Where in the world is Santa? How to find the online Santa tracker.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, children across the world will be counting downs the days until Santa Claus comes to town.

But how can you and your family find out where Santa is now, when he's coming to the United States and, most importantly, when he'll be coming to your house?

Both Google and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, have "Santa trackers" and offer minute-by-minute updates of where St. Nick and his reindeer are on Christmas Eve.

Here's what to know.

How to use 'NORAD Tracks Santa'?

The North American Aerospace Defense Command operates the "NORAD Tracks Santa" Santa tracker, beginning Dec. 1. It can be found at noradsanta.org.

In years past, NORAD volunteers have also operated a phone line to help families track Santa.

NORAD has been offering Santa tracking services in some capacity since 1958.

How to use the Google Santa Tracker?

Google operates a Santa tracker at santatracker.google.com on Dec. 24 and 25.

Throughout December and the rest of the year, Google's Santa tracker website is full of online holiday games and educational activities for kids of a variety of ages.

Google has tracked Santa’s worldwide journey on Christmas Eve since 2004. They have calculated that Santa's Christmas Eve journey takes 25 hours. "He makes his first stop just after 10 p.m. local time in far eastern Russia, when it’s 5 a.m. in New York and 11 a.m. in Paris," Google says.

USA TODAY reporter Marina Pitofsky contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How to find and use the online Santa tracker