James Raymond Reese

Santa Claus is making steady progress and appears to be on track for a late-night arrival in the United States.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, has tracked Santa's progress every Christmas Eve since 1955. 2009 is no different. By this morning, New York time, the Colorado military installation showed Santa having visited parts of Asia and Australia and moving westward.

As I write this, Santa is in Mina Jabal Ali, United Arab Emirates. His next stop will be Sur, Oman.

NORAD usually monitors threats against the United States and Canada, but turns its radars on Santa each Christmas Eve to follow his trip around the world.

NORAD's tradition started quite accidentally 54 years ago when Sears, Roebuck and Co. ran a newspaper ad telling kids to dial a certain phone number if they wanted to talk to Santa.

Only one problem. The number printed was one digit off and the kids were calling NORAD's predecessor organization during the height of the cold war.

The very first Santa Tracking occurred that day when a military colonel told an eager child on the phone Santa hadn't arrived yet but he would check the radar units to see where Santa and his sleigh were.

A very big tip of Big Jim's red and green Christmas hat to the fellows in Colorado Springs who have kept this tradition alive for so long.

Checkout www.noradsanta.org