LIVE: NORAD tracking Santa on flight around the world

Good news, kids - Santa's journey around the world has begun!

Santa's mission to deliver toys to all the good girls and boys started at 4:30 Tuesday morning according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Santa tracker. That's when Santa and his team left the North Pole.

Santa and his reindeer are being tracked for the 64th year as millions of people watch Santa's path online.

In 1955, Sears Roebuck & Co. ran an advertisement in a Colorado newspaper with a phone number that children could call to speak with Santa. NORAD took over responsibility for tracking Santa in 1958. But rather than being a direct line to the North Pole, the misprinted number instead connected to a telephone on the desk of the Continental Air Defense Command's director of operations, Col. Harry Shoup.

NORAD staff members, as well as family and friends, volunteer their time to help respond to children's calls, letters and emails and track Santa's flight each Christmas.

CLICK HERE to track Santa's journey using NORAD's Santa Tracker. As of 7:35 a.m., Santa had delivered 500 million gifts already!