call 1.877.HI.NORAD (1.877.446.6723) toll-free.

Peace out.

PLUS: 2011 South Sound Holiday Happenings

LINK: Santa Says RSS feed

LINK: Arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Give the Weekly Volcano a "LIKE" present

PLUS: 2011 Super Best of Tacoma Bought and Sold Readers' and Staff picks

PLUS: 2011 Best of Olympia Bought and Sold Readers' and Staff picks