NORTH POLE — Santa is on his way, and he's delivered more than 2,726,000,000 gifts so far this Christmas Eve.

As of 3:16 p.m. Dec. 24, he was last spotted in Riga, Latvia, and was headed for Vilnius, Lithuania. By the time we publish this story, he'll be visiting the children of Vilnius and delivering gifts to all the good boys and girls there.

As they have for the past 50 years, the folks at North American Aerospace Defense Command are both tracking Santa Claus and the reindeer and providing an escort to ensure their safety until the last gift is delivered.

Utilizing Santa cams and fighter jets, NORAD will be up all night with Santa, monitoring his progress and reporting his location as he places trillions of gifts under Christmas trees of all sorts and varieties, shapes and sizes.

Santa will undoubtedly enjoy dozens of cookies and many sips of milk this evening, while Rudolph and the other reindeer will keep up their strength and enjoy nibbling on carrots, hay and oats left on porches and rooftops here and there.

The NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center is fully operational now and taking phone calls from anxious and curious boys and girls. Want to call and ask a question for yourself? You can, and you know you want to. Dial 1-877-446-6723 to talk directly to a NORAD staffer, who will be able to tell you Santa's exact location.

But don't stay up too late, because they stop working at 3 a.m. on Christmas morning, and everybody in Maine should be fast asleep by that time anyway!

To track Santa online, visit the NORAD Facebook page at faceboook.com/noradnorthcom or visit noradsanta.org/en/track.

As the sun begins to set and the dinner dishes have been put away, it's time to read a favorite book and climb into bed. Then before we all know it, it will be Christmas morning!

To learn more about NORAD and how the organization tracks Santa Claus on Christmas Eve:

•It's almost time to track Santa!