He sees you when you’re sleeping and he knows when you’re awake, but when Santa Claus himself enters the airspace above North America (that is Canada and the United States), he is the one being watched! Thanks to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, Santa’s journey has no secrets anymore.

According to the institution’s official web site, the Continental Air Defense Command, or CONAD, and its successor, NORAD, have been providing location updates on Santa Claus’ transnational journey for almost 52 years. The tradition started back in 1955 when an ad for Sears, Roebuck & Co. in Colorado Springs, Colorado, simply misprinted a phone number. However, that number was no ordinary one, but Santa Claus’ own phone number. So, because of the misprint, instead or reaching Santa, children found themselves talking to Air Force Col. Harry Shoup of the Continental Air Defense Command at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado.

Rather than hanging up and upsetting the children, Harry Shoup and his troops became that Christmas’ Santa’s helpers and answered every child’s call with a report of Santa location. Thus, each Christmas CONAD’s personnel tracked Santa and his reindeers and informed children. When NORAD was formed, it took over these traditional Christmas duties.

"We think of it as a geography lesson, because the different places that Santa visits or sightings that we have, a lot of people haven't heard of," said Air Force Master Sgt. John Tomassi, co-director of Santa-tracking operations. Tomassi also added that "If we can get some children to go and look at a map to find out where Timbuktu is, or where India is, or Pakistan, or wherever, then we feel all the better for that."