NORAD says record number of children _ and adults _ called to ask about Santa's whereabouts

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., Monday Dec. 24, 2012. Over a thousand volunteers at NORAD handle more than 100,000 thousand phone calls from children around the world every Christmas Eve, with NORAD continually projecting Santa's supposed progress delivering presents. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) (The Associated Press)

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Volunteer Katherine Beaupre takes 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., Monday Dec. 24, 2012. Over a thousand volunteers at NORAD handle more than 100,000 thousand phone calls from children around the world every Christmas Eve, with NORAD continually projecting Santa's supposed progress delivering presents. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) (The Associated Press)

U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Richard Scobie talks with a fellow volunteer while taking 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., Monday Dec. 24, 2012. Over a thousand volunteers at NORAD handle more than 100,000 thousand phone calls from children around the world every Christmas Eve, with NORAD continually projecting Santa's supposed progress delivering presents. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) (The Associated Press)

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – Volunteers for the North American Aerospace Defense Command's Santa tracker have answered a record number of calls from children — and some adults — curious about when the man in the red suit will land at their house.

NORAD Spokeswoman 1st Lt. Stacey Fenton says that as of midnight Tuesday, trackers answered more than 111,000 calls. That's more than last year's record of 107,000.

Trackers started taking calls early Monday. They included service members and first lady Michelle Obama, who picked up the phone while vacationing in Hawaii.

NORAD Tracks Santa began in 1955 when a newspaper ad listed the wrong phone number for kids to call Santa. They wound up calling the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor.

The operation is based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado