This year, you'll be able to track Santa on Google Maps as he makes his way around the world on Christmas Eve. Through a partnership with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which has been in the spirit of helping kids track Santa for 52 years now, you'll now have additional ways in which to track Santa using a handful of Google tools. This includes Google Maps, Google Earth, iGoogle and YouTube.

And starting December 1, you'll get to join in on the countdown, where NORAD will host kid-friendly games and activities every day until Christmas Eve. See here for NORAD's holiday site. Beginning at 1 am PST on December 24, you'll be able to track Santa in real time. You'll need to download a special Santa Tracking file for an enhanced 3D Santa-tracking experience for Christmas Eve, but the regular iGoogle gadget for NORAD's Santa-tracking efforts can be downloaded for Google Earth at any time.