Though technology can sometimes seem to take away from the magic of the holidays, it can also keep the spirit alive. Just a day before Santa is expected to start his Christmas Eve journey, technology provides us a way to track the gift-giver’s famous sleigh ride.

Here are five Santa-tracking apps and websites, including the longstanding NORAD tracker operated by a U.S. Air Defense Command Center, and a video-chat app for real-time conversations.

Google’s Santa Tracker

Google’s Santa Tracker is a readily-accessible way to keep tabs on Santa right up to December 24th, when he circles the globe to deliver toys or a lump of coal to kids. The tracker page features a timer, counting down to Santa’s departure from the Santa Village in the North Pole.

The site has other activities to keep you busy in the days leading to Santa’s departure. Explore the village, where each structure reveals a daily surprise. An Advent Calendar also delivers daily trinkets like one game to give Santa a makeover.

Being a Google service, the Santa tracker app works best on Google’s own Android mobile devices (here) and Chromecast, as well as a Chrome browser extension for PC users (here).

NORAD Santa’s Village

The NORAD Tracks Santa (here) program has been around since 1955, decades before Google even existed. It started when the Sears Roebuck & Co. department store placed an ad in a Colorado Springs newspaper, encouraging children to call Santa. In a fateful misprint, the calls went not to Sears but instead to the Colorado Springs’ Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center.

On duty and in the Christmas spirit, Colonel Harry Shoup instructed his personnel to entertain the children’s calls and give them a “current location” for Santa Claus. In 1958, the governments of Canada and the U.S. created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.

NORAD tracks Santa using radar, satellites, SantaCams, jet fighters. The NORAD community has volunteered throughout the years to respond to calls and emails inquiring on Santa’s whereabouts.

ReindeerCam

Expanding the North Pole experience on a virtual scale, the ReindeerCam streams Santa’s activities, along with his elves and reindeer fleet. This app can be used to live chat with and send letters to Santa, as well as the opportunity to get the kids’ names on Santa’s Nice List.

There are four ways to get on the Nice List. Write a letter to Santa, download and review the $1.99 iOS, Android or Windows Phone app, donate to the Reindeer Fund, or sign up to join the Nice List club, which unfortunately is down at the time of writing.

NorthPole.com

This site is for kids, parents, teachers and students. NorthPole.com features games, a weather station to see where Santa may have trouble, and a host of other activities including a preview of Santa’s assuredly busy mail room.

The Christmas-themed site also offers recipes for Christmas treats, a tutorial for Christmas crafts, and you can even send and pick up a letter for Santa. Create your own personalized story, send holiday e-cards to friends and family, chat with Santa’s little helpers, and there are even printable stories to color and display for the holidays.

Hello Santa

Make this Christmas memorable for your kids by letting them video chat with Santa himself. Video messages from Santa can also be arranged. Slip Santa a few details about your child, including their grade and favorite holiday tradition for a personalized experience. Want Santa to provide some parental reinforcement? Upon request, Santa will praise or reprimand little Johnny and Jane.

Use the app here.