Earlier this month, Google revealed its new Santa Tracker for 2013. While it may have lost NORAD to Microsoft, it put together its own (and arguably better) Santa Tracker experience to help kids keep track of where the big man is on Christmas Eve.

While Google has been updating the Santa Tracker site all month with new games, animations and activities; the actual tracking has yet to begin. According to Google, parents and kids will be able to actually begin tracking Santa on Christmas Eve at 2:00 a.m. PST/5:00 a.m. EST.

So, how can kids track Santa this year? For those who prefer to keep things traditional, you can stick to the Santa Tracker Web site here. While you’re tracking Santa, you can play around with all the games and activities currently available on the site.

Speaking of which, Google has a fun little activity that lets you send personalized voice messages from Santa to your friends. By filling out a questionnaire, you can build a message that includes your friend’s name, their interests, what they want for Christmas and so much more. Unfortunately, the messages can only be shared via email, Google+ or a link. It would have been much better if you could send the message via a phone call, but that might have been too much to ask for.

Moving back to the topic at hand, Google has a number of other avenues for you to track Santa if you don’t have access to the Web site. First, there’s the Android app that not only features the Santa Tracker, but a number of games as well. If a smartphone or tablet is too small of a screen for you, you can also display the Android app on your TV using Chromecast.

Finally, Google has also released a Chrome extension so that you can always have the Santa Tracker in your browser regardless of where you are on the Web. It even has a fun little interactive toy that lets you frost over your Web page.

If you want more info about Google’s Santa tracker, check out this Google Maps blog post.

Image via Google