As the story goes, Santa should be loading up his sleigh just about now, preparing to bring gifts to the good children of the world during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24. No, wait. It's the elves that load the sleigh. So what does Santa do other than hang out in department stores to get an ear full of children's wishes?

This photo gallery has Santa caught on camera all over the world.

Gallery: Traveling Santa's

On Christmas Eve, follow Santa's progress using Google's Santa Tracker, a Chrome extension that will enable children to browse the web and keep an eye on Mr. Claus and his reindeer at the same time. Better yet, sign up for a customized phone call or send him an email through his Gmail account.

[Photo credit: Royal Caribbean International]

Filed under: North America, United States