NORAD may have went the Bing/Windows route this year with its Santa Tracker, but Google isn’t going to let Microsoft have all of the fun.

“While we’ve been tracking Santa since 2004 with Google Earth, this year a team of dedicated Google Maps engineers built a new route algorithm to chart Santa’s journey around the world on Christmas Eve,” says Brian McClendon, VP of Google Maps and Google Earth. “On his sleigh, arguably the fastest airborne vehicle in the world, Santa whips from city to city delivering presents to millions of homes. You’ll be able to follow him on Google Maps and Google Earth, and get his stats starting at 2:00 a.m. PST Christmas Eve at google.com/santatracker.”

Google also has a new Chrome extension and an Android app for Santa tracking.

“Before Santa takes off on Christmas Eve, you can also use the extension to follow the countdown to his departure, play around with his blimp, elf bus, and write messages on a frosty browser window,” says Google Chrome developer Eric Bidelman.

And of course, you can follow the updates on Google+, Facebook or Twitter.

You can go to the Santa’s Village site to watch the countdown.

Google also lets you send personalized holiday phone calls from Santa to your friends and family with Google Voice. You can learn more about that here.