Brennan Linsley / AP

Volunteers take phone calls from children asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their house during the annual NORAD Tracks Santa Operation, at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Dec. 24.

Brennan Linsley / AP

Volunteer Katherine Beaupre takes phone calls at NORAD.

Over a thousand volunteers at NORAD handle more than 100,000 thousand phone calls from children around the world every Christmas Eve as NORAD charts Santa's progress around the globe. The program began in 1955 when a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa. Read more

Track Santa through NORAD's website.

Slideshow: Holiday season lights up

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Santa Clauses surf, laugh and row around the world
• 'Sandy Claus' delivers toys to storm-stricken kids
• That's a powerful tree!

Bebeto Matthews / AP

"Sandy Claus" Michael Sciaraffo makes a toy delivery to a home in the Bell Harbor neighborhood of New York on Dec. 18, 2012. Using Facebook, Sciaraffo started a charitable enterprise to collect and personally deliver toys to children affected by Superstorm Sandy.

Bebeto Matthews / AP

Sciaraffo, a political consultant who has worked for Hillary Clinton and City Hall, sits at his workstation in Brooklyn as he takes a phone request for a toy on Dec. 18, 2012.

The Associated Press reports — From his toy-cluttered Brooklyn apartment, the man in the red suit was making his list and checking it twice. But he made no distinction between naughty or nice: Every child on it would receive a gift from this Santa Claus.

Related: 'Stars of hope' brighten Breezy Point

For the children whose toys floated away during Superstorm Sandy, Michael Sciaraffo is playing the role of a real-life Saint Nick. Every afternoon and night, he stuffs his red sack to the brim with presents and heads out to storm-ravaged homes, personally delivering new toys to awestruck little kids whose play rooms were destroyed by floodwaters. 

Bebeto Matthews / AP

Elizabeth Sampol holds her daughter, Ella, 14 months, as she receives a toy from Michael Sciaraffo in the Belle Harbor section of Queens on Dec. 18, 2012.

The charitable enterprise grew out of a Sandy donation outreach effort that Sciaraffo had been spearheading for weeks in the wake of the storm, drumming up donations of clothing and food through Facebook. As the holidays approached, he realized that lots of children would be without their toys this year. Read the full story.

See more images of superstorm Sandy and its aftermath on PhotoBlog

Bebeto Matthews / AP

Ella Sampol looks at her present as her mother Elizabeth and Michael Sciaraffo look on, on Dec. 18, 2012.

Bebeto Matthews / AP

A rainbow appears as Michael Sciaraffo leaves the home of Ella Sampol in Belle Harbor, Queens on Dec. 18, 2012. "You don't see that every day," Sciaraffo said, grinning as his beard slipped down his face a little. "Amazing."

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Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Capitol Hill police check an unidentified man dressed as Santa Claus with a metal detector as he enters the U.S. Capitol on his way to Speaker of the House John Boehner's office on Dec. 12, in Washington, DC. The man was working with the group Catholics United, and wanted to urge Speaker of the House John Boehner to pass pending "fiscal cliff" legislation before Christmas.

Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images

A man dressed as Santa walks to a press conference on Capitol Hill on Dec. 12, in Washington, DC. Speakers at the press conference, organized by Catholics United, spoke about the pending fiscal cliff in the United States and urged the Congress to pass tax cuts for middle-class Americans.

For the latest information on the fiscal cliff:

• NBC/WSJ poll: Two-thirds support balanced deficit deal
• Boehner: 'Serious differences' separate GOP from Obama
• NBC Politics

Markus Schreiber / AP

Hundreds of people dressed as Santa Claus start the annual St. Nicholas Run, in Michendorf, Germany, Dec. 9.

Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters

Runners dressed as Father Christmas take part in the 'Nikolaus Run' in the East German town of Michendorf, Dec. 9.

Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters

A runner dressed as Father Christmas pushes his children in a baby buggy during the 'Nikolaus Run' in Michendorf, Dec. 9.

Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters

A runner dressed as Father Christmas runs in heavy snow during the so-called 'Nikolaus Run' in the East German town of Michendorf, Dec. 9.

Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters

Runners dressed as Father Christmas run in heavy snow in the East German town of Michendorf, Germany, Dec, 9.

Slideshow: Faces of Santa

Brian Ach / AP

See the many ways St. Nick spreads holiday cheer around the world.

Launch slideshow

Around 800 participants took part in the 4^th annual Santa Claus running competition in Michendorf, Germany (28 miles west of Berlin), hosted by the Laufclub Michendorf running association.  Both children and adults donned Santa outfits for the 10k race in the snow.

Bicycle designer Dieter "Didi" Senft presents his latest creation, a reindeer cycle, in the rain in Storkow, Germany, on Nov. 29. Senft's unusual designs have included a bike made from rakes, below, and a tandem bicycle more than 10 feet tall.

Patrick Pleul / EPA

Dieter Senft presents his so-called '111-twelve-teeth-rake-bicycle' in Storkow, Germany, on March 12, 2012. The bicycle consists of 111 garden rakes and is fully functional but cannot be used for raking.

Also on PhotoBlog:

• Burmese teacher heads to work on solar-powered electric bike
• Prisoners pedal to freedom on stationary bikes in Brazil

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Slideshow: Holiday season lights up

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

As temperatures drop and snow begins to fall, take a look at beautiful light displays from around the globe.

Launch slideshow

Casper Christoffersen / EPA

Santa Clauses from all over the world take part in the traditional dip marking the beginning of the annual World Santa Claus Congress at Bellevue Beach, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 23, 2012.

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Slideshow: Summertime living

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Celebrating the warm summer months, as schools let out and the cooling off begins.

Launch slideshow

Jeon Heon-kyun / EPA

Mountaineering club members wear Santa Claus costumes as they reach the summit of Dobong mountain near Seoul, South Korea on Dec. 23.

See what else Santa has been up to in the days leading up to Christmas in our slideshow: Faces of Santa

Can't get enough holiday cheer? Check out some of our other holiday related slideshows:

• Take a tour of holiday lights around the world: Let there be lights!
• Classic movies, perfect for the holiday season: Movies for the holidays

Toru Hanai / Reuters

Window cleaners dressed as Santa Claus and a reindeer clean a window during an event to celebrate the upcoming Christmas holiday season at a shopping mall in Tokyo, Japan on Dec 23.

Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

Actor David Warren, who has been playing Santa for the past ten years, holds seven-month-old Olivia Ruch at Santa's Grotto in Selfridges department store in London on Dec. 7.

An all too familiar scene, parents bring their terrified, hysterical kids for their annual portrait session with Santa at their local department store. My own parents have certainly relished showing me the images of myself as a grumpy 3-year-old, unhappy to be on Santa's lap. It seems this is a phase every child goes through at one point.

I love Olivia's expression in the photo above. I think it really makes the picture.

Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

Actor David Warren, who has been playing Santa for the past ten years, speaks to 16-month-old Georgie Grant at Santa's Grotto in Selfridges department store in London on Dec. 7.

See more images in our slideshow: Scared of Santa