Macaroni KID Shreveport Bossier Moms In the Know Christmas Fun Toolkit

Explore The Department of Christmas Affairs, track Santa, find him by your tree, printables & MORE

Soon, it will be Christmas, and Santa Claus will be coming to town!

If your kids are anything like mine, we've been counting down the days until D-Day, the day we've ALL been waiting for: Christmas Eve!

Every year, my kids LOVE following along on his journey so that they're in bed in time for his visit.

This year, we hope you'll join us. To help get you ready, here are several ways fun tools you can use to prepare and even track Santa's progress!

🎅🎄The Department of Christmas Affairs🎅🎄

Check THAT LIST and be SURE you're on the right side of things with the official Naughty or Nice list complete with searchable document AND the ability to have your status reconsidered and reviewed should your... um behavior... be found wanting in some way, shape or form!

There is STILL time left to change, so be sure to keep checking your status! You can VIEW THE LIST HERE to see if you're in the clear!

The same website offers a form for gift requests HERE (ie you can write Santa c/o the Department of Christmas Affairs and let him know your wish list!)

You can ALSO lodge a gift complaint HERE for all of those fruitcakes received, pink fuzzy bunny pajamas, and times you were gifted TV dinners & ramen under the tree over the years.

Lodge a complaint HERE and see how the response shapes up!

🎅🎄 NORAD Tracks Santa 🎅🎄

Thanks to NORAD aka the North American Aerospace Defense Command, we can easily track his location and follow along as Santa makes his journey from the North Pole to homes across the globe as he and his reindeer deliveries on Christmas Eve.

For over 50 years, NORAD (formerly known as CONAD or the Continental Air Defense Command) has been tracking Santa's flight.

They use all the modern technology available to them: a radar and satellite system, along with their staff at the NORAD Tracks Santa program which is rumored to be able to detect the heat from the movement of Santa's sleigh and Rudolph's big, bright red glowing nose.

This technology gives kids everywhere real time updates on his location throughout the evening as he makes his epic annual journey.

I bet you're wondering how this all got started, I know we just HAD to do a little research ourselves!

It turns out that this tradition began with a wrong number phone call about 50 years ago when Sears ran an advertisement with the wrong phone number listed that was meant for children to be able to call Santa.

Instead of the Sears Santa answering, the calls were routed to CONAD instead.

The Director of Operations and staff dutifully checked the radar for any indication of Santa and history was made and a beloved tradition began.

Ever since, CONAD that later became known as NORAD has continued this invaluable service annually.

At the moment, Santa is busy at the North Pole making final preparations for Thursday night's journey.

Soon, the elves will finish loading up the sleigh and he and his reindeer will begin their annual, magical global flight.

Families everywhere can use the sight www.noradsanta.org to track him this Christmas Eve.

There, you will also find fun games you can play, fun movies about Santa and NORAD, the ability to listen to holiday music and much more.

🎅🎄 Google Santa Tracker 🎅🎄

It's Christmas JUST yet, but that doesn't mean you can't celebrate and really go all out, we NEED a little Christmas this year ESPECIALLY!

You can count down to Christmas Eve with the Google Santa Tracker and have a blast doing so.

New games and content in Santa's Workshop are revealed each day leading up to Christmas Eve when Santa's dashboard is unlocked.

Once that happens, kids everywhere can begin to track Santa as he begins his epic annual journey around the world.

Have fun exploring this cute virtual village, learn fun trivia and facts about holiday traditions around the world, meet some adorable elves, and play some fun holiday games and activities (like getting Santa ready for a selfie!).

🎅🎄 Catch a Character 🎅🎄

This handy-dandy app can hook you up for several main holiday related events or milestones!

The Catch a Character app lets you catch the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa in the act INSIDE your home via the camera on your device or cell phone allowing you to have pictures and even video footage of your favorite magical character!

You can show your kids that you caught Santa delivering presents on Christmas Eve or the Tooth Fairy leaving money under their pillow!

You simply take a picture on your phone and let the app make some serious magic happen!

🎅🎄 Catch Santa In My House 🎅🎄

He IS real! Show your kids a picture of SANTA IN YOUR HOUSE!

Give them the best Christmas gift idea that will have them running to tell their friends: “We caught Santa in our house”!

Make some extra magic this Christmas by magically adding a realistic Santa to any of YOUR photos to show your family!

This app has one of the more authentic looking Santa's and a variety poses available. These are just FUN to try out and come in different variations, too!

I hope you have a magical and fun holiday season!