You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry, you’d better not pout, we’re telling you why – you guessed it, Santa Claus is coming to town. The countdown is almost over – and that means it’s almost time to start tracking Santa!

On Tuesday, December 23 at 11:00 pm Pacific Time (PT) the NORAD Tracks Santa experience will go live as Santa begins the final preparations for his magical journey. And starting at 3:00 am PT on Wednesday, December 24, when we expect the big man to actually take flight, you will be able to track his whereabouts in 3D thanks to Bing Maps!

The Santa tracking experience is a fun and educational tradition for the whole family. At every stop along Santa’s journey, users will be able to click off to a specially-curated Bing results page to get fun facts and beautiful imagery for each location.

This year, we’ve made sure that the NORAD website works on PCs, tablets and smartphones so you can track Santa whether you’re in front of the fireplace or out doing some last-minute shopping. In addition, for the first time ever, Windows Phone users will be able to track Santa with Cortana. Yes, Cortana will be getting information straight from NORAD’s advanced systems, to ensure the most accurate updates.

Want to see for yourself? Try asking Cortana “Where is Santa now?” On December 24 (Christmas Eve), check in anytime throughout the day and evening. Cortana will have the inside scoop on Santa’s whereabouts every few minutes! Windows Phone users across the US, as well as the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain will be able to find out Santa’s whereabouts. If you’re still waiting to receive your gift of a Windows Phone this holiday, you can also just ask Bing where Santa is!

So hang up your stockings and get ready – the big day is almost here! And happy tracking from all of us here at Microsoft!

Happy Holidays!

– The Bing and Cortana Teams