Father Christmas is away!
Santa has started his journey delivering Christmas presents around the world, and you’re able to track his process here.
The famous Norad Santa tracker, operated by the North American Aerospace Defence Command, has been running for more than 60 years, and is fully in operation today.
Santa began his mission on the International Date Line, before heading off to the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia.
After a quick stop for milk and mince pies, he will head up to Japan and the rest of eastern Asia before moving on to Africa.
From there, he and his his trusted team of reindeer will head on to Western Europe and later the US, Mexico and central and south America.
Please scroll down for the latest and to see where he’s got to.
Australia nearly done
15:27 , Tom PlaceAustralia is massive, isn’t it?
Father Christmas has nearly done down under - he’s now delivering to Perth on Australia’s west coast.
We’re over 1.5 billion gifts delivered now.
Over 1 billion gifts delivered
14:13 , Tom PlaceSanta has now delivered over a billion gifts already, and he’s still barely started covering Asia.
He’s working his way around Japan now - the good boys and girls of Tokyo have just received their presents.
Back to Australia
13:51 , Tom PlaceSanta is back in Australia now.
He seems to be fairly diligently going from east to west - not the most efficient route, but as long as the reindeer can keep to their pace, not a problem!
Off to Russia
12:53 , Tom PlaceWe’re done with Oceania for now - Santa’s has headed north, and is working his way round Russia’s east coast.
Santa hits NZ
11:50 , Tom PlaceFather Christmas has reached New Zealand - he’s already delivered to Auckland, and is now working his way down the North Island.
We expect he’ll be heading to Antarctica next, as he reaches 300million gifts delivered.
Current location: South Pacific
11:32 , Tom PlaceSanta has moved on to the islands of Oceania now.
He’s delivered to the Marshall Islands and Nauru, and is now headed to Kiribati.
He’s delivered almost 200 million gifts already!
And he's off!
11:07 , Tom PlaceNorad confirm that Santa has now finally left the North Pole.
He is currently headed for Uelen, Russia, and has apparently already delivered more than 42 million gifts - he doesn’t mess around when he gets going, does he?
Setting off late
10:36 , Tom PlaceThe Norad tracker now says Santa will take off within the hour - he might be cutting it fine...
We'll be kicking off shortly
10:05 , Tom PlaceTo deliver presents to every household in one night, Santa is going to have to cover the world at about 1,300 miles per second - roughly 6,000 times the speed of sound.
Current location: North Pole
09:45 , Tom PlaceSanta is still in “Santa's Village, North Pole” according to the tracker - no doubt making final checks, loading the last few presents, and making sure his reindeer are fed and watered.
We expect his first stop to be on the International Date line - perhaps Kiribati?
Santa is ready to go
09:25 , Tom PlaceNorad have confirmed that current conditions at the North Pole indicate good weather for flying.
He’ll be jetting off soon, and we’ll update you when he reaches his first destination.
