As it has every year since 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command will be tracking Santa on his whirlwind journey to deliver presents to all the good little boys and girls around the world.

But he won't be escorted by armed fighter jets.

When NORAD recently launched its yearly online Santa tracker, the site featured a video showing the jolly old elf being escorted by U.S. fighter jets "bristling with missiles," as the Boston Globe put it.

That caused a minor earthquake in the Twitterverse about why Santa would need an armed escort. The answer: Russia.

But a NORAD spokesman confirmed to Military Times that the "missiles" are actually fuel tanks.

The holidays can be extremely busy times. When making your master family Holiday calendar, consider which events are “Must attends” like your daughter’s band concert, which are “Would be nice to attend” like the town Christmas parade and which are “I would rather have a root canal than attend” like your neighbor’s annual open house. If there are events that you can edit out of your schedule with gentle excuses, you will make the holidays more about spending time with the people you love doing things you love to do.

The International City Optimist Club's Christmas spirit continues. The Club donates $3240 to Abba House Perry.

That's enough to pay tuition for one for six months.