‘Twas the night before Christmas, when children were staring at screens all through the house to track Santa’s route. Once again, Google has launched its wildly popular Santa Tracker, giving families a festive and delightful way to follow Old Saint Nick on his global trek to deliver presents.

Since 2004, Google’s high-tech tracker has allowed parents and kids to track Jolly Old St. Nicholas’ journey in real-time on Christmas Eve, watching his progress around the globe from the comfort of their homes. What began as a simple static map has evolved into a fully immersive Santa-monitoring experience filled with games, learning activities, videos, and more.

On the evening of December 24, visitors to Google’s Tracker site are greeted by a lush, animated landscape of the North Pole, complete with prancing reindeer and a bustling toy factory. Once the clock strikes midnight at the magic hour, the site magically transforms into tracking mode, with a large, real-time map showing the big man’s location, next stops, distance traveled, towns visited, and number of gifts delivered.

Special live camera feeds claim to show Santa feeding his reindeer, readying his sleigh, and finally taking off into the starry sky, much to the delight of wide-eyed children squished together on the couch in matching pajamas. Throughout the night, families can scroll through colorful photos and descriptions of Santa’s visits to famous landmarks and locations across the globe, from the Eiffel Tower to the Great Wall of China.

The tracker experience wouldn’t be complete without some games for good boys and girls waiting eagerly for Santa’s arrival, like coding activities, geography quizzes, and even digital gift wrapping.

While children dream of sugar plums (and the latest tech gadgets), Google’s cheerful tracker brightens the season for families and cements a new generation of holiday tech traditions. Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, the tracker is sure to get you into the Christmas spirit and build anticipation for the main event. Just make sure the cookies and milk are out before bedtime!