This year children will have a range of hi-tech options when it comes to following the progress of Santa on Christmas Eve.   

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) has been tracking Santa for over 50 years.

Children can follow his progress via its website or on Twitter, Facebook or via Google Maps or Google Earth.

It is becoming the hi-tech equivalent of reading The Night Before Christmas to excited children on Christmas Eve.

Father Christmas's journey starts at 1100GMT on 24 December and children can track his progress as he passes 24 "Santa cams" around the world.

This year they can also check out Santa's village and see how well the elves are getting on with making presents.

今年孩子们有很多大高科技的选择，用来追踪圣诞老人的平安夜之旅。

北美防空联合司令部（Norad）一直追踪圣诞老人50年了。

孩子们可以在网站像Twitter, Facebook,或者谷歌地球或谷歌地图上查询圣诞老人的行程。

这种圣诞前夜的追踪日益变得高科技，使孩子们在平安夜就兴奋不已。

今年孩子们还会查寻圣诞老人的村庄，并看看那些小矮人们做的礼物怎么样了。

The tradition of tracking Father Christmas goes back to a misprint in a Colorado newspaper advertisement in 1955.

The hotline to Santa promised by the paper actually connected to what was known then as the Continental Air Defense Command (Conad).

As more phone calls came in, the commander on the other end of the phone started to pretend he was Santa and the tradition continued in 1958 when Conad became Norad.

Last year volunteers received 75,000 phone calls and about 6,000 e-mails from 200 countries.

The system works, according to Norad, because Rudolph the reindeer's famous nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch.  

追踪圣诞老人的传统追溯到1955年，当时科罗拉多州一家报纸广告印刷出错。

这家报纸印刷的圣诞老人热线实际上链接到了当时被称作大陆防空司令部（Conad）。

当越来越多的电话打进来时，电话另一端的司令部官员就假装他是圣诞老人，而且这个传统一直延续到1958年，当时大陆防空司令部（Conad）变成了今天的北美防空联合司令部（Norad）。

去年志愿者共收到75，000个电话和大约6000封来自世界上200个国家的信件。

据北美防空联合司令部（Norad）称，目前还保持这个传统，因为驯鹿Rudolph著名的鼻子发射出的红外线特征类似导弹发射