How about a pitch straight from Google on this cold winter afternoon?

The search giant is working with NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), so that "children around the world will again be able to follow Santa's journey in Google Earth and Google Maps this Christmas."

Per the pitch:

When Santa and his reindeer do take off at 6:00 am EST on Christmas Eve, a Google Map with Santa's current location will appear at www.noradsanta.org and will be updated as his journey progresses. Users can also track Santa in 3D in Google Earth by downloading a special NORAD Tracks Santa KML http://www.noradsanta.org/en/track3d.html). They can add the NORAD Tracks Santa iGoogle gadget to their iGoogle page anytime. Be sure to visit www.noradsanta.org to catch hi-res Santa Cam video of the sleigh zooming past various locations around the globe over the course of the night, and for locations without video, photos from Panoramio can be viewed in Google Maps. There are also a few new ways to track Santa this Christmas: users can track Santa on their mobile phones with Google Maps for Mobile, and can also follow his whereabouts on Twitter by adding @noradsanta.

While NORAD has been involved in Santa tracking for quite some time, some of the Google services are new this year. If anything, the idea has caught on. "Last year the NORAD Tracks Santa Web site received 10.6 million unique visitors from 212 countries and territories," according to WebProNews.